Enhancing trust through training

Abstract

INTRODUCTION
The past decade has seen a considerable expansion in research that has looked at team training, addressing a range of questions about how to design training; how to implement it; and its impact on both team processes and performance. Despite this expansion, to date there has been relatively little attention given to the relationship between team training and the development of trust within teams. This is surprising as training and development professionals working in organizations regard trust as one of the most important skills that should be developed within teams due to its positive effects on team performance, organizational productivity and competitive advantage (Davis et al., 2000; McEvily et al., 2003; Rosen et al., 2006). It would therefore seem advantageous within a human resource (HR) context to implement training programmes that promote trust between team members in order to benefit the organization. Furthermore, it may be particularly beneficial for certain types of teams; for example, in virtual teams where lack of face- to- face contact limits trust development, and in culturally diverse teams where differences in cultural norms may reduce trust in others. To extend understanding in this area, this chapter considers the research on both the use of training to develop trust among team members and its efficacy. We highlight research on two distinct approaches to training – team- and task- skills training – considering their effectiveness and applicability to different contexts, as well as issues for future research. We begin by defining trust within a training context and consider the processes through which trust may develop in training.

More information

Identifiers

ORCID for Melanie J. Ashleigh: orcid.org/0000-0002-0583-0922

ORCID for J.S. Prichard: orcid.org/0000-0001-7455-2244

Catalogue record

Export record