Sensitivity training aims to make people more aware of their own goals, prejudices, and how they interact with and affect others. It was pioneered by Kurt Lewin in the 1940s and further developed by Carl Rogers in the 1950s using small groups to address tensions. The goals of sensitivity training are to increase self-awareness, understanding of others, sensitivity to diversity, and interpersonal skills to improve relationships. Through feedback and role playing, it seeks to help participants gain insight into themselves and learn new behaviors. While effective for some, critics argue it can license intrusive behavior or cause lasting negative effects for some.

1. PRESENTED BY,
LAKSHMI MURALIKRISHNA
PAMB0030
1ST PH.D.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION,
GKVK, UAS BANGALORE
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2. WHAT IS SENSITIVITY TRAINING?
 A form of training
 Goal of making people more aware of their own goals as well as their
prejudices
 More sensitive to others and to the dynamics of group interaction
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3.  Kurt Lewin laid the foundations for sensitivity training in a series of
workshops he organised in 1946, using his field theory as the
conceptual background
 Contributed to the founding of the National Training
Laboratories in Bethel, Maine in 1947
 Helped soldiers deal with traumatic stress disorders (then known
as shell shock) to develop group therapy as a treatment technique
 Carl Rogers in the fifties worked with what he called "small face-to-face
groups – groups exhibiting industrial tensions, religious tensions, racial
tensions, and therapy groups in which many personal tensions were
present"
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4.  Carl Rogers in the fifties - "small face-to-face groups
 Groups exhibiting industrial tensions, religious tensions, racial tensions,
and therapy groups in which many personal tensions were present“
 Applied group idea to broad population of 'normals' seeking personal
growth,which he called encounter groups, after the existential tradition
of an authentic encounter between people
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5.  Other leaders in the development of encounter groups, included Will
Schutz, who worked at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California
 Stressed how "the terms 'T-group' (T for training) and 'sensitivity
training group' are commonly used synonymously with 'encounter
group'"
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6.  The focus of the sensitivity training group was,
 Here-and-now interactions among the group members, and on their
group experience
 Worked by following the energy of the emerging issues in the group
 Dramatising them in verbal or non-verbal ways
 An atmosphere of openness and honesty was encouraged
throughout; and authenticity and self-actualization were prominent
goals.
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7.  The heyday of the encounter groups was the Sixties and Seventies
 Nonverbal interaction was increasingly discouraged, in favour of a
more modest emphasis upon following group processes as they
emerged
 The techniques of T-Groups and Encounter Groups have merged and
divided and splintered into more specialized topics
 Seeking to promote sensitivity to others perceived as different, and
seemingly losing some of their original focus on self-exploration as a
means to understanding and improving relations with others in a more
general sense
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8. T GROUP
 A T-group or training group is also referred to as sensitivity-
training group, human relations training group or encounter
group)
 A form of group training where participants (typically between eight and
fifteen people) learn about themselves (and about small group
processes in general) through their interaction with each other
 They use feedback, problem solving, and role play to gain insights into
themselves, others, and groups
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9.  The concept of encounter as "a meeting of two, eye to eye, face to
face," was articulated by J.L. Moreno in Vienna in 1914–15, in his
"Einladung zu einer Begegnung" ("Invitation to an Encounter")
 First conceived as a research technique with a goal to change the
standards, attitudes and behavior of individuals, the T-group evolved
into educational and treatment schemes for non-psychiatric patient
people
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10.  A T-group meeting does not have an explicit agenda, structure, or
expressed goal
 Under the guidance of a facilitator, the participants are encouraged to
share emotional reactions (for example, anger, fear, warmth, or envy)
that arise in response to their fellow participants' actions and
statements. The emphasis is on sharing emotions, as opposed to
judgments or conclusions
 In this way, T-group participants can learn how their words and actions
trigger emotional responses in the people they communicate with.
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11. CRITICISMS OF SENSITIVITY TRAINING
 Criticisms of modern sensitivity training have repeatedly surfaced over
the decades
• Carl Rogers expressed concerns about its potential to license intrusive,
bullying behaviour, concluding that members needed a solid ego to
profit from it
• Eric Berne similarly pointed to the danger of the group only providing a
series of unassimilated insights functioning as insults, quipping that
"One definition of a sensitivity group is that it is a place where sensitive
people go to have their feelings hurt"
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12.  Right-wing critic and conspiracy theorist G. Edward Griffin, faced with
the movement's more radical claims to promote social change, argued
that sensitivity training involves the unethical use of psychological
techniques with groups that come close to brainwashing
 Research analysis of the results of encounter groups revealed
significant effects for both good and bad: where some 30% of
participants found lasting benefit, 8% experienced equally lasting
negative results
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13. PROCEDURE OF SENSITIVITY TRAINING
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14. 1. UNFREEZING THE OLD VALUES
It requires that the trainees become aware of the inadequacy of the old
values.
