Abstract
M.A.
Contemporary organisations and the people working within these organisations are currently facing a high degree of change which is having an adverse affect on the employer-employee trust relationship. This study examines the nature of this change and, in so doing, considers the issue of the post-industrial and the post-modern as an indicator of the arrival of a new era. The conclusion is reached that the grand narratives are inadequate as explanations for the arrival of a totally new era and that they rather refer to what may be seen as a transformational process. In this regard, attention needs to be given to more narrow theories. With this in mind emphasis is placed, not only on the continuities within society, but on social discontinuities and, in particular, on the erosion of employer-employee trust. The issue of trust as a factor in organisational success is discussed in some depth while attention is given to contemporary theories of trust and the apparent lack of synthesis amongst these theories. An attempt is made, based on some of the theories discussed, to develop a comprehensive model of trust. This model deals with both the conditions that lead to the onset of trust and those factors of trustworthiness which may enhance or erode trust within an existing relationship. The impact, of what appears to be the emergence of a new epoch and in particular the changing nature of work, on the notion of organisational trust is also discussed. Such issues as job losses, reduced opportunities and increasing work loads, changing job structures, changing employee values, organisational diversity and the rise of individualism are considered. This leads on to the conclusion that, within an increasingly competitive world, trust plays a central role within an organisation. For this reason it is argued that it is important for employer and employee to address the erosion of trust, and for the sociologist to become involved by taking an active role, as both researcher and facilitator, in the process of improving the employer-employee trust relationship.