Rational training is a method of teaching basic principles of interpersonal relations to groups of individuals and is particularly applicable to all levels of management in business and industry, to labor officials, to military personnel, and to others who work in the area of “people contact.” It differs significantly from sensitivity training, group psychoanalysis, and conventional management training courses. It specifically shows members of the training session how to eliminate fears of failure, how to be more tolerant and less hostile, how to gain their own unqualified self-acceptance, and how to achieve high frustration tolerance. Rational training differs from most group training in that directiveness, activity, structuring, authoritativeness, and homework assignments are employed. An illustrative protocol demonstrates some of the details of how rational training actually works.
Book Review: Human Relations: The Dynamics of Interviewing: Theory, Technique, and Cases
