CHAPTER 1
ESTABLISHING
CREDITIBILITY
, Credibility: reputation for being trustworthy - trustworthy to perform your work with excellence, to care
about those you work with and for, to live by high ethical, corporate, and personal values, and to deliver
on your promises. (creditability = the degree to which others trust you.)
Business communications occur in the context of working relationships all of which depend on trust.
Credibility has always been important to business relationships, yet importance has grown in recent
with an increasingly interdependent, knowledge-based workplace. As one of the foremost thinkers on
trust in the workplace.
The Role of Trust in the Post Trust Era
The number one goal within business communication should be to gain trust and/or creditability form
colleagues, clients, customers, and other contacts.
Due to major business scandals and high-profile misdeeds in recent years, trust in business and business
executives has dropped to all-time lows.
Figure 1.1 indicates that the trust
extended by the public to business
executives is far lower than that to
members of other selected
professions.
The public also increasingly views
companies and other institutions
with less trust. One of the most
well-known and publicized trust
indexes is developed by Edelman.
Edelman experts measure trust in
institutions, including business,
nongovernmental organizations,
government, and media in 28
countries.
A trust deficit also exists within companies. As business managers and leaders, you will often find
yourself in charge of employees who are accustomed to not trusting those in leadership positions.
In a global study of 10 000 full-time employees, 49% trust their bosses and colleagues. 76% of
employees have seen illegal or unethical conduct in the past 12 months at their jobs.
In the post trust era, as defined by Michael Maslansky, the public is overwhelmingly views business as
operating against the public’s best interests and the majority of employees view their leaders and
colleagues sceptically. Communication used to be a linear process however lack of trust has changed the
way business leaders, salespeople and marketing works.
ESTABLISHING
CREDITIBILITY
, Credibility: reputation for being trustworthy - trustworthy to perform your work with excellence, to care
about those you work with and for, to live by high ethical, corporate, and personal values, and to deliver
on your promises. (creditability = the degree to which others trust you.)
Business communications occur in the context of working relationships all of which depend on trust.
Credibility has always been important to business relationships, yet importance has grown in recent
with an increasingly interdependent, knowledge-based workplace. As one of the foremost thinkers on
trust in the workplace.
The Role of Trust in the Post Trust Era
The number one goal within business communication should be to gain trust and/or creditability form
colleagues, clients, customers, and other contacts.
Due to major business scandals and high-profile misdeeds in recent years, trust in business and business
executives has dropped to all-time lows.
Figure 1.1 indicates that the trust
extended by the public to business
executives is far lower than that to
members of other selected
professions.
The public also increasingly views
companies and other institutions
with less trust. One of the most
well-known and publicized trust
indexes is developed by Edelman.
Edelman experts measure trust in
institutions, including business,
nongovernmental organizations,
government, and media in 28
countries.
A trust deficit also exists within companies. As business managers and leaders, you will often find
yourself in charge of employees who are accustomed to not trusting those in leadership positions.
In a global study of 10 000 full-time employees, 49% trust their bosses and colleagues. 76% of
employees have seen illegal or unethical conduct in the past 12 months at their jobs.
In the post trust era, as defined by Michael Maslansky, the public is overwhelmingly views business as
operating against the public’s best interests and the majority of employees view their leaders and
colleagues sceptically. Communication used to be a linear process however lack of trust has changed the
way business leaders, salespeople and marketing works.
