Trust management
Encyclopedia
Trust management can be conceptualized in two ways. First, as a process by which individual A becomes trustworthy for other individuals. This trust is significant criterion of success and survival because it makes individuals to collaborate with individual A. It is not rare when part of the people try to build fake image of their own reliability because of e.g. personal benefits. Second, as a process of assessing the reliability of other individuals, which is as much important as process of building A’s own reliability. Taking together these two aspects we can formulate the following definition of trust management (Grudzewski, Hejduk, Sankowska, Wańtuchowicz, 2008):
“the activities of creating systems and methods that allow relying parties to:
1. Make assessments and decisions regarding the dependability of potential transactions involving risk
2. Allow players and system owners to increase and correctly represent the reliability of themselves and their systems.”
Trust is a container concept used in a broad variety of disciplines. Much work has been done in the field of psychology, sociology, economics, political science
s, philosophy, anthropology and management sciences. Above definition is a milestone in management sciences. Yet one can barely speak of coherent research in the field of trust and trust management.
For trust management defined above, there are some crucial assumptions as follows:
1. Trust and suspiciousness are often well-founded because in competing organizations, which often stay in the scope of unforeseeable political influence, the cost of trusting inappropriate object can have dramatic effects,
2. In potentially uncertain, dangerous and risky environment we need to know very well who we can and who we cannot trust and in which circumstances we can do what. Moreover, it is essential to see the necessity of being aware of potential dangers.
The essence of trust management is not to trust but to decide to what extent we can trust and how to develop and create trust relationships.
When we are in the situation of trust deficit which causes a climate of resignation, consternation and makes it hard to concentrate on agreed targets, a man naturally tends to limit mentioned above effects. It is conducted in the process of uncertainty reduction and creating substitutes of trust (Sztompka, 1998, 2007). These equivalents of trust are as follows:
1. Providentialism
– meaning supernatural forces, fortune, God or metaphysical forces.
2. Corruption – predicting and having control under the other’s people actions using bribes, favors, favoritism
and so on.
3. Pressure – it allows directly and unconditionally to control the other’s people actions.
4. Isolation (ghettoization) – separating certain ethnical, religion or professional group in unfavorable and threatening it environment, with strong internal loyalty strengthened by xenophobia and lack of tolerance for the others.
5. Paternalism
– considered as going in search of strong authority, leader – „quasi father” – who assures missing order, hierarchical harmony and predictability of the group’s life.
6. Externalization – it means transferring trust on other external groups or communities together with tendency to idealize procedure of operations, organisational solutions or total quality of institution of targeted group.
7. Excessive assistance of legal institutions—when businessmen do not trust each other, they need formal means to secure the transaction (for instance, detailed contracts, bank guarantees, employing certifying notary, and tendency to sue).
Trust management needs to be put in practice. The strategy that leads to this is trust building. The rules of trust creation refer to rules and guidelines which have a far- reaching influence on the formation and development of trust. Trust building is the kind of the management strategy because it is strongly focused not only on the present, but first of all on the future cooperation. The 18 rules of trust building are as follows:
1. Self-trust is a critical factor in trust creating.
2. Waiting till other people will prove their own trustworthiness is inadequate (not enough).
3. Trust creating and building is very long process and can be destroyed in one moment.
4. You will not build trust if you treat it as mean to the target.
5. We cannot build trust without taking into consideration the values.
6. Trust is often invisible.
7. Trust demands engagements.
8. Trust relies usually on reciprocal relations.
9. Trust opens possibilities which in other cases are not possible.
10. Trust changes in time.
11. We ought to avoid substitutes of trust.
12. We ought to avoid the games of the authority.
13. We ought to build the culture of high trust in the organization.
14. We ought to avoid the continuous choke of conflicts.
15. We ought to care for the concordance, avoid the strategy of the fraud (falsifying, concealments, double meanings
) in the communication processes.
16. We ought to reduce the uncertainty.
17. We ought to remember that observable behaviors determine „only the tip of the iceberg”.
18. We ought to treat other people honestly and justly.
The level of trust determines not only our individual development, but above everything else it fosters the social and economic evolution of the whole communities. Therefore, trust management is the best solution to develop. However, it is possible only when we act in the atmosphere of trust where trust culture in commonly acceptable and required by every member of the society.
Trust culture stands for disseminated in society rules which oblige every citizen to treat trust and trustworthiness as common shared values. In this culture well-rooted norm is to redeem the obligations, be honest, open to collaborate with others. Trust culture negates the existence of corruption.
Culture of trust is helpful in insecure and unorganized situations (Bjerke, 1999). Trust can be recognized as the strategy of dealing with uncertainty. Distrust culture is based on cynicism
, disorder, corruption, exploiting others, deceiving, great care. In order to function in distrust culture there are implemented various formal legal remedies.
Trust has focal meaning for the success of every transaction. It stimulates the human activities. In countries with trust culture there is higher social well-being
and economic growth
(Fukuyama 1995). In distrust culture those who trust in others are believed to be naive and simple-minded and they are the victims of unfair transactions. Cynicism limits the collaboration, the freedom of activity, destroys communication and divides people. Trust is depreciated.
