CHAPTER 7

Trust

The human perception of trust is part of this book as it a key element in the overall theory presented in the book, The Human Side of Virtual Work: Managing Trust, Isolation, and Presence. Trust is a human perception that has multiple layers. The depth of an individual feeling of trust is created by the person’s belief that trust is present in their relationship or situation. This feeling of trust is often a one-way street but for it to be measured truthfully, it must be measured in terms of the relationship.

A person can have a high or low level of trust in a relationship but the other person in that relationship could have the opposite level. This is why trust has to be measured from both sides to establish a true level of the trusting relationship.

We might see this in the VWE where a virtual worker might feel a high level of trust, yet the other workers might not. This can happen for a variety of reasons. As discussed in the chapter on self-efficacy, a virtual worker might be working very hard and putting in long hours and believe that is creating a high level of trust. However, if the tasks being delivered to the department don’t meet the expectations of the others, they in turn will lose trust toward the virtual worker.

Trust is a foundational aspect of human interaction. Individuals are often connected to their departments in terms of commitments. This is where trust plays a big part. This connection is more important in the VWE because there is a dependency to expect trust from all department members. In the example provided, the virtual worker believes they are connected and delivering a commitment, while the other workers believe the virtual worker failed to deliver the commitment required.

This creates the opposite effects desired by both parties. What actually happens is distrust. This is the evil stepbrother of trust. Trust and distrust are at the complete opposite ends of the trust spectrum. Morton Deutsch studied the aspects of distrust through his studies of social conflict.

There is no better example to illustrate this concept of trust and distrust than to use Deutsch’s prisoner’s dilemma game. In this game individuals were challenged to maximize their personal benefit by voting with or against other players.

The main element of the game is does a person think the other person will go along with their position so both players will reap a benefit at a lower level, yet both benefit, or will they choose to go on their own to maximize their own benefit, while risking everything?

Trust for the virtual workers has to come in the many different levels that trust can occur. Self-trust, kin to self-efficacy: Here the individual has to trust themselves to be able to perform the task and do what they believe they can accomplish with a high level of success. In other words, can they control the outcome?

Organizational trust: Do they trust the organization and does the organization trust them? This often manifests itself in effectiveness. Is the virtual worker being seen as effective in the duties and completion of tasks? As discussed, there could be a disconnect associated with this level of trust because the virtual worker believes they are being effective but the organization might see it otherwise; remember what happened to Samantha?

Individual trust: This is most often seen in terms of character, being a sincere person, having high ethics and integrity. Again, the problem here is do both people involved in the relationship feel the same degree of trust?

The VWE is ripe for each and every level of trust discussed to be challenged.

Leaders in the VWE must be vigilant about the human perception of trust and must ensure that it is measured and evaluated on a regular basis. It goes without saying that trust can take a long time to develop with many events needed to be tested for trust to form; unfortunately, trust can be destroyed quickly, and it is in the best interest of the organization to watch for events that can lead to the erosion of trust.