The Perils of Intensive Management Training and How to Avoid Them

Along with its great potential to help managers learn and develop, intensive management training can, under certain conditions, lead to harm. Intensive training creates a powerful situation that enables managers to take a fresh look at themselves but may also expose them to attack and rejection. The potential for harm resides primarily in the power relationship between trainer and participants, in the make-up of the trainer, and in the injury-prone characteristics of some participants. Done competently and responsibly, intensive management training need not hurt anyone. This chapter itemizes possible causes of harm and recommends practices for keeping risks to a minimum.