Present and Promote

Comparative History.

The origins of the studies of relational behaviour at work were based on improving the performance of manual or blue-collar workers, carried out by Elton Mayo during the first few decades of the 20th century, known as the Hawthorne Case. This became the practice of Team Building.

Subsequently, in the forties and right in the middle of the Second World War, studies and programmes were developed to improve the survival abilities of people shipwrecked during the war. The exiled German pedagogue, Kurt Hah, led these studies in Scotland and his findings showed the importance of experience in controlling emotions and enhancing the abilities required to survive. He also applied these principles after the war, creating Outdoor Training.

Both activities have been applied to corporate training and to the organisation of leisure and educational events over the last few decades. However, the lack of scientific rigour in designing the activities used in these programmes is leading to doubts as to their value. Their popularisation and the lack of appropriate training has led to errors in application, superficial reports and the consequent devaluing of these practices. The evolution of training needs has done the rest, as the digital revolution has led to a notable change in professional tasks and in training needs, which these practices have not been able to take on board or resolve.

In the 60s, a lecturer with a diploma in physical education, also responsible for selecting the French volleyball team, was called upon to justify the value of the physical exercises performed by his athletes; a situation similar to the previous one, and something he could not do. So Pierre Parlebas decided to set up a system that would allow him to scientifically analyse motor situations, paying attention to the motor actions involved and their consequences: in terms of emotions and personal interaction. As a result, he took several higher education courses, looking for a solution (psychology, mathematics, linguistics) and reached the conclusion that none of these disciplines focused on the study of motor action as a source of knowledge. However, his cultural and scientific background meant that he was able to create the Science of Motor Action or Motor Praxiology while preparing his doctoral thesis (1985). Dr. Parlebas became a dean and is Professor Emeritus for Sociology at the Sorbonne in Paris. This discipline has continued to develop and evolve and, since 1999, it has been a subject studied at some French faculties.

This knowledge was spread and reached Spain thanks to some lecturers at Physical Education faculties, who welcomed it enthusiastically and incorporated it into some Motor Praxiology laboratories.

Dr. de Marimon, once he had graduated from the faculty of Physical Education in Barcelona in 1989, worked for several years as a teacher trainer for different tourist activities in the natural environment (mountain and paragliding). He developed the training programme in paragliding techniques that is now applied in Spain and trained in paragliding flight, becoming Spanish champion. He discovered this discipline while carrying out his doctorate at one of these laboratories, in Lleida, which finally approved his thesis in the Pedagogy and Psychology of Motor Behaviour.

During the first few years, Dr. de Marimon tried to apply his knowledge to the corporate world through Outdoor Training and Team Building firms, but without too much success as he found the sector was more interested in making money than in improving its training in motor activities.

Some years later, he met Carlos Bustos at a club for entrepreneurs. For his part, Mr. Bustos, an experienced professional in different sectors, countries and areas of responsibility, was trying to promote his innovative ideas but had come up against a lack of adaptation to the new knowledge that technology could provide. All this led him to study the problems of implementing technology in business models and the consequent contamination of labour motivation and deterioration in relational atmospheres in companies, especially among white-collar workers.

This casual meeting between both men led them to join forces some months later and, for three years, they worked on formalising their interdisciplinary knowledge and applying this to practical experiences.

Hence, in 2003, Corporate Praxiology was born and, in 2006, Experiential Engineering, after a lot of fieldwork and validation of activities, with the consequent development of themes to train Experiential Engineers, allowing the discipline to be taught and developed.

In the summer of 2007, the first Experiential Engineering company in the world was finally set up, www.praxistudy.com, and the new discipline known as Experiential Engineering is now being published and promoted via this website.

If you would like to find out more about the differences and benefits of the various experiential disciplines, you can attend a seminar or become a Praxiologist.