Poor management can Diminish Trust among your Colleagues

Managers who compare co-workers to one another, through raises, promotions and/or differential treatment, diminish trust among colleagues in the workplace, according to a paper written by professors at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Michigan State University’s Broad College of Business, and University of Washington Foster School of Business.

The researchers looked at two kinds of trust: cognitive (faith in one’s abilities) and affective (faith in one’s relationship with a person).

Although cognitive is easier to mend than affective trust, employers can benefit by boosting employees’ perception of their value without pointing out how they have outpaced anyone else and by offering team rewards.

The paper was published by Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes.