CASE 54: SENSITIVITY TRAINING AND PANDORA’S BOX Kara had always had what could be described best as an eccentric personality. As her only coworker in the Personnel Testing Unit, Miguel had noticed something unusual. If he was in a good mood, Kara’s quirks would be an endless source of amusement. If he was in a bad mood, those same quirks would just be plain irritating. The difference Miguel discovered was his own frame of mind. Kara was consistently a “kook” and he tried to even out his own reactions to her. They worked together in a small, confined area. One side of their office opened up to the civil service testing area and so their working space did seem bigger than its actual size. One of her eccentricities was that she would talk to herself. Kara was a single mother of two daughters, and these one-sided conversations played out as advice she would give to her children. Other times, she’d hear something provocative on the radio and she would voice her arguments against the points of the show’s host or callers. Kara’s off-and-onagain boyfriend would occasionally call. Even after she hung up, the conversations might continue for several minutes. These musings were barely audible, but Miguel still had to make the effort to tune her out. Since hiring had been picking up, Kara and Miguel were joined by Cassie who was a temporary hire. Kara may have been goofy but Miguel thought the only word to describe Cassie was moody. And it was nearly impossible to tell what mood she may be in during any given moment. Miguel was a friendly sort and if he passed Cassie in the hallway, he was sure to say hello. To his dismay, Cassie would go past without even a nod. After being ignored this way a few times, Miguel learned not to acknowledge Cassie. He thought she wouldn’t notice but she soon confronted him. “Miguel, you’re being rude. We passed by each other this morning and you didn’t even deign to say hello.” “I’m sorry Cassie. I must not have noticed you.” “I know you did,” Cassie continued. “Next time, don’t pretend you don’t see me!” That seemed to be Miguel’s lot in life—always having to walk on eggshells lest he provoke Cassie’s wrath. One day, each of the three personnel technicians were working independently. Cassie was sorting through materials she received from the remote testing sites. Kara was walking back and forth sorting test booklets, and as usual, she was maintaining her constant monologue of mental musings. Miguel was doing his best to avoid interactions with either one of his coworkers when suddenly Cassie yelled. “What did you say?” Kara stopped her muttering and looked at Cassie. “Oh, I didn’t realize I was talking out loud. Excuse me please.” “I am a proud African American woman. I work hard. And I don’t appreciate what you said,” Cassie yelled back. Miguel realized he must have missed something. “Oh Cassie, I wasn’t talking about you. I was thinking about a conversation I was having with my boyfriend,” Kara explained. “You said welfare moms should be kicked off the rolls. Just because you’re white doesn’t mean that you know anything about being on welfare or being black.” Kara looked puzzled. “What are you talking about? My boyfriend wants me to get food stamps to help feed my two kids. I don’t think that’s honorable. I didn’t say anything about blacks being on welfare.” “That’s what you meant and I’m going upstairs to file a grievance on you.” Cassie stormed out. Miguel’s eyes met Kara’s, and for a few seconds both looked dumbfounded. Then they returned to work. A half hour later, Cassie came back and sat at her desk and the three of them did not speak the rest of the day. A week later, the agency administrator sent an e-mail to all the employees saying that everyone would be scheduled to take mandatory sensitivity training. The e-mail said that this was in response to a certain racial incident that had occurred between two employees. Training would therefore be imposed in order to prevent such episodes in the future. Miguel knew what sparked this training. He resented having to go through mandatory political correctness indoctrination just because his two coworkers could not play well with others. Miguel thought the training would be boring but it turned out to be very stimulating. The facilitator was a professor from the state university, Dr. Johnson. He was extremely adept at getting people to open up. Dr. Johnson’s goal was to uncover all the hidden conflicts. He said that before one begins to deal with these kinds of issues, one has to be aware of them. Dr. Johnson also said that one had to be aware of one’s own biases and prejudices. Through a series of exercises and through extensive discussion, which at times turned extremely confrontational, the participants laid bare their souls. They dragged up grievances from long ago. Participants told how other participants had wronged them—how their feelings had been hurt by the actions and words of others. Dr. Johnson kept it going. He would proclaim in his loud, confident voice, “This is healthy. Get it out! Get it out!” Dr. Johnson facilitated each participant to give voice to all of his or her unresolved problems with coworkers. He was very motivating in getting the agency employees to unpack their hidden hostilities. Then the training ended. The professor proved to be a master at getting the group to expose their conflicts with each other and with others. Unfortunately, he was not as adept at getting them to adequately resolve these issues once they were revealed—at least not in the time available. The result: For the next several months all the agency employees remained extremely angry with each other. Friendships were broken. Professional relationships that were productive suddenly were not. Agency turnover reached an all-time high as almost everyone tried to escape from having to face his or her colleagues on a daily basis. Miguel may have been the most resentful of all, because when he returned to the office he shared with Kara and Cassie, they seemed absolutely oblivious that the mandatory training and the resulting turmoil had anything to do with them. Kara remained as goofy as ever. And Cassie was as moody as ever.
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