Building trust has special meaning for social capital
. According to Putnam trust is one of elements constituting social capital, together with norms and networks. Without this capital there is impossible the economical and social growth and building capitalism
and democracy. Citizens need to have the feeling that they influence state affairs and live in the country characterized by culture of trust. Fukuyama, American politician, economist and political philosopher
brought forward the issue of trust and social capital in his famous book entitled Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity. New York: Free Press, 1995.
in the global economy, Edward Elgar Publishing
, 1999
2. Fukuyama, F., Trust: The social virtues & the creation of prosperity, New York: The Free Press
, 1995
3. Grudzewski W.M., Hejduk I.K., Sankowska A., "Trust Management - The New Way in The Information Society", Economics and Organization of Enterprise, Volume 2, Number 2 / 2008, p. 2-8
4. Grudzewski W.M., Hejduk I.K., Sankowska A., Wańtuchowicz M., Trust Management in Virtual Work Environments: A Human Factors
Perspective, CRC Press
Taylor & Francis
Group, 2008, p. 38
5. Sztompka P., Zaufanie., Fundament społeczeństwa ("The foundations of society"), Kraków: Znak, 2007, p. 328-333 (in Polish)
“the activities of creating systems and methods that allow relying parties to:
1. Make assessments and decisions regarding the dependability of potential transactions involving risk
2. Allow players and system owners to increase and correctly represent the reliability of themselves and their systems.”
Trust is a container concept used in a broad variety of disciplines. Much work has been done in the field of psychology, sociology, economics, political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
s, philosophy, anthropology and management sciences. Above definition is a milestone in management sciences. Yet one can barely speak of coherent research in the field of trust and trust management.
For trust management defined above, there are some crucial assumptions as follows:
1. Trust and suspiciousness are often well-founded because in competing organizations, which often stay in the scope of unforeseeable political influence, the cost of trusting inappropriate object can have dramatic effects,
2. In potentially uncertain, dangerous and risky environment we need to know very well who we can and who we cannot trust and in which circumstances we can do what. Moreover, it is essential to see the necessity of being aware of potential dangers.
The essence of trust management is not to trust but to decide to what extent we can trust and how to develop and create trust relationships.
When we are in the situation of trust deficit which causes a climate of resignation, consternation and makes it hard to concentrate on agreed targets, a man naturally tends to limit mentioned above effects. It is conducted in the process of uncertainty reduction and creating substitutes of trust (Sztompka, 1998, 2007). These equivalents of trust are as follows:
1. Providentialism
Providentialism
Providentialism is a belief that God's will is evident in all occurrences. It can further be described as a belief that the power of God is so complete that humans cannot equal His abilities, or fully understand His plan...
– meaning supernatural forces, fortune, God or metaphysical forces.
2. Corruption – predicting and having control under the other’s people actions using bribes, favors, favoritism
Elitism
Elitism is the belief or attitude that some individuals, who form an elite — a select group of people with intellect, wealth, specialized training or experience, or other distinctive attributes — are those whose views on a matter are to be taken the most seriously or carry the most...
and so on.
3. Pressure – it allows directly and unconditionally to control the other’s people actions.
4. Isolation (ghettoization) – separating certain ethnical, religion or professional group in unfavorable and threatening it environment, with strong internal loyalty strengthened by xenophobia and lack of tolerance for the others.
5. Paternalism
Paternalism
Paternalism refers to attitudes or states of affairs that exemplify a traditional relationship between father and child. Two conditions of paternalism are usually identified: interference with liberty and a beneficent intention towards those whose liberty is interfered with...
– considered as going in search of strong authority, leader – „quasi father” – who assures missing order, hierarchical harmony and predictability of the group’s life.
6. Externalization – it means transferring trust on other external groups or communities together with tendency to idealize procedure of operations, organisational solutions or total quality of institution of targeted group.
7. Excessive assistance of legal institutions—when businessmen do not trust each other, they need formal means to secure the transaction (for instance, detailed contracts, bank guarantees, employing certifying notary, and tendency to sue).
Trust management needs to be put in practice. The strategy that leads to this is trust building. The rules of trust creation refer to rules and guidelines which have a far- reaching influence on the formation and development of trust. Trust building is the kind of the management strategy because it is strongly focused not only on the present, but first of all on the future cooperation. The 18 rules of trust building are as follows:
1. Self-trust is a critical factor in trust creating.
2. Waiting till other people will prove their own trustworthiness is inadequate (not enough).
3. Trust creating and building is very long process and can be destroyed in one moment.
4. You will not build trust if you treat it as mean to the target.
5. We cannot build trust without taking into consideration the values.
6. Trust is often invisible.
7. Trust demands engagements.
8. Trust relies usually on reciprocal relations.
9. Trust opens possibilities which in other cases are not possible.
10. Trust changes in time.
11. We ought to avoid substitutes of trust.
12. We ought to avoid the games of the authority.
13. We ought to build the culture of high trust in the organization.
14. We ought to avoid the continuous choke of conflicts.
15. We ought to care for the concordance, avoid the strategy of the fraud (falsifying, concealments, double meanings
Double entendre
A double entendre or adianoeta is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so: often risqué or ironic....
