Senior management relationships and trust: an exploratory study

This paper explores the phenomenon of trust in the context of managerial relationships, particularly examining the extent to which trust, or lack of it, drives those relationships. The results of an exploratory study that highlights the significance of trust in this context are reported. The initial part of the paper sets out a relational continuum, extending between different relational types, drawing on theory already established in social psychology. The later sections report the results of the study that supports and extends the practical application of the proposed relationship continuum. Implications regarding the extent to which trust drives the framing and dynamics of different types of relationships, and broader factors that appear to characterise the relational domain of senior management, are discussed.