Abstract

"Wisdom in the Workplace: The National Training Laboratories, Sensitivity Training, and a Mass Public in the Early Cold War"

William Krause, Vanderbilt University (william.krause@vanderbilt.edu)

This paper questions the role American businesses played in shaping mass public consciousness during the early Cold War era by inspecting sensitivity training, an often-overlooked feature of the modern workplace. Originating after World War II, sensitivity training adapted psychotherapeutic techniques originally designed for adapting veterans to modern life. The National Training Laboratory (NTL), established in 1947, was as a key institution that attempted to bridge social scientific practice with workplace training, hosting workshops for white-collar managers, workers, teachers, and human resource specialists, among others. By examining the NTL's early Cold War period, this paper argues that sensitivity training was a significant aspect of mid-century culture, illuminating how it both reflected (and perhaps created) public subjectivities. Sensitivity training posed fundamental, and at times philosophical, questions about individual autonomy within modern bureaucratic structures. Drawing on psychological techniques like T-Groups and insights from humanistic psychology, sensitivity training aimed to foster collaborative problem-solving and personal growth in the workplace. Proponents saw it as a means to counteract authoritarian tendencies and empower individuals within institutions. For intellectual historians attuned to the role of business practices in shaping public imaginaries, the early history of sensitivity training offers key insights into mid-century American social dynamics. This paper ultimately highlight the traffic between business and intellectual history.