KEGAN, Daniel Laurence, TRUST, OPENNESS, AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: SHORT-TERM RELATIONSHIPS IN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT LABORATORIES AND A DESIGN FOR INVESTIGATING LONG-TERM EFFECTS. Northwestern University, Ph.D., 1971 Social Psychology @ 1971 DANIEL L KEGAN, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Reproduced by University Microfilms with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A DISSERTATION?SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Field of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences Evanston, Illinois June 1971 ABSTRACT This dissertation reports some results of a multi-goaled study of trust and organizational behavior. These goals included an integration and synthesis of the literature dealing with trust and openness in organizations, a contribution toward a system of human resources accounting, the test of explicit a priori hypotheses in a field setting, a general exploration of organizational and individual correlates of trust, and improved understanding of the theory and practice of organizational development (OD). A theory of trust and openness in organizational behavior, together with an eclectic sampling of the research literature to support the theory, is presented in four main parts. The first part describes a framework for the analysis of individual and organizational behavior. This framework borrows from role?theory, information processing and decision theories, and humanistic psychology. The second part relates significant variables to the problem of trust in organizations. Included are considerations of effectiveness at the individual, group, and organizational levels; trust and openness; perception and reality; communication; decision-making; and creativity and control. The third part of the theory presentation concerns extensions of the basic theory of trust. After defining the evolution of the newly coalescing sub-discipline of organizational development, some strategic issues in OD are considered. As a further extension, some of theááenvironmental and cultural parameters which might alter the basic theory are discussed. Finally, the fourth part presents the formal hypotheses?of the study. A multiple time-series, natural quasi-experimental research design was chosen as an evolutionary framework to study trust and organizational development in research and development laboratories. Nine focal groups, each with five to ten members, from three organizations, participated in the study. One of the companies had an active organizational development program; the second company was using some sensitivity training in its organizational development; the third company had not heard of OD. Most individuals completed two (in s9me cases one or three) batteries?of questionnaires several months apart. These questionnaires measured demographic items, some personality traits (openness to experience, ego strength, and defensiveness), self-actualization, intergroup dependencies, the evaluation of past decisions, and the group climate--focusing on trust and openness of communication. Rating of the groups' effectiveness--toward the organization and toward their own subgoals--at several intervals were made by the participants, some peer groups, and several levels of their supervisors. Methodological studies of many of the scales and of the procedures used?in the project were made. Several of the scales were found to be appropriate for various kinds of action research or organizational development programs.?In addition, the procedures developed during the project may be useful for some kinds of longitudinal field research studies. Several hypotheses were tested. Two hypotheses were supported: H 1. The more an individual trusts his work group and the more he generally trusts others with whom he interacts during his work, the greater will be his self-actualization. H 3. A "proper" organizational development program will increase individuals' feelings of trust toward their own work group and toward others while keeping the individuals aware of the demands of their tasks. Another hypothesis received mixed support; in addition it led to exploratory findings: H 2. The more the members of a group trust the group, and the more they generally trust others with whom they interact during their work, the more effective the group will be in its goal accomplishment. Trust of one's work group did significantly correlate positively with the group's effectiveness toward achieving its goals as rated by the individuals in the group. However, correlations between trust and effectiveness as rated by superiors evidenced a negative pattern. Further investigation of the relationships led to a plausible conclusion: that there was a value conflict in the organizations between "obedient" and "self-reliant" behavior. Several secondary hypotheses were tested; none showed strong support ¥ . In an exploratory analysis of the major variables of the study, several variables proved salient: time to complete the questionnaires, ego strength, openness to experience, age, education, and hierarchical position.?Conclusions and implications from the study center on three areas: research, organizational development, and organizational management and membership. A comprehensive, rigorous, humanistic, and participative research orientation is suggested as appropriate for many organizational situations. Of specific concern are attention to the process of research, the use of multiple methods and multiple traits--including variables at several "levels," some use of previously developed scales, and some focus on organizational and individual effectiveness. Sufficient research has accumulated to indicate that open, trusting, reality-testing relationships can promote individual and organizational effectiveness and that some planned change programs do promote such trusting climates. The future challenges seem to be finding the entry and leverage points for differing individuals, groups, and intergroup relations and finding means for reinforcing both trust and reality-testing--that is, for reinforcing self-renewal. Organizational development may be defined as "an educational strategy employing experienced-based behavior in order to achieve a self-renewing organization." Although active in respect to its experiential learning model, traditionally--with some exceptions, OD has taken a passive role with respect to segments of the organization external to the specific group under consideration.?It is suggested that for some organizational climates, a more aggressive approach-- utilizing power in humanistic ways--may yield a more self-renewing organization more quickly and more enduringly. Increased attention to aspects of personal growth may facilitate organizational members becoming and remaining more fully functioning--for both the organization and themselves, since trust of self may be seen as a prerequisite for trust of "the other." Two aspects of this study may be of central concern to organizational members. First, it would appear that an organizational climate which fosters trusting and open behavior will promote organizational effectiveness and be individually more satisfying. Second, there are strategies for facilitating the development and maintenance of such an open climate. While organizational development can facilitate the growth of such a climate, it is the organization's members who must accept an active responsibility for their work environment. An OD agent can help members increase their problem-solving, collaborative, and group process skills; their awareness of themselves and others; their creative risk-taking; and their sense of responsible autonomy and interdependence. However, for effective transfer of learning to occur--for the organizational climate to become open and trusting--the organization's members must maintain?a spirit of inquiry, an individual authenticity, and the ability to act and decide responsibly. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Throughout my education at Northwestern and throughout this research project, I have greatly benefited from the guidance, questioning, and suggestions?of Professor Albert H. Rubenstein. I would like also to express my gratitude to the other members of my dissertation committee--Professors Gilbert K. Krulee, Nathaniel J. Raskin, and Victor G. Rosenblum--for their perspectives which helped me to pull together many of the strands of this study; to Professor Marilyn J. Sorum and Robert O'Keefe for their statistical consultation; to Myrna Friedman for ably helping me type the manuscript; to the participants in the study and to my gatekeepers--the OD agents; and to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for their support of the research of which this project is a part (NASA Grant No. NSG 495). As colleagues, teachers, and friends, Richart T. Barth, Donald T. Campbell, Charles F. Douds, Judy and Richard Gardiner, Harold Guetzkow, Jeff and Barbara Horwitz, Esther Kegan, Lynda Kuydendall, Jon A. Larson, Fred Link, Daniel Shurman, Lance Sobel, Debbie Strom, Charles W. N. Thompson, William Weisdorf, Judi Williams, and Windsor have helped me think and feel better. I have opened, learned, and grown from experiencing the trust, love, and aliveness of Margot Duxler and Viveca and Carita Gardiner. Words I In every cry of every Man, In every Infant's cry of fear, In every voice, in every ban, The mind-forg'd manacles I hear. --William Blake, "London," Songs of Experience. Il est tres simple: on ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur. --Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Le Petit Prince. . . . -203- 5.05-03 Words II "Look here," Furii said. "I never promised you a rose garden. I never promised you perfect justice ¥ ¥ ¥ and I never promised you peace or happiness. }~ help is so that you can be free to fight for all of these things. The only reality I offer is challenge, and being well is being free to accept it or not at whatever level you are capable. I never promise lies, and the rose-garden world of perfection is a lie ... and a bore, too!" --Hannah Green, l Never Promised You A Rose Garden.