It is a case to make me rethink and learn about the importance of communication in building trust and a working partnership.
After working with my direct supervisor, the Head of Human Resources(HR) for several years, I was confidence about a strong working partnership that had been formed between us and the Dept. Our Dept grew together with the company and trust by other Departments heads. We worked closely with them on every people related issues. When the company size was expanded towards 1300 employees, changes happened.
The company founder, CEO was planned for his business succession and retirement. And his young son begun to take over the management role in the company. The new leader faced quite a lot of conflicts with other Directors and my direct supervisor was always be the loyal supporting Dept Head towards the Board. Distrust happened at the top management level that the HR Head was classified as the old fashioned Management Executive who was not able to support the re-engineering of company. Within a year time, a new position, HR Director was created and became as our function head. Another new conflict that occurred in our function as well. The new HR Director didn't trust the HR team. She conducted a Dept audit and overturn lots of previous HR decisions. I was confused about the direction and tried to clarify with the Head of HR. Things getting worse when the HR Director thought I and the Head of HR were tried to by-passing her. A meeting was held to explained but the Head of HR failed to admit her engagement in the decision making process. I was blamed and the trust was broken down among three of us. This incident could be the direct cause that made me choose to resign from the company within 3 months.
2. The decision making process in this case where I decided to trust or to distrust
My trust with my direct supervisor in the case was described through the personal trust & structural trust. According to Saj-nicole A. Joni (March 2004)1, "personal trust is based on faith in a person's integrity." It is also about the "trust of confidences shared without thought of betrayal. It develops in the workplace through share experiences and knowledge of colleagues characters". Based on my working experience with her, I trust her professional performance and was considered her as a reliable supervisor. A strong ties and bounding was well established. However, when a new function head on board, we were confused about the reporting line that caused the diminish in the "Structural trust" between I and the direct supervisor. The ties were weaken when her authority was no longer as the final decision maker of the Dept. As per Saj-nicole A.Joni (March 2004), trust derives from affinity, esteem and competence. The new HR Director overturned the whole HR practices that caused a cultural shock of the Dept. The accomplishment that we did was under questioned. Things getting worse when I also in doubt of the previous decision made. It did not mean it's wrong, it was just not able to understand what the end was the company way and how to fit in the way.
I try to apply the trust model from Robert F. Hurley (Sept 2006) 2 in this case. People weigh 10 basic factors (including 3 decision makers factors and 7 situational factors) when deciding whether to trust or distrust someone. I and the Head of HR had a good trust to each other but were not inclined to trust the new Director. Same as the new Director, she should be cautious about the new team. Though she got a higher relative power over the team, she wouldn't feel secure as the risk tolerance herself was low. In such the situation, all the stakeholders felt insecure about the job. The factors such as similarities between I and Head of HR, our benevolent concern, predictability and integrity and level of communication were all high. Conversely, such factors between I and the new Director were low. Especially when the Director is not my direct supervisor, it would also be embarrassed to by-passing the Dept Head and seeking the approval from her. I concerned the feeling of my Dept Head more that the Director. That was why I chose to follow the usual reporting procedures and believed the Dept Head would explained the rationale to the Director.
(3) Explain what I had learned from the instance and describe how you had changed my behaviors towards others or self afterwards. Evaluate the relative merits of my behavior adjustment
After the incident, my personal trust towards both the 2 supervisors were further weakened. In another perspective, it taught me a good lesson about how to manage a multiple boss relationship. Both of the Director and the Head of HR had their own agenda and a power struggle was existed between them. Although I was not intended to, the way I chose to workout was undermined the Director's trust towards on me. Further to Hurley (Sept 2006), trust is a relational concept and good communication is critical. Honest communication can go a long way toward building or repairing relationships and engendering trust. In my communication way of the case, it created suspicion. I mistook the responsibility of communication on the shoulder of the Head of HR.
