"Some Effects of Trainers on Their T Groups" Reconsidered

Abstract

The identity of T-Group trainer effectiveness indicators in Bolman's studies (1971a & 1973) was pursued through comprehensive analyses of intermeasure correlations. Labeled the Acceptance versus Rejection of Others (ARO), a powerful undergirding dimension was found more potent than the Congruence-empathy indicator stressed by Bolman. ARO closely resembles the Love/Hostility dimension salient in much independent research, including the Caring factor found important to the encounter group leader's effectiveness by Lieberman, Yalom, and Miles (1973) and the Consideration factor of the Ohio State leadership scales. Perhaps due to limitations of his measures, Bolman's data yielded surprisingly weak traces of the second principal interpersonal dimension, Dominance/Submission. It seemed well represented by Meaning Attribution in Lieberman et al.'s research and by Initiating Structure in the Ohio State work.