Trust and inter-organizational networking

Inter-organizational and multi-functional networking are increasingly portrayed as new and potentially more effective forms of organization, especially where innovation is important. This is as true for academic work undertaken within universities as it is for business organizations; multi-disciplinary and inter-institutional collaboration being specified as highly desirable by the major research funding bodies. Integrating mechanisms are essential if such networks are to be effective in co-ordinating the work of a diverse range of partners. Importantly, they are required for the development of trust. Thus, the literature stresses that trust between the parties is central to the effective operation of such networks. This paper explores the evolution of trust within a particular inter-university, multi-disciplinary research team, and develops a model depicting the development and interrelation of different types of trust within this network. The difficulties this research network experienced in developing trust raise a more general question about the effectiveness of interdisciplinary research.

[1]  N. Luhmann.  Familiarity, Confidence, Trust: Problems and Alternatives , 2000 .

[2]  Gareth R. Jones,et al.  The experience and evolution of trust: Implications for cooperation and teamwork , 1998 .

[3]  Christel Lane,et al.  Co-operation in Inter-Firm Relations in Britain and Germany: The Role of Social Institutions , 1997 .

[4]  David Knights,et al.  The Hype and Hope of Interdisciplinary Management Studies , 1997 .

[5]  A. Hindle,et al.  A Multi‐disciplinary Identification of Issues Associated with ‘Contracting’ in Market‐oriented Health Service Reforms , 1997 .

[6]  Peter Smith Ring,et al.  Processes Facilitating Reliance on Trust in Inter-Organizational Networks , 1997 .

[7]  J. Spender.  Organizational knowledge, learning and memory: three concepts in search of a theory , 1996 .

[8]  Roderick M. Kramer,et al.  Swift trust and temporary groups. , 1996 .

[9]  Walter W. Powell.  Trust-Based Forms of Governance , 1996 .

[10]  F. Blackler.  Knowledge, Knowledge Work and Organizations: An Overview and Interpretation , 1995 .

[11]  Stuart Macdonald,et al.  Learning to Change: An Information Perspective on Learning in the Organization , 1995 .

[12]  J. H. Davis,et al.  An Integrative Model Of Organizational Trust , 1995 .

[13]  A. Grandori,et al.  Inter-firm Networks: Antecedents, Mechanisms and Forms , 1995 .

[14]  S. Conway.  Informal boundary-spanning communication in the innovation process: an empirical study , 1995 .

[15]  Roy Rothwell,et al.  Industrial Innovation: Success,Strategy, Trends , 1995 .

[16]  Mark Dodgson,et al.  Teclmological Collaboration and Innovation , 1995 .

[17]  Mark Dodgson,et al.  The Handbook of Industrial Innovation , 1994 .

[18]  Koenraad Debackere,et al.  Technological communities and the diffusion of knowledge: a replication and validation , 1994 .

[19]  S. Schwartzman,et al.  The New Production of Knowledge: The Dynamics of Science and Research in Contemporary Societies , 1994 .

[20]  Andrea Piccaluga,et al.  A theoretical framework for the evaluation of university‐industry relationships , 1994 .

[21]  Ray Loveridge,et al.  The strategic management of technological innovation , 1993 .

[22]  K. Weick,et al.  Collective mind in organizations: Heedful interrelating on flight decks. , 1993 .

[23]  M. Dodgson.  Learning, Trust, and Technological Collaboration , 1993 .

[24]  George Kozmetsky,et al.  The Technopolis Phenomenon: Smart Cities, Fast Systems, Global Networks , 1992 .

[25]  Blair H. Sheppard,et al.  Business on a handshake , 1992 .

[26]  Diego Gambetta.  Trust : making and breaking cooperative relations , 1992 .

[27]  Scott Moss,et al.  Industry recipes: The nature and sources of managerial judgement: J.-C. Spender (Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1989) pp. 240 , 1992 .

[28]  Howard E. Aldrich,et al.  Personal Networks and Infrastructural Development , 1992 .

[29]  David G. Mathiasen.  Groups that work (and those that Don't): Creating Conditions for Effective Teamwork, edited by J. Richard Hackman. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass 1990, 512 pp. Price: $39.95 cloth , 1991 .

[30]  J. Brown,et al.  Organizational Learning and Communities-of-Practice: Toward a Unified View of Working, Learning, and Innovation , 1991 .

[31]  Wiebe E. Bijker,et al.  Social Construction of Technology , 2009 .

[32]  T. Kumpe,et al.  Manufacturing in the 1990s - productivity, flexibility and innovation , 1990 .

[33]  John W. Clarr.  Cooperative Strategies in International Business , 1990 .

[34]  O. Granstrand,et al.  Managing innovation in multi-technology corporations☆ , 1990 .

[35]  K. Weick.  Technology as equivoque: sensemaking in new technologies , 1990 .

[36]  Roger Pooley,et al.  Industry Recipes: The Nature and Sources of Managerial Judgement , 1989 .

[37]  W. Ouchi,et al.  The Logic of Joint Research and Development , 1988 .

[38]  S. Lenway,et al.  Cooperative Strategies in International Business , 1988 .

[39]  Joseph A. Raelin,et al.  The clash of cultures: Managers and professionals , 1986 .

[40]  L. Zucker.  Production of trust: Institutional sources of economic structure, 1840–1920. , 1986 .

[41]  A. V. D. Ven,et al.  Central problems in the management of innovation , 1986 .

[42]  Richard Whitley,et al.  THE FRAGMENTED STATE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES: REASONS AND CONSEQUENCES , 1984 .

[43]  M. Tushman.  Managing Communication Networks in R&D Laboratories , 1981 .

[44]  N. Luhmann.  Trust and Power , 1979 .

[45]  K. Williams,et al.  Many Hands Make Light the Work: The Causes and Consequences of Social Loafing , 1979 .

[46]  J. Hackman,et al.  Group tasks, group interaction process, and group performance effectiveness: A review and proposed integration , 1975 .

[47]  Mark S. Granovetter.  The Strength of Weak Ties , 1973, American Journal of Sociology.

[48]  S Milgram,et al.  Some Conditions of Obedience and Disobedience to Authority , 1965 .

[49]  L. R. Hoffman,et al.  Quality and acceptance of problem solutions by members of homogeneous and heterogeneous groups. , 1961, Journal of abnormal and social psychology.

[50]  Norman R. F. Maier,et al.  The Contribution of a Discussion Leader to the Quality of Group Thinking: The Effective Use of Minority Opinions , 1952 .