) in the communication processes.
16. We ought to reduce the uncertainty.
17. We ought to remember that observable behaviors determine „only the tip of the iceberg”.
18. We ought to treat other people honestly and justly.
The level of trust determines not only our individual development, but above everything else it fosters the social and economic evolution of the whole communities. Therefore, trust management is the best solution to develop. However, it is possible only when we act in the atmosphere of trust where trust culture in commonly acceptable and required by every member of the society.
Trust culture stands for disseminated in society rules which oblige every citizen to treat trust and trustworthiness as common shared values. In this culture well-rooted norm is to redeem the obligations, be honest, open to collaborate with others. Trust culture negates the existence of corruption.
Culture of trust is helpful in insecure and unorganized situations (Bjerke, 1999). Trust can be recognized as the strategy of dealing with uncertainty. Distrust culture is based on cynicism
Cynicism
Cynicism , in its original form, refers to the beliefs of an ancient school of Greek philosophers known as the Cynics . Their philosophy was that the purpose of life was to live a life of Virtue in agreement with Nature. This meant rejecting all conventional desires for wealth, power, health, and...
, disorder, corruption, exploiting others, deceiving, great care. In order to function in distrust culture there are implemented various formal legal remedies.
Trust has focal meaning for the success of every transaction. It stimulates the human activities. In countries with trust culture there is higher social well-being
Quality of life
The term quality of life is used to evaluate the general well-being of individuals and societies. The term is used in a wide range of contexts, including the fields of international development, healthcare, and politics. Quality of life should not be confused with the concept of standard of...
and economic growth
Economic growth
In economics, economic growth is defined as the increasing capacity of the economy to satisfy the wants of goods and services of the members of society. Economic growth is enabled by increases in productivity, which lowers the inputs for a given amount of output. Lowered costs increase demand...
(Fukuyama 1995). In distrust culture those who trust in others are believed to be naive and simple-minded and they are the victims of unfair transactions. Cynicism limits the collaboration, the freedom of activity, destroys communication and divides people. Trust is depreciated.
Building trust has special meaning for social capital
Social capital
Social capital is a sociological concept, which refers to connections within and between social networks. The concept of social capital highlights the value of social relations and the role of cooperation and confidence to get collective or economic results. The term social capital is frequently...
. According to Putnam trust is one of elements constituting social capital, together with norms and networks. Without this capital there is impossible the economical and social growth and building capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
and democracy. Citizens need to have the feeling that they influence state affairs and live in the country characterized by culture of trust. Fukuyama, American politician, economist and political philosopher
Political philosophy
Political philosophy is the study of such topics as liberty, justice, property, rights, law, and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why they are needed, what, if anything, makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it...
brought forward the issue of trust and social capital in his famous book entitled Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity. New York: Free Press, 1995.
Sources
1. Bjerke, B., Business leadership and culture. National management stylesManagement styles
Management styles are characteristic ways of making decisions and relating to subordinates.This idea was further developed by Robert Tannenbaum and Warren H...
in the global economy, Edward Elgar Publishing
Edward Elgar Publishing
Edward Elgar Publishing, founded in 1986, is an independent family-owned international publisher, with offices in Cheltenham and Camberley in the UK and Northampton, Massachusetts, in the USA. It specializes in the academic market and publishes in the field of economics, law, Management studies,...
, 1999
2. Fukuyama, F., Trust: The social virtues & the creation of prosperity, New York: The Free Press
Free Press (publisher)
Free Press is a book publishing imprint of Simon and Schuster. It was founded by Jeremiah Kaplan and Charles Liebman in 1947 and was devoted to sociology and religion titles. It was headquartered in Glencoe, Illinois, where it was known as The Free Press of Glencoe...
, 1995
3. Grudzewski W.M., Hejduk I.K., Sankowska A., "Trust Management - The New Way in The Information Society", Economics and Organization of Enterprise, Volume 2, Number 2 / 2008, p. 2-8
4. Grudzewski W.M., Hejduk I.K., Sankowska A., Wańtuchowicz M., Trust Management in Virtual Work Environments: A Human Factors
Human factors
Human factors science or human factors technologies is a multidisciplinary field incorporating contributions from psychology, engineering, industrial design, statistics, operations research and anthropometry...
Perspective, CRC Press
CRC Press
The CRC Press, LLC is a publishing group which specializes in producing technical books. While many of their books relate to engineering, science and mathematics, their scope also includes books on business, forensics and information technology...
Taylor & Francis
Taylor and Francis
Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in the United Kingdom which publishes books and academic journals. It is a division of Informa plc, a United Kingdom-based publisher and conference company.- Overview :...
Group, 2008, p. 38
5. Sztompka P., Zaufanie., Fundament społeczeństwa ("The foundations of society"), Kraków: Znak, 2007, p. 328-333 (in Polish)