Trust is a fundamental building block for any successful organisation - yet trust in business has plummeted since the Global Financial Crisis.
A new report co-authored by a expert investigates how companies win trust and how they can rebuild it after their reputation has suffered serious damage.
Dr Nicole Gillespie, a senior lecturer in management with , wrote the report with Dr Graham Dietz of . The published their report The Recovery of Trust: Case studies of organisational failures and trust repair. (Download report .)
Dr Gillespie said the report used real-life examples of organisations which had suffered serious failures of trust 鈥� Siemens, Mattel, Toyota, BAE Systems, and the BBC 鈥� to illustrate good and bad practice in rebuilding trust.
鈥淲hat is common to all the cases we have reviewed is that trust failures typically take years to resolve, and can be both debilitating and very costly,鈥� she said.
鈥淎 clear implication is that it pays to invest proactively in designing an organisational system that encourages and supports trustworthy conduct.鈥�
In most of the cases cited, rebuilding trust required an overhaul of the organisational culture. However she said it was important to emphasise that a failure of trust could be repaired and it can even prove to be a catalyst to strengthen an organisation鈥檚 reputation.
鈥淎 crisis focuses and motivates the organisation, providing a strong and necessary impetus for radical change, and unleashing resources and new ways of thinking that are often difficult to leverage under normal circumstances. This is the silver lining of trust failures.
鈥淲e hope that this analysis of prominent cases of trust failure and repair serves as a helpful guide to those involved in this challenging task.鈥�
Dr Gillespie has published a variety of papers on organisational trust. Her other research interests include leadership, teams and employee engagement.
Further information about the report and the crises faced by the organisations analysed is .
Media: Samantha Kennerley, 宅男导航 Business School Marketing & Communications Manager, +61 (0) 433 130085, s.kennerley@business.uq.edu.au
