Building Trust Within a Group

Building Trust within a Group Mgt/521 When working in teams I have found that team members have to earn trust from one another. It helps that everyone in the group has the same goal and in the end wants to achieve the same things. Trust is built when everyone is engaged and there is plenty of communication and involvement from each team member. There has to be a lot of give and take. Trust is built starting from small assignments and each individual doing their part. Trust can easy be lost right away if someone in the group is not participating to achieve the end goal.

It is important to keep trust among team members by staying involved, communicating, and working together. The weight of the team projects must be evenly dispersed throughout team members. If one team member is going more than others, trust can be lost. Trust is very complex and has multiple layers. Although trust is a major factor in interpersonal relationships, there has been relatively little research done on the topic. Trust emerges and changes in situations that are difficult to observe and study, such as in “strain test” situations (Holmes, 1981).

Strain test situations are when on individual’s outcomes is dependent on his or her partner, but the actions that would promote the individual’s own interests differ than what would benefit the partner. I think this goes back to the give and take scenario and doing what is best for the group, not just one individual. References Holmes, J. G. (1981). The exchange process in close relationships: Micro behavior and macro motives. In M. J. Lerner & S. C. Lerner (Eds. ), the justice motive in social behavior (pp. 261–284). New York: Plenum. Current Directions in Psychological Science, (2007, Oct 01); 16(5); p264 5p.