Conclusion

In this chapter I have discussed what it means to involve trust building in strategic thinking. I started by describing the situational nature of trust and considered trust-building processes, trust principles, and trust imperatives. I continued by analyzing what it means to see trust ahead, behind, above, below, beside, beyond, and through. The description of strategic thinking as seeing was borrowed from Mintzberg.

Seeing trust ahead is strongly related to the whole future of the organization and to achieving results. It requires developing a common vision for the organization. Seeing trust behind calls for paying attention to the past of the organization and organizational culture. It makes necessary an understanding of the various aspects, not only the positive ones, of tacit knowledge. If trust is to be developed, the organization must overcome the tacit mistrust.

Trust management means also seeing trust above. This is based on continuous information seeking and environment scanning for obtaining a big picture of the organization. This also requires listening and interpreting various signs, including the signs of trust or mistrust. Seeing trust above does not keep managers in their own offices, but instead emphasizes their involvement in various activities and networks both inside and outside their organizations, as well as the importance of communication. Further, seeing trust above places managers in the position of role models by showing which type of behavior is acceptable and inspires trust.

Seeing trust below demands seeking the gem of trust that will change the organization. It means paying attention to the well-being of employees and encouraging them to contribute to the organization's performance. Providing the employees opportunities to advance in their careers will increase not only trust, but also the success of the organization.

Trust in strategic thinking means also seeing beside. This leads us to consider various relationships and networks both inside and between organizations. Although collaboration and networks produce in many cases obvious benefits, they can also create obstacles for change, learning, and innovations. Therefore, seeing trust beside might also mean seeing mistrust beside, which, in turn, presents challenges to break down destructive networks. Including trust in strategic thinking calls also for seeing trust beyond and for developing the collaborative and trust-based organization. This can be understood as inventing the future and the survival of the organization.

AsMintzberg (1991) remarks, strategic thinking is not finished if nothing gets done. Therefore, seeing trust through and including it in strategic thinking demands that trust will be put into action. This leads us back to trust imperatives, trust-building processes and trust principles that support the organizations to develop trust-based practices.

Building trust as a management strategy is a very practical issue. However, the need for trust management research was recognized. The close collaboration between practitioners and researchers was suggested because of the benefits it will produce. Trust, trust management, and research on trust management are needed because people in various circumstances depend on each other. In organizations, employees depend on managers, but managers depend even more on employees. The employees produce the success, but also the failure of organizations. Many authors (see e.g., Halal, 1996; Davenport & Prusak, 1998; Ciancutti & Steding, 2000; Dyer, 2000) claim that the new global business environment requires new types of organizational structures, more collaboration and strategic partnership. Involving trust in managing and developing various organizational relationships and networks will certainly produce a collaborative advantage.