Introduction
The problem to be investigated is how the correlation between trustworthiness, leadership and ethical stewardship influences organizational members to trust their leaders, thus operating a successful organization. In order to understand how these three elements merge in order to create a culture of trust within the organization, we must investigate each of the three elements and understand what an organization is.
Organization
People working together in a structured environment who strive to achieve a common goal or objective is an organization. Some organizations are businesses which exist to market goods and/or services in order to generate profits. Others are non-profit in nature, such as community youth sports leagues, community service groups like shelters and food banks and churches which exist to serve the spiritual needs of society. Regardless of their purpose, all organizations share one attribute; they must be run by effective people who can instill the organization’s core values/cultures and motivate others to passionately work to achieve the organizations goals, effectively and efficiently. In other words, they require leadership.
Leadership
Leadership is defined by individuals differently. Regardless of the definition, leadership has the same final outcome. This writer’s definition of leadership is: the art of influencing others to accomplish the task, job or goal at hand with available resources, employees, time and money. Basic leadership traits within resource utilization focus on job-centered leadership necessary in acquiring resources, directing subordinates with clear roles and goals, and enforcing standards (Caldwell, Hayes & Long, 2010).
Barrett (2011) states:
Traditional theories of leadership focus on the traits of leaders (personality, charisma, referent power), the process by which individuals become