Trust in Interpersonal

Trust in Interpersonal Relationships

Interpersonal relationship has been defined as long-term relationship between two or more people (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). The key word in this definition is long term. This long-term relationship applies between friends, acquaintances, or even in business relationships. Psychologists have suggested that trust is needed to form and maintain interpersonal relationship (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Since the growing trend is working in a team environment, trusting in others is very important (Manz & Sims, 1993). Trust provides the foundation to effective communication, which leads to employee motivation and business success. According to Covey (2008), distrust “doubles the costs of doing business and triples the time it takes to get things done.” Knowing the bare information about the team members, trust must be assume to start the communication. The ability to continue building a trusting environment would depends on each member’s perception of the other team members. Merriam-Webster dictionary (2008) defines trust as “assured reliance on the character, ability, and strength of someone or something.” In the beginning of working relationships, trust must be assumed first because there would be no history among members to assure the character, ability, and strengths of the team members. As the working relationship progresses, team members must maintain and build on this trusting work environment to continue success in the organization. Levin, Whitener, & Cross (2006) stated that previous researches indicate that trust may be built on three different perceptions: demographic similarities, behaviors, and shared perspective. First, trust may be built on perceived demographic similarities. According to Hogg and Terry (2000), individuals are motivated to trust others by finding demographic similarities “to reduce uncertainty and establish similarities and differences to enhance self-esteem and self-identity.” (as cited in Levin et al., 2006). Second, trust may be built on perceptions of behaviors. Blau (1964) suggested that trust grows as “people interact, interpret each other’s behavior, and reciprocate.” Third, trust may also be built on shared perceptive. The trust is based on personalized expectations to “the extent to which they share the same goals, perceptive, and identity” (as cited in Levin et al., 2006). There are obstacles in keeping and maintaining trust, such as the unwillingness to trust because of previous experience and miscommunications. Engaging in team building activities might help create a trusting and team-oriented work environment. According to Turner and Rimanoczy (2008), these activities should be built to the team’s capability for learning to translate into new behaviors.
Trust is an important factor in interpersonal relationship in any work environment. Trust is build and maintain by many factors over time. Since team members cannot control trust, managers must develop relationships that will reduce distrust and will promote integrity. Managers who act trustworthy will have a positive impact to the team and working relationships. In addition, team-building activities in trust would improve employee performance, thus adding to the team’s success.