The Fundamental Importance of Trust
- The relationship between conflict and trust is considered obvious.
- Most people view trust as the glue that holds a relationship together.
- If individuals or groups trust each other, they can work through conflict relatively easily.
- Conversely, if they do not trust each other, conflict often becomes destructive, and resolution is more difficult.
- The level of trust or distrust in a relationship definitively shapes emergent conflict dynamics.
- Effective trust repair is often a key part of effective conflict resolution.
Trust and Conflict Dynamics
- A party who trusts another is likely to believe the other’s words, assume the other will act out of good intentions, and probably look for productive ways to resolve a conflict should one occur.
- If one distrusts another, one might disbelieve the other’s words, assume the other is acting out of dark intentions, and defend oneself against the other or attempt to beat and conquer the other.
- Relationships characterized by calculus-based or identification-based distrust are likely to be conflict-laden, and the eruption of conflict within such a relationship is likely to feed and encourage further distrust. Once such negative expectations are created, actions by the other become negative self-fulfilling prophecies, often leading the conflict into greater scope, intensity, and even intractability.
How Conflict Affects Trust
- Trust is often the first casualty in conflict.
- Bitter conflict generates animosity and pain that is not easily forgotten, and parties no longer believe what the other says or that the other will follow through on commitments.
- Eruption of conflict usually injures trust and builds distrust because it violates trust expectations, creates the perception of unreliability, and breaks promises.
- As conflict escalates, trust decreases, and distrust increases.
- The deeper the distrust that develops, the more the parties focus on defending themselves or attempting to win, which further serves to increase the focus on distrust and decrease actions that might rebuild trust.
Types of Trust
- Calculus-based trust (CBT) is critical to any stable relationship. It is built through consistent and reliable actions, meeting deadlines and commitments, and repeatedly doing so over time or over several bands of activity in the relationship.
- Identification-based trust (IBT) is based on perceived common goals, purposes, values, and common identity. It is likely to strengthen the overall trust between parties and the ability of the relationship to withstand conflict that may otherwise be relationship fracturing. If parties perceive themselves as having strong common goals, values, and identities, they are motivated to sustain the relationship and find productive ways to resolve the conflict.
- Distrust can also be calculus-based (perceived unreliability/unpredictability, intentionally malevolent intentions) or identification-based (belief in dissimilar goals/values/purposes, attributing hostile motives).
Managing Trust and Distrust
- Trust and distrust develop as people gain knowledge of one another.
- Relationship changes can be mapped by identifying actions that change the balance of trust and distrust elements or fundamentally alter the type of interaction.
- Most relationships contain elements of both trust and distrust, resulting in an internal conflict called "ambivalence." This ambivalence undermines clear expectations and forces scrutiny of the other's actions.
- Ambivalent relationships are finely differentiated, requiring the actor to determine contexts for trust and distrust.
- Ambivalence can lead actors to become incapacitated or modify influence strategies.
Building and Repairing Trust
- Creating trust in a relationship initially involves building calculus-based trust through consistent and reliable actions.
- Relationships can be strengthened by building identification-based trust based on shared goals, values, and identity.
- It is possible to repair trust that has been broken, although it is easier to describe the steps than to actually perform them. Effective trust repair is often a key part of effective conflict resolution. Strategies identified include providing a social account (e.g., apology) to explain the violation and verbally minimize damage, providing penance to compensate the victim, and introducing structural changes.
Trust in Intervention and Mediation
- In third-party intervention, such as mediation, parties attempt to resolve differences with the assistance of a third party whom they find acceptable. Mediators aim to counter tendencies toward competitive win-lose strategies, which implies fostering a climate where trust can develop or operate.
- In conflict analysis carried out by third parties in a facilitative role, a key part is a trust-building process that allows parties to exchange clarifications, acknowledgments, assurances, and contributions to rebuilding their relationship. This requires intense, face-to-face interaction with genuine communication and realistic empathy.
- A skilled, impartial, and trusted third party is needed for this form of analysis.
- In mediation, establishing rapport is crucial. This can be done through a credible introduction, conveying sincere concern, showing empathic understanding, and behaving evenhandedly. While impartiality and neutrality are often seen as essential for rapport and effective mediation, mediator acceptability is perhaps more crucial and can be established through rapport-building activities.
- Contextual interventions aim to produce a climate conducive to constructive dialogue and problem solving. These include improving communications and establishing norms for respectful listening, which can contribute to building trust.
- Caucusing (separate meetings with parties) is common but controversial, partly because some believe it fosters distrust between parties.
- The risk of noncompliance with agreements reached in mediation may rise with factors including the level of tension and distrust between the disputants.
- Communication chains between disputants mediated by multiple parties can be useful because there is greater understanding and trust between adjacent parties than between parties at the ends.
Other Factors Influencing Trust
- Gender differences exist in how mediators gain trust: female mediators gain trust through demonstrating impartiality, while male mediators gain trust through empathy.
- Cultural differences can affect how conflicts develop and are managed, which influences the dynamics of trust within those conflicts. Understanding the culture of conflict, including accepted norms and practices, is part of conflict analysis by third parties. Applying conflict theory developed in Western culture to other cultural contexts requires considering necessary modifications.
- Power dynamics can affect trust. For example, disparate distribution of members in international organizations can highlight power and prestige differences that may affect processes like in-group favoritism. Bush and Folger's "Oppression Story" critiques mediation for potentially masking injustice and allowing high-power parties to intimidate others, which would inherently involve a breakdown of trust in the process itself.
References
Deutsch, M. (2015). Introduction. In P. T. Coleman (Ed.), The handbook of conflict resolution: Theory and practice (3rd ed., pp. 15-29). Jossey-Bass.
Lewicki, R. J., & Tomlinson, E. C. (2015). Trust, trust development, and trust repair. In P. T. Coleman (Ed.), The handbook of conflict resolution: Theory and practice (3rd ed., pp. 104–129). Jossey-Bass.
Kressel, K. (2015). The mediation of conflict: Context, cognition, and practice. In P. T. Coleman (Ed.), The handbook of conflict resolution: Theory and practice (3rd ed., pp. 553–578). Jossey-Bass.
