Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Interpersonal and Procedural Trust



Interpersonal and Procedural Trust

“The Trust model identifies two broad types of trust that parties are always relying on: interpersonal trust and procedural trust” (Furlong, 2005, p. 142). 
First, interpersonal trust is based on an individual’s judgement of another’s character, honesty, morality, and beliefs.  This set of feelings “defines how comfortable we are taking a given level of risk with a specific person.  It answers the question, ‘How much do I trust this individual?’” (Furlong, 2005, p. 142).  This form of trust is difficult to achieve and is created over time, experiences, interactions, and perhaps most importantly, willingness.  It is significant due to the fact that it is the strongest form of trust, therefore parties tend to assume the other person’s motives are genuine and parties anticipate success throughout the relationship which is often times based on perceived commonalities.  Interpersonal trust may benefit conflict resolution due to the fact that it encourages parties to focus on common interests and solutions, while nullifying hostility and discrimination.  More than likely the parties admire one another and / or have mutual respect, as well as open communication.  Since the parties already possess a positive rapport with one another they may be able to negotiate the ordeal without a mediator of third party involvement.  Typically this will result in the parties seeking a favorable outcome in a timely manner, at the least expense to either side.  Even if litigation is sought, settlement may be desired rather than an ongoing process.  However, from a negative aspect, interpersonal trust is easy to lose.  Therefore, a dispute may be the cause of the interpersonal trust lost within a relationship.
Second, procedural trust is defined as “the trust we place in a structure or process we are involved in, as opposed to the individual” (Furlong, 2005, p. 143).  This form of trust allows the individual to place their trust in the process, with little to no regard of the individuals involved.  “Procedural trust processes can be collaboratively built and agreed by the parties themselves…it is a set of steps or structures that are tangible and defined” (Furlong, 2005, p. 144), and thus not a matter of will.  This encourages practitioners to focus on procedural trust within dispute resolution procedures.  Due to the conflict, both parties may distrust each other, however if they believe in the process (i.e. mediation), they may achieve a favorable resolve (Furlong, 2005).  Employing this method in systems such as government, justice, and education afford opposing parties with a lack of interpersonal trust to utilize procedural trust to resolve their differences with the assistance of alternative dispute resolution processes.    

References:
Furlong, G.T. (2005). The Conflict Resolution Toolbox. Ontario, Canada: John Wiley &
            Sons Canada, Ltd.