Content area
Full Text
By Dennis S. Reina and Michelle L. Reina. San Francisco: BerrettKoehler Publishers, Inc., 1999. 176 pages, hard cover, $27.95.
According to Dennis and Michelle Reina, the authors of Trust & Betrayal in the Workplace: Building Effective Relationships in Your Organization, trust among organizational members is at an all-time low. This is unfortunate, since low trust affects not only the bottom line but the overall health of the organization and its members as well. The authors, principals in the organizational development firm of Chagnon & Reina Associates, wrote this book to help people understand the complex dynamics of trust and betrayal. The authors intended their book to serve as "a comprehensive reference and practical guide to building trust between individuals, within teams, and throughout organizations." In work environments where trust flourishes, leaders can significantly improve morale, productivity, and profitability.
In describing the dynamics of trust and betrayal, the Reinas explain that betrayal occurs when people's expectations are not met, when they feel taken advantage of, when they are excluded from decisions that affect their jobs and their lives, or when their creativity is suppressed. These betrayals can "diminish people's energy, cloud their thinking, sap their motivation, and derail their productivity." Rather than attending to their work, betrayed individuals focus their attention and energy on protecting themselves or planning ways to get revenge. In contrast, when employees trust one another, they enjoy coming to work and generally work harder at their jobs because "trust-inspiring work environments are liberating." Employees give more of themselves; they accept challenges and perceive them as opportunities.
The authors describe two forms of trust: transactional and transformative. Transactional trust is created incrementally and it is reciprocal: You have "got to give it to get it." Transformative trust exists when...