From this incident, I learned that it is common for conflicting of messages in office when different bosses have their own agenda and interest. One would likely contradict another. However, we need to understand who is the ultimate authority and his/her feeling should take the most concern. Perceptions once formed was hard to change. When I handle the similar case thereafter, it is important to remain my position as neutral and keep a positive mindset should always be the right approach. I still believe that relationship should base on an open communication. Instead of secretly discussed your problem, we need actions to gain trust through cooperation, experience and understanding. Working partnership is not just based on a personal trust, it is based on complex mix of elements like situation factors as well.
1 FOOTNOTE↩ Saj-nicole A.Joni (March 2004), "The Geography of Trust", Harvard Business Review, May 2009, p.82-88.My trust with my direct supervisor in the case was described through the personal trust & structural trust. According to Saj-nicole A. Joni (March 2004)1, "personal trust is based on faith in a person's integrity." It is also about the "trust of confidences shared without thought of betrayal. It develops in the workplace through share experiences and knowledge of colleagues characters". Based on my working experience with her, I trust her professional performance and was considered her as a reliable supervisor. A strong ties and bounding was well established. However, when a new function head on board, we were confused about the reporting line that caused the diminish in the "Structural trust" between I and the direct supervisor. The ties were weaken when her authority was no longer as the final decision maker of the Dept. As per Saj-nicole A.Joni (March 2004), trust derives from affinity, esteem and competence. The new HR Director overturned the whole HR practices that caused a cultural shock of the Dept. The accomplishment that we did was under questioned. Things getting worse when I also in doubt of the previous decision made. It did not mean it's wrong, it was just not able to understand what the end was the company way and how to fit in the way.
I try to apply the trust model from Robert F. Hurley (Sept 2006) 2 in this case. People weigh 10 basic factors (including 3 decision makers factors and 7 situational factors) when deciding whether to trust or distrust someone. I and the Head of HR had a good trust to each other but were not inclined to trust the new Director. Same as the new Director, she should be cautious about the new team. Though she got a higher relative power over the team, she wouldn't feel secure as the risk tolerance herself was low. In such the situation, all the stakeholders felt insecure about the job. The factors such as similarities between I and Head of HR, our benevolent concern, predictability and integrity and level of communication were all high. Conversely, such factors between I and the new Director were low. Especially when the Director is not my direct supervisor, it would also be embarrassed to by-passing the Dept Head and seeking the approval from her. I concerned the feeling of my Dept Head more that the Director. That was why I chose to follow the usual reporting procedures and believed the Dept Head would explained the rationale to the Director.
(3) Explain what I had learned from the instance and describe how you had changed my behaviors towards others or self afterwards. Evaluate the relative merits of my behavior adjustment
After the incident, my personal trust towards both the 2 supervisors were further weakened. In another perspective, it taught me a good lesson about how to manage a multiple boss relationship. Both of the Director and the Head of HR had their own agenda and a power struggle was existed between them. Although I was not intended to, the way I chose to workout was undermined the Director's trust towards on me. Further to Hurley (Sept 2006), trust is a relational concept and good communication is critical. Honest communication can go a long way toward building or repairing relationships and engendering trust. In my communication way of the case, it created suspicion. I mistook the responsibility of communication on the shoulder of the Head of HR.
From this incident, I learned that it is common for conflicting of messages in office when different bosses have their own agenda and interest. One would likely contradict another. However, we need to understand who is the ultimate authority and his/her feeling should take the most concern. Perceptions once formed was hard to change. When I handle the similar case thereafter, it is important to remain my position as neutral and keep a positive mindset should always be the right approach. I still believe that relationship should base on an open communication. Instead of secretly discussed your problem, we need actions to gain trust through cooperation, experience and understanding. Working partnership is not just based on a personal trust, it is based on complex mix of elements like situation factors as well.
2 FOOTNOTE↩Robert F. Hurley (Sept 2006), "The Decision of Trust", Harvard Business Review, May 2009 p.55-62
