Dominique O'Rourke

Reputation as a Source of Inter-organizational Trust — Week 8: Twelve Weeks to Trust

Experts believe that intangible assets like brand, client lists, reputation, etc. can be worth up to one-third of a company’s market value. Why? A solid reputation acts as a shortcut to trust – a third party (individual or an organization) acts as a “proof source” or “proxy for trust” vouching for the credibility and goodwillContinue reading “Reputation as a Source of Inter-organizational Trust — Week 8: Twelve Weeks to Trust”

Using communications to build trust – Part C of Week 7 in Twelve Weeks to Trust

Can you have inter-organizational trust without communication? No. You can have an exchange of information without trust but you cannot have trust without equal, respectful, reciprocal communication. Cynthia Hardy, Nelson Phillips & Tom Lawrence explored the role of trust in communication and the role of communication in trust. They described trust “as a process ofContinue reading “Using communications to build trust – Part C of Week 7 in Twelve Weeks to Trust”

Using joint planning & joint problem solving to build inter-organizational trust – Week 7, Part B in Twelve Weeks to Trust

Goal setting, covered in Part A, is usually a part of joint planning in inter-organizational relations. It stands to reason that partners will sort out their common goals and the formal and informal governance mechanisms to achieve them. This happens through joint planning. Joint planning : the process of establishing partners’ roles, responsibilities, long-terms plansContinue reading “Using joint planning & joint problem solving to build inter-organizational trust – Week 7, Part B in Twelve Weeks to Trust”

Week 7: Using informal mechanisms to build and maintain trust – Part A: Common values, norms & goals

In this series we’ve examined types of trust, the benefits of high-trust partnerships, the role of goodwill in trust building and how formal governance mechanisms can foster or impede trust building. Now we turn our attention to governance by trust, a direct form of informal governance. This week, we’ll tackle relational governance in three bites: norms,Continue reading “Week 7: Using informal mechanisms to build and maintain trust – Part A: Common values, norms & goals”