Trust is a key enabler of cooperation, motivation, innovation and processes of transformation. However, in today's business world many organizations are highly mistrusted- they are facing a trust gap that will hinder their further organizational development. This book identifies theoretical and practical answers to the problem of how corporate boards can mitigate the current trust crisis and thus ensure sustainable organizational development. After outlining the trust problem in depth, the author presents potential inroads for trust management. Based on extensive survey data a comprehensive stakeholder trust measurement is developed. Analyzing stakeholder interviews, organizational trust hazards, and trust enablers are identified. These serve as the basis for systematic trust building. Based on these findings, an Integrated Stakeholder Trust Management Framework (ISTMAF) is proposed which: 1) allows corporate boards to measure and monitor stakeholder trust and 2) enables the board to generate decisions to restore trust. As such long-term, sustainable organizational development can be secured.

Michael Pirson is an Assistant Professor at Fordham University, He is also a Lecturer and Research Fellow at Harvard University. He received his doctorate at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. Prior to his PhD, he worked in international management consulting and has experience in the business, government and non profit sectors.