Trust and the Health of Organizations / Edition 1

by John G. Bruhn

Overview

Leaders are usually held responsible for the trust, health and success of an organization, but it is the culture of organizations that provides the true foundation for these important factors. The leader's personality and skills influence how a trustful environment and working relationship is created, but the organization has a culture, tradition and experience of its own which influences the leader's success. The level of trust in an organization's culture will ultimately determine whether or not it is trustful, healthy and successful.

Based on the interview of current and former chief executive officers from profit and non profit organizations to record their experiences in creating trust in their environment and their perceptions of the health of their organizations. The collected data reveals:

- The qualities of a "trusted" leader;

- How they created trust or;

- How trust was destroyed in organizations;

- How leaders worked in distrustful environments;

- How to create a more healthy organization.

This timely work will be of interest to organizations and occupational sociologists, human resource workers, social psychologists, and students of management courses.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306472657
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	07/31/2002
Series:	Clinical Sociology: Research and Practice
Edition description:	2001
Pages:	222
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.02(d)

Table of Contents

1. The Decline of Trust.- The Health Professions.- Government.- Corporate Business.- Education.- Churches.- Wall Street.- Is the Trend Real?.- Our Focus: Trust in Organizations.- Summary.- 2. Trust in Persons.- Creating Trust.- The Beginning of Trust.- Risk and Trusting.- A Trusted Person.- When Trust Fails.- Networks of Trust.- Summary.- 3. Trust in Organizations.- The Culture of Trust.- Leadership Behaviors and Trust.- Followership and Trust.- Trust-Building and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors.- CEO’s and Cultures Change: What About Trust?.- Summary.- 4. Trust and the Lifecycle of Organizations.- Organizations As Persons.- Organizational Lifecycle Transitions.- Relationships Between Trust, Organizational Culture, and Leadership Behavior.- Characteristics of a Trustful Organization.- Virtual Trust.- Summary.- 5. How Trust and Distrust Work in Organizations.- Indicators of Trust.- Building a Culture of Distrust.- Indicators of Distrust.- Pockets of Trust and Distrust.- Tough and Easy Cultures.- No Organization is a 10.- Intuition and Trust.- How CEO’s Learned Trust: Mentors and Models.- Summary.- 6. Challenges to Trust During Change and Crises.- Planned Change and Trust.- Unplanned Change and Trust.- Typical Organizational Change and Trust.- Organizational Crises and Trust.- Organizational Coping and Survival.- Change and Trust.- Change Changes Relationships.- Building, Managing, and Preventing Organizational Fires.- Do People Really Change?.- Summary.- 7. The Culture That Wouldn’t Budge: A Case Study.- Ten Themes.- Analysis.- Summary.- 8. The Health of Organizations.- What is a Healthy Organization?.- Similarities and Differences Between Individuals and Organizations.- Characteristics of Healthy Organizations.- How Organizations Become Unhealthy.- Cycles ofSickness and Health.- Degrees of Organizational Health.- How an Organization Solves Problems.- Preparing for Uncertain Change.- Trust and the Health of Organizations.- Can Trust Be Trusted? Family Businesses: Two Sides of the Same Coin.- Summary.- 9. The Ethical Organization.- What is an Ethical Organization?.- The Organization as an Ethical Community.- A Culture of Ethics.- How Organizations and Individual Members Become Unethical.- Why Unethical Leaders Persist.- Finding Integrity, Creating Trust.- Summary.- Notes.- Appendix A.- Appendix B.

Editorial Reviews

"Trust and the Health of Organizations is a rich source of suggestions for elevating trust in organizations."

(Richard E. Kopelman; Contemporary Sociology 33, 2)

From the Publisher

Bruhn (New Mexico State U.-Las Crusas) interviewed current and former CEOs in a variety of organizations to determine some common characteristics of trust and to understand how leaders and cultures become distrustful. He discusses his conclusions in terms the decline of trust, trust and the lifecycle of organizations, challenges to trust during change and crises, and the health of organizations. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews