Restoring trust in employers: Diagnosing and treating the perception that an organization has “multiple personalities”

Abstract

Maintaining employee trust is essential for the success of an organization. Employees who trust their employers perform better and are more likely to stay in their jobs. We have identified a phenomenon that we call organizational dissociative identity disorder that tends to erode employee trust. The phenomenon is somewhat analogous to the psychiatric diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder, in which a person appears to have multiple personalities. In the case of organizations, it is the perception of employees that dealing with their organization is like dealing with a person who has multiple personalities. Employees tend to experience this perception when they receive directives that seem inconsistent with one another or with previous directives, leading the employees to doubt the ability, the benevolence, the integrity, and often the fairness of their employer. This perception is most likely to occur after a period of organizational change. We propose ways to identify this situation and ameliorate its effects through carefully crafted communications of various types involving stakeholders at all levels of the organization.