A presentation from the STEM Annual Conference 2014.
This paper constitutes a preliminary investigation into the role of trust in developing and maintaining successful staff student partnerships. In essence this paper examines the staff student partnership guiding principle of building trust. Trust is the bedrock of a successful partnership and this research seeks to assess the role of trust in staff student partnerships and to identify salient characteristics of trust in staff student partnerships.
Efficient and effective partnerships fundamentally require trust. Trust as a multidisciplinary issue and has been applied to different academic fields. Although there is ambiguity surrounding the meaning of trust there is a fundamental requirement for trust to be at the heart of the staff student partnership. Trust in the partnership ‘enables more open communication and knowledge sharing’ (Savolainen 2010).
A literature review on trust found that trust improves problem solving improves flexibility and increases cooperation and facilitates knowledge sharing thus demonstrating commitment to the partnership. Consequently without trust the partnership becomes exposed to higher risks and uncertainties. Higher risks and uncertainties damage the relationship ultimately leading to the decline in the faith that partners will fulfill their obligations. Fulfilling obligations acting in good faith and reducing risks and uncertainties are attributes of trust in staff student partnerships. However trust is ‘dynamic volatile and contextual in nature’ (Lewicki et al. 2006). It is hoped that this preliminary investigation to the role of trust in staff student partnerships would contribute to knowledge and understanding of successful staff student partnerships.
