The Problem

• One imperative of effective leadership is inspiring and winning the trust of others.
• Distrust affects an organization’s performance negatively as high levels of trust affect performance positively. The issue of trust is, therefore, a major bottom-line issue.
• Hurley (2006) found that of 450 executives across 30 companies globally, almost half of all managers did not trust their leaders.

Research Questions

1. What trust-producing behaviors may leaders adopt in order to respond to the needs and expectations of employees?
2. What is the relationship among the behaviours?

Research Methodology

• The study uses an exploratory descriptive quantitative research design and a convenience sampling technique with a sample of 97 teachers.
• The instrument was tested for reliability using Chronbach’s alpha and generated a result of .938, which exceeds the ideal reliability reading of .90 suggested by Nunnally (1978).

Results

Trust-producing behaviours:

1. Trusting in the collective wisdom of staff
2. Encouraging diversity of perspectives
3. Willingness to debate issues in situations where opinions differ
4. Being a good listener
5. Promoting collective responsibility
6. Responding positively to staff when there is disagreement

Figure 1 Relationship among Trust-producing behaviours

Impact for Society

Improvements in trust in the workplace,has implications for employee and organizational health. It is a psychological, sociological, and managerial issue which ultimately impacts on productivity and innovation and by extension employee commitment and organizational profitability. It is, therefore, a principal duty of the leader to create the conditions for trust.