IHIGH I IHIGH I
4. PRESENTATION OF DATA
4.3 Qualitative Data
4.3.3 Trust
AMP: Ok, let's put things a bit into perspective again. We're talking about
management tactics and what has been implemented successfully. We have actually touched a bit on the next question which is what factors do you think affect the implementation of tactics. We've picked up the point about communication and proper supervision, especially of unskilled labour, umm, and basically, the floor is still open for you to talk about any other factors that affect the implementation of tactics.
1M2: I think when we talk about communication and effectiveness, that's a broad, a broad topic, and I think that a proper understanding of the communication process, along with specific orientation of the communication towards a specific audience is important...
BF: [regarding performance appraisals, referred to as "KRA's" representing Key Result Areas] .... Like the KRA's, you can't just come and say, 'well KRA's are now due people' that's it. 'Next month is STIP month again people, KRA's come let's talk, you get a four'. In between what happens? ..
1M!: I think also, what they call roles and responsibilities, are important, and its on both sides also. If you take into consideration where, they should have a feedback mechanism, like with KRA's, if you feel like you're battling, you should be able to go and talk to the manager and it's a two-way thing also, and it should be expressed when you agree on the KRA's.
The psychometrist indicated that trust was related to communication and availability of information, and that miscommunication between management and employees led to employees not having faith in the employer. In addition, the employer was seen as preferring to have strict rules and regulations in place, rather than trusting the employees to be responsible.
Psychologist Wim Myberg discussed at length the concept of trustworthiness as a function of competence and honourable character. He proposed that, in order for management to be seen as credible in the eyes of employees, managers should demonstrate competence as well as integrity. He believed that, if employees
experienced the "collective competence of the people upstairs" and if the work climate was one "that is honourable, and there's integrity, there's openness", then their level of trustworthiness regarding the organisation would increase. In addition, he made
reference to a trend of "eroding trust" in the workplace:
WM: .. .I've seen, uh, lots of writings over the last few years, uh, in our field, in scientific publications, about the eroding trust that has been noticeable in the, umm, employee world, if you want to call it that, in government and private companies, you know, among individuals and collectively. The levels of trust are actually reducing, if you do in-depth, longitudinal stuff, you'll see that it's dropping. Because people are, well, they see things like white collar fraud, corruption, and you sit here and now you think, 'oh, I can't trust these guys, they are only in it for themselves'. And that's why I think that trust would be your main construct, around, well, upon which the psychological contract is built.
AMP: Have you seen in your readings, any tools for measuring trust?
WM: la, there are some measures. There is a guy up in UNISA, who is big on this thing and they developed an organizational trust survey. I must just think, what is his name ... They have presented many papers and their almost diagnostic tool at conferences. I know, Koeberg, which is a process controlled environment, like this, do an annual trust survey. They say, 'we're measuring the index of trust because it's a safety issue. If the trust drops, it is going to impact on our safety, so they're monitoring it; not safety but the precursor to it'.
AMP: It is almost like monitoring behaviour to control the safety.
WM: Yes, yes, exactly. So they take trust. And I think if you use trust, you're very close to the core. And that is an eroding issue and what's affected by those things.
Myberg also stated that there was a direct correlation between trust and employee willingness to release greater levels of discretionary effort in going the extra mile at work. He also stated that he felt that employees trusted the employer less than what one would think and that employers trusted employees even less. He also stated that trust between managers and their subordinates depended to some extent on the level
occupied by those individuals in the organization. At the senior management level, for instance, the interaction between the general manager and his functional managers may be based on high levels oftrust. However, as you consider employees lower down in the ranks, trust between subsequent levels, reduces.
Trust was also considered to be a fundamental requirement for the successful implementation of strategy. If employees trust the organization and management, Myberg claims, there is a greater chance that they would accept and identify with strategy rather than view it as being suspicious. If there was no basis of trust, employees would see changes and new initiatives as an instrument of manipulation.
During the employee focus group, two issues came up which were related to trust. The first was the issue of a "blame culture" where one of the employees expressed that there was a feeling in the plant that when something goes wrong at the refinery, management first tries to find out who was responsible rather than getting to the root cause of the problem. It was also stated that, when such a feeling pervades the organisation, employees do not give honest feedback to supervisors.
The other issue was related to the effect of employees' home situation on their work performance:
WMl: The problem again, it comes back to that same thing. We all have got a private life, and some of our private lives might be horrendous, absolutely. And the trouble is, you bring that baggage to work with you, but I was always taught, never,
1M2: That has changed now. I think there's a different school of holistic
management, where people, people are allowed to bring their personal issues into the workplace, and, in a spirit of confidentiality, and at the discretion of the lower ranking individual, disclosure made about such issues. So, that's a trust relationship.
It's aimed at building the trust relationship.
WMl: Alright, ok. Well, that's news to me.