TRUST AND COMPETENCY: AN ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

An organization can increase its performance by the optimal use of its resources (human, capital, material, technological) in relation to organizational goals. Even if the goals are set for the organization itself, ultimately these are achieved through the human resources available, in other words the organization depends on the knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics of its human resources for achieving its goals. Properly motivated human resources equipped with the right competencies, which are aligned with organizational goals have a decisive effect on the organization’s performance. Furthermore, one of the main factors that lead to the achievement of an organizational goal is social cooperation, a characteristic that attests to the capacity to work together. The main driver for this ability is trust, an essential element of social cohesion. Studies (Zand, 1972; Salamon & Robinson, 2008; Searle et al., 2011; Whitney, 1994; Kramer & Tyler, 1996, Davis & Landa, 1999) show trust has both direct and indirect relationship on organizational performance. From this premise, this paper is providing a bird’s eye view on the concepts of trust and competency and their impact on organizational performance as the central theme.

Keywords

• trust
• organizational performance
• competencies
• skills
• defense organizations