This can be done when the trainee faces dilemma in which his old values is
not able to
provide proper guidance.
The first step consists of a small procedure:
•An unstructured group of 10-15 people is formed.
•Unstructured group without any objective looks to the trainer for its guidance
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15. But the trainer refuses to provide guidance and assume leadership
Soon, the trainees are motivated to resolve the uncertainty
Then, they try to form some hierarchy.
Some try assume leadership role which may not be liked by other
trainees
Then, they started realizing that what they desire to do and realize
 the alternative ways of dealing with the situation
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16. 2. DEVELOPMENT OF NEW VALUES
•With the trainer's support, trainees begin to examine their interpersonal behavior
and giving each other feedback.
•The reasoning of the feedbacks are discussed which motivates trainees to
experiment with range of new behaviors and values.
•This process constitutes the second step in the change process of the
development of these values.
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17. 3. REFREEZING THE NEW ONES
Sensitivity training is the process of developing emotional
intelligence, which means "the mental ability an individual
possesses enabling him or her to be sensitive and understanding
to the emotions of others as well as being able to manage their
own emotions and impulses".
Emotional intelligence, according to Merriam Webster,
"describes the ability, capacity, skill or, in the case of the trait, to
identify, assess, and manage the emotions of one's self, of
others, and of groups
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18. •Emotional Intelligence is the ability to recognize and use one's own
emotions as well as the emotions of others to help determine what to do
(or not to do).
•The competencies include:
•Emotional Self-Awareness (knowing what you are feeling),
•Emotional Self-Management (choosing your emotions - transforming
negative emotions into positive emotions),
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19. •Emotional Self-Motivation (using positive emotions to persist under
pressure),
•Empathy (awareness of other's feelings and using that awareness for
successful solutions), and
•Nurture Relationships (creating a cooperative and collaborative climate)
The ability to stop and transform negative feelings in any given moment
helps us to stop much of the stress that we might have otherwise
experienced.
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20. GOALS OF SENSITIVITY TRAINING
 While the emphases, styles and specific goals of the multitude of sensitivity training
programs vary, there does seem to be some consensus as to general goals. These
include:
 1. Increased understanding, insight, and self awareness about one's own behavior and
its impact on others, including the ways in which others interpret one's behavior.
 2. Increased understanding and sensitivity about the behavior of others, including better
interpretation of both verbal and nonverbal clues, which increases awareness and
understanding of what the other person is thinking and feeling.
 3. Better understanding and awareness of group and inter-group processes, both those
that facilitate and those that inhibit group functioning.
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21.  4. Increased diagnostic skills in interpersonal and inter-group situations.
For the authors, the accomplishments of the first three objectives
provide the basic tools for accomplishing the fourth objective.
 5. Increased ability to transform learning into action, so that real life
interventions will be more successful in increasing member
effectiveness, satisfaction, output, or effectiveness.
 6. Improvement in individuals' ability to analyze their own interpersonal
behavior, as well as to learn how to help themselves and others with
whom they come in contact to achieve more satisfying, rewarding, and
effective interpersonal relationships.
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22. OUTCOMES OF SENSITIVITY TRAINING
SELF
1. Increased awareness of own feelings and reactions, and own impact on others.
2. Increased awareness of feelings and reactions of others, and their impact on self.
3. Increased awareness of dynamics of group action.
4. Changed attitudes toward self, others, and groups; i.e., more respect for, tolerance for,
and faith in self, others, and groups.
5. Increased interpersonal competence; i.e., skill in handling interpersonal and group
relationships toward more productive and satisfying relationships.
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23. ROLE
• Increased awareness of own organizational role, organizational dynamics, dynamics of
larger social systems, and dynamics of the change process in self, small groups, and
organizations
• Changed attitudes toward own role, role of others, and organizational relationships,
i,e., more respect for and willingness to deal with others with whom one is
interdependent, greater willingness to achieve collaborative relationships with others
based on mutual trust
• Increased interpersonal competence in handling organizational role relationships with
superiors, peers, and subordinates
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24. ORGANIZATION
 Increased awareness of, changed attitudes toward, and increased interpersonal competence
about organizational problems of interdependent groups or units.
 Organizational improvement through the training of relationships or groups rather than isolated
individuals.
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25. CONCLUSION
 Sensitivity training helps employees to be more sensitive and accepting
of the existing diversity in the workplace.
 It enhances understanding between members of the organization and
enables building good interpersonal relationships with other team
members.
 Sensitivity training educates members about constructive behavior
which will benefit everybody working in the organization through
developing acceptable and correct behavioral and emotional actions.
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