Employee response to untrustworthy behavior by immediate supervisors

[摘要] Trust is one of the interconnecting links that nurture ongoing interactions betweenindividuals. Trust is the crucial component of organisational effectiveness and is alsoviewed as an elementary aspect on developing communication relationships andsatisfaction in the workplace.The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences in employee intendedresponse towards untrustworthy behaviour by immediate supervisors. Untrustworthybehaviour by immediate supervisor results in confusion, worry, and fear, which at theend slows the wheels of progress and profit.A major finding in this study indicates that employees can intend to respond tountrustworthy behaviour by immediate supervisor in a number of ways, which might beformal as well as informal. A group of South African white collar employees intended torespond to untrustworthy behavior, through direct communication with supervisors,before invoking more formal procedures. These employees intend to respond strongerby declaring a CCMA dispute when faced with untrustworthy behaviour. There were nosignificant differences in intended response of employees from different gender and agegroups. There are significant differences in the intensity of response of African andwhite employees. African employees intend to respond stronger to untrustworthybehavior by immediate supervisor than white employees.

[发布机构] North-West University