Trust in the Workplace

Trust is a very integral part of all relationships, no matter what the dynamic of the relationship is. Trust can be as complex as the interaction between two people that are in a committed relationship, or can be as simple as the relationship between two employees. Regardless of the relationship, trust is an integral part of human interaction in our day-to-day lives. Trust is defined as assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something. Children place the trust in their parents that they will be nurtured, loved, provided for and protected throughout youth and into adulthood. Adults involved in a domestic relationship trusts that their partner will be truthful, honorable and faithful to them. But trust is not reserved only for personal relationships between friends and spouses or partners. Trust is also important in the workplace.

When someone begins a career with a company they are introduced to many different personalities, work ethics and lifestyles. The company is also introduced to a new dynamic in the personality and characteristics of the newly hired employee. It is important from the beginning that the individual and the company are both honest in what they have to offer and as the relationship between the two develops, there are many other factors that build on the foundation to make a solid relationship that can last for many, many years.

Typically, each person in a company has a specific function and it is important to understand how the function fits into the end goal of the company for the company to be successful. It is the primary reason why trust is so important between employees. When someone reports to work, they are expecting that others will report to work also. And that while everyone is there, each person's responsibility will be taken seriously and completed to the best of their ability. That should be a given in any position, in any company, and because teams are so reliant on their members, trust must be present for the team to be successful. Additionally, external factors such as economic downturn, outsourcing, and temporary employment also play a large part in how trust is developed in the workplace. In the United States, recent polls demonstrate that low levels of trust both in our institutions and amongst each other are rampant. In a 2001 Gallup poll, only 41 percent of Americans said most people could be trusted (Kahane, 2006). How do all of these variables affect the dynamics of relationships between co-workers? It begins with identifying the characteristics that are important to each individual as a measurement of trust and then builds upon those characteristics to form lasting relationships in the workplace.

Identifying Characteristics

Being able to identify who can and cannot be trusted can be a difficult process. Frequent interaction in the workplace and observation of an individual is the best way to gauge trust in others. There are three key characteristics that are evaluated to determine the level of trust that will be given to another person. The characteristics are ability, integrity, and benevolence (Lewicki & Tomlinson, 2003). A person's ability is a reference to their knowledge, skill or competency. In order to have trust in a relationship, the ability to perform to expectations is one of the first steps in trust development. The second important characteristic is integrity.

Integrity is a firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values. The three C's, consistency, credibility, and commitment, are important in identifying a person's integrity. Without consistent behavior in co-workers, it is difficult to establish trust. Sporadic behavior in an individual can often lead to mistrust, because there is really no way of knowing how a person will react in a given situation without consistency. Credibility has to do with information sharing and how accurate information that is passed on can be. This information can be of a company or personal nature; but without credibility, trust is absent. Commitment is the final piece to having integrity as a personality trait. Making a commitment is the equivalent of making a promise to do an act or become obligated, and is probably the most essential part of possessing integrity. Integrity involves adherence to a set of principles acceptable to the other party, encompassing honesty and fair treatment (Dietz & Den Hartog, 2006). The third characteristic of trust is benevolence.

Benevolence is the assessment that the trusted individual is concerned about the welfare of others and is interested in advancing their interests, or at least not impeding them (Lewicki & Tomlinson, 2003). These characteristics are often intertwined in a personality but are stepping stones to building a trusting relationship.

Building Trust in the Workplace

Within the workday, a person comes into contact with many different people, with many different roles. Often a person reacts differently to certain stimuli and situations, depending upon the initiator. A study conducted in 2009 showed that employees often have greater trusting relationships with those employees that are considered "horizontal", equal level employees, than they do with employees that are "vertical", management and employees (Tan & Lim, 2009). One of the reasons for this greater trust in a relationship is that the horizontal employee interaction is more frequent, since it is likely that the horizontal employees work together daily, for many hours each day. Another reason that this bond is so prevalent, is that in the event of a mistrust on the part of management, the horizontal employees will band together to resolve any conflicts.

Additionally, the formation of a horizontal trust relationship allows for greater productivity and efficiency amongst employees because there will be less time and effort wasted trying to protect themselves from misdeeds and then energies can be focused on the tasks that are necessary to be accomplished at work. After time, the vertical trust relationship also begins to develop and employees become even more efficient because there is not a lot of energy spent worrying about whether or not the organization will be treating them unfairly (Tan & Lim, 2009). Another positive outcome of working in a trusting environment is an employee's health and lower costs for the company.

Studies have shown that employees that work in a more trusting environment are likely to have lower stress levels and higher production rates, which can create a win-win situation for both the employee and the company (Zeffane & Connell, 2003, p. 4). Additionally, when an employee's stress level is lower, they are less likely to miss work or to incur costly