Using management theory to support your recommendations
Trust & Conflict
Week 8 – Management in Practice
Dr Carol Bond
RMIT Classification: Trusted
1
Today’s overview:
The role of trust in multi-stakeholder partnerships
The role of trust in employee well-being
The role of trust in CSR and SLO
What to do when trust is punctured by conflict
Role of ethics & leadership in maintaining & reclaiming trust
RMIT Classification: Trusted
2
Trust is the relational glue of collaboration
Facilitates organisational cooperation & collaboration
Takes considerable time to develop
Bridges the divide between different languages, values, cultures, and power imbalances
Promotes sharing information and communicating effectively with competency and good intentions
RMIT Classification: Trusted
3
To trust is to be human
Trust has both cognitive & affective foundations
Interpersonal trust dynamics change over time
Emotional incidents can perforate a relationship or partnership characterised by trust
Breaches of trust can be mended
RMIT Classification: Trusted
4
Multi-stakeholder Partnerships and Trust
Stakeholder engagement
Collaborative arrangements
CSR
Achieving strategic corporate goals
Enable systemic change
RMIT Classification: Trusted
5
What are multi-stakeholder partnerships?
“Formalised arrangements in which organisations from diverse sectors (public, private, nfp) commit to work together to accomplish goals that they could not otherwise achieve on their own.”
Diversity of partners
Sharing knowledge and complementary competencies
Aim for mutual benefit and win-win situations
RMIT Classification: Trusted
6
Lack of trust can imperil multi-stakeholder partnerships
Increase in tensions
Negative episodes
Crises
Contested understanding of terms / goals
RMIT Classification: Trusted
7
Challenge: build both cognitive & affective trust levels
Cognitive
Perceptions of an individual’s or team’s trustworthiness and expectations of predictable, reliable behaviour
Affective
The emotions and feelings that people have for one another – genuine care, concern, benevolence and good will.
RMIT Classification: Trusted
8
Balance emotions during trust-critical ‘episodes’
People may conceal their emotions in the work environment, but emotions drive behaviour
Negative emotions arise in response to:
interorganisational and interpersonal tensions
threats to identity
neglect of the other’s interests
Sloan P, Oliver D. Building Trust in Multi-stakeholder Partnerships: Critical Emotional Incidents and Practices of Engagement. Organization Studies. 2013;34(12):1835-1868. doi:10.1177/0170840613495018
RMIT Classification: Trusted
9
Employee trust in organisations
“The compatibility of an employee’s beliefs, values and engagement with the organisation’s vision & strategic goals”
Trust leads to lower employee turnover
Higher perceived organisational support
Greater productivity and sense of responsibility towards the organisation
RMIT Classification: Trusted
10
The role of organisational leadership for employee trust
Employee engagement leads to organisational trust
An engaging and compelling vision for the organisation builds trust through influence, motivation, intellectual stimulation and employee well-being throughout a change process.
Leaders who encourage creativity and reward good ideas emerging from employees enjoy higher levels of trust.
RMIT Classification: Trusted
11
Transformational leadership & trust
Lalatendu Kesari Jena, Sajeet Pradhan, Nrusingh Prasad Panigrahy, Pursuit of organisational trust: Role of employee
engagement, psychological well-being and transformational leadership,Asia Pacific Management Review, Volume 23, Issue 3, 2018, Pages 227-234
RMIT Classification: Trusted
12
Trust connects employees & organisations
Trust-worthy behaviour of leaders generates confidence and a better work atmosphere
Rational outcome distribution contributes to psychological well-being
Leaders perceived as ethical and trustworthy engender more psychological and emotional engagement of employees
RMIT Classification: Trusted
13
Community trust in organisations: CSR & SLO
RMIT Classification: Trusted
14
What do communities want?
Improved economic prospects & social services
A company approach that demonstrates fairness & respect
A company or organisation that takes responsibility for any negative impacts
Transparency
RMIT Classification: Trusted
15
How does transparency affect trust?
Reinforces support from the community
Lowers demands and supports better long-term planning
Identifies issues early before they become problems
Counters rumours
Signals honesty, trust, and respect
Zandvliet, L., & Anderson, M. (2009). Getting it right : Making corporate-community relations work. ProQuest Ebook
RMIT Classification: Trusted
16
What happens when trust breaks down?
Information vacuums & rumours breed distrust
Organisational change can create conditions of uncertainty and anxiety that erode or puncture trust
Factors in the operating environment for which the organisation has not shared a plan
Accidents, a performance error, a catastrophic event can change perception of an organisation
Promises that ‘we’ve got this’ make people feel unsafe
RMIT Classification: Trusted
17
It takes a sincere effort …
It takes courage and openness to share that trust has been violated
It takes humility to acknowledge that you have damaged someone else’s trust
The person / organisation that violated trust, must sincerely apologise and offer to make amends
Trust repair can only happen when both sides recognise the violation and can then work on terms of relationship repair
RMIT Classification: Trusted
Take responsibility
RMIT Classification: Trusted
19
Steps to rebuild trust
First, figure out what happened
How fast or slowly did trust break down?
When did you find out about the trust violation?
Was there a single cause or a pattern?
Is there a perception of a conspiracy or betrayal?
Was the loss of trust mutual?
Is there an element of vindictiveness at play?
RMIT Classification: Trusted
20
Steps to rebuild trust
How deep and broad is the breach in trust?
Own up to the breach and start the recovery process as soon as possible
Identify as precisely as possible what you must accomplish in order to rebuild trust (e.g., reorganise work flows, departmental structures, make lateral assignments)
List the changes you’ll make in organizational structure, systems, people, and culture to achieve those outcomes
RMIT Classification: Trusted
21
Summing it up …
Trust is a complicated and fragile commodity
Nobody and no corporation is perfect – breaches in trust can and will occur
Trust between organisations, within organisations, and with the wider community are all very valuable
Good leadership, CSR, Ethics and Transparency are all required
Galford, R and Drapeau, AS, The Enemies of Trust, Harvard Business Review, February 2003 Issue.
RMIT Classification: Trusted
22