Sifting Interactional Trust Through Institutions to Manage Trust in Project Teams: An Organizational Change Project

Abstract

Trust in project teams has been found to lead to positive project outcomes. However, the role of project managers in facilitating development of trust in projects is not well-understood. This article addresses this by exploring mechanisms to facilitate the development of interactional and institutional trust and explicating the interplay between those mechanisms. Drawing on longitudinal data from an organizational change project, findings suggest that to facilitate trust development, project managers must concurrently exercise four practices: preaching, involving, sympathizing, and adhering. Simultaneous and tailored application of the first three practices affects interactional trust; the latter not only fosters institutional trust but is also a necessary filter for the dynamics of interactional trust.