Das Konzept der Vertrauensorganisation - Eine theoriegeleitete Betrachtung

Recently, management literature frequently mentions the ''organization by trust'' - supervision in organizations is to be replaced by trust. In light of the more negative view of human behavior that has so far dominated classic management theory, this talk of an ''organization by trust'' appears to be surprising. The paper on hand will analyze the concept of trust in an ''organization by trust'' based on various theories. The aim is to find out how the about-turn in recent management theory can be explained. Firstly, the concept of the organization by trust will be confronted with various theoretical approaches, each of which conceptually grasps trust in a different way. By contrasting the term trust in the concept of organization by trust to concepts of trust in economic, sociological, and psychological theories it becomes clear, on the one hand, that the approach of the organization by trust is based on a naive understanding of trust. On the other hand, presenting the various theoretical positions clearly shows the extent to which the opinions of various authors not only differ regarding their understanding of trust and how it develops, but also regarding its usefulness and its necessity in economic relations. Based on the discussion of the various concepts of trust, the literature on organizations by trust, which mainly targets practitioners, will be critically reflected again, but this time from a different perspective. The results of these reflections are possible explanations that make clear, to differing degrees, why the concept of the organization by trust is currently so popular.