The October Carnival of Trust includes an interesting post from KDPaine’s Measurement Standard, Greater Transparency Is the Key to Building Greater Trust. The article talks about research by Brad Rawlins, Measurement Maven of the Month, that shows that doing things right isn’t nearly as important as doing the right thing.

The overall conclusion of the study is that trust and transparency are significantly and strongly correlated. Also, the three components of trust (competence, integrity, and goodwill) and three components of transparency (participation, substantial information, and accountability) are positively related.

Another finding is that employees see sharing information as a sign of integrity. I agree that lack of trust and integrity hinder knowledge sharing. Hoarding of information and self-interest create a climate of fear and distrust within an organization. If the company culture does not foster trust, knowledge sharing won’t occur, and employees may view the organization as out of alignment and lacking integrity.