**3. What is organizational trust?**

woven around the term, available evidence shows that the field of organizational trust is still very fallow and it requires extensive exploration for its essentiality in fostering productive work performance and competiveness in the private and public organizations [4]. It is also very essential factor for promoting cooperative behavior among employees [5], sales and profits margins as well as employee retention in organizations [6]. Similarly, organizational trust has been recognized to be a crucial component of conflict management process in work organizations [7, 8]. This is essential because no organization can achieve cooperation between management and employees or among employees or even succeed without the availability of trust.

With this in mind, it is important to simulate interests in promoting the knowledge and understanding of the use of organizational trust as a conflict management tool in contemporary work organizations. This chapter therefore examines the concept of conflict situation within the context of work relations. It discusses the concept of organizational trust and the determinant factors for building trust in an organization. The chapter also explains the Lewicki and Bunker model of interpersonal trust to show the stages of organizational trust. It examines some theoretical perspectives of trust in an organization. The chapter further develops an Organizational Trust and Conflict Management Framework (OTCMF) for effective conflict

The term organizational conflict can be defined as any phenomenon that depicts disagreement within or among individuals or group working together in an organization over means or ends; or in an attempt to establish their views in preference to others. It can also be referred to as a feeling of displeasure or misunderstanding between people at workplace which stemmed from uncontrolled workplace exigencies such as unclearly defined roles, assignments or tasks, organizational structure, sharing of resources, role dependency, communication gap, poor remuneration or compensation scheme, job insecurity, differences in managerial styles, organizational change and so on. Flowing from the mainstream of definition of organizational conflict, three distinct views have emerged. These include; traditional view, human relation view and interactionist view. The traditional view considers organizational conflict as a negative occurrence, violence or destruction that has devastating impact on organizational performance and effectiveness. The human relation view perceives organizational conflict as a natural event that may enhance organization performance and effectiveness; if it is effectively managed. While the interactionist view believes that organizational conflict is not only posi-

Regardless of the view, that organizational conflict is perceived, the way it is managed determines the effect it will have on an organization. This suggests that organizational conflict should be effectively and efficiently managed. For instance, see [9] in their study revealed that the effects of organizational conflict can either be negative or positive. It can be negative in terms of psychological responses (i.e. inattentiveness to other things, lack of interest in work, job dissatisfaction, work anxiety, frustration and alienation from other), behavioral responses

tive or negative force but is an essential part of organizational life-circle.

management in work organizations.

38 Organizational Conflict

**2. What is organizational conflict?**

Trust has been variously defined by several authors in the field of management and organizational behavior. According to [1], trust is the willingness of one party (let say party A) to be susceptible to the action of party B based on the expectation that party B will carry out important action that will benefit both parties irrespective of the ability of party A to control or coordinate the action of party B. To put it differently, trust can be defined as a psychological condition in which one party holds a positive attitude towards the other party about their relationships and/or the expectation of the outcomes of such relationships [19, 20]; leadership style, work activities as well as organization itself [8]. Trust can therefore be examined on personal, social, economic and organizational levels. Within organizational level, organizational trust can be described as a situation where employees and employers operate with strong feeling, confidence or belief that they are one-party and that none of them will exploit the vulnerabilities or weaknesses of the other in meeting the organizational goals or to work against each other interests in the workplace [21]. It can be said that the presence of trust in organization raises the bar of cooperative behavior between employees and employers [5]; or co-workers which invariably reduces differences over the distribution and utilization of scare resources in the organization. Hence, organizational trust is an essential tool for managing organizational conflict.

**4. Organizational Culture**: The pattern of shared values, norms, behavior and beliefs that employees adopted as a means of fulfilling work demands and expectations. This signifi-

Organizational Trust as a Conflict Management Tool in Contemporary Work Organizations

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.73092

41

**5. Organizational Justice**: The rate at which employees are fairly treated by the management on issues relating to the terms and working conditions (safety, compensation, promotion and welfare incentives) in an organization, This facilitate mutual understanding and em-

**6. Organizational Loyalty**: The level of consistency and reliability in managerial style, participatory decision making and execution of collective agreement among the employees

**7. Job Satisfaction**: The amount of happiness, pleasure and contentment which employees derived from doing their jobs or working with others within the organizational climate or

A brief description or meaning of some terms that are used in the present discourse is necessary at this point for proper understanding of different aspects of organizational trust.

**Ability to keep promises**: This is the willingness of a party to fulfill certain action, agreement,

**Benevolence:** This is the extent to which a party is believed to want to do good to the other party due to some specific attachments and not because of egocentric profit motive [33].

**Cooperation**: This is a process whereby a party work in support of the other party based on the thinking or probability that the corroboration of both parties will produce expected or

**Confidence**: This is a kind of believe in the words and actions of an individual or a group

**Integrity**: This is the perception that both parties (trustor and trustee) adheres to a set of prin-

**Predictability**: This is a situation in which party estimate the behavior or action of the other

**Risk taking**: This is the willingness of a party to be vulnerable or assume risk situation based

To further expand our understanding of the development of trust in an organization, we will

In order to further understand the level of trust in an organization, [33] model of interpersonal was examined in this section. Lewicki & Bunker's model of interpersonal trust advanced the

assign to perform certain task or action in favor of other group or individuals [33].

party in order to reduce uncertainty that may arise from the behavior [32].

and the management will enhance mutual understanding in an organization.

environment contributes to the level of trust in an organization.

or promises in order to foster cordial relationship with other party [32].

**3.3. Clarification of concepts concerning organizational trust**

ciples that are mutually agreed upon or finds acceptable [33].

examine Lewicki and Bunker Model of Interpersonal Trust.

**3.4. The Lewicki and Bunker model of interpersonal trust**

on the relationship with other party [32, 33].

desirable benefits [32].

cantly determines the nature of trust in an organization.

ployee's positive view about the organization.

#### **3.1. The importance of trust in an organization**

Organizational trust is an essential factor of all relationships (formal and informal) that exist within an organization [22]. It is an indispensable component that sustains and defines the nature of employee-employer relationships and organizational effectiveness [23, 24]. It also has significant effects on communication, work behaviors, job performance, satisfaction, organizational commitment and strategy for solving organizational issues [24, 25]. Moreover, trust in an organization fastens friendships [26]; eases bargaining and negotiation process [27]; decreases transaction costs in inter firm exchanges [28]; and even eliminates international political conflicts [29]. It enables employee's retention, collaboration, and exchange of innovation as well as lessening of risk factors involve in taking an action or working cooperatively in achieving organizational goal [23, 30, 31]. For instance, empirical studies conducted on the importance of trust showed that when people find themselves in an atmosphere that trust is present, they feel secure, share their ideas and express their feelings with others in the process of working together for a common goal [24, 30, 31]. More so, organizational trust promotes employees' participation, coordination, delegation and supervision of responsibility in an organization. It breeds employees' transparency and accountability to the management of an organization. Finally, it facilitates maintenance of good organizational culture, interpersonal relationship and harmonious co-existence in an organization.
