Importance of Trust in Business Reply to student at least 250 words. Each reply

Importance of Trust in Business
Reply to student at least 250 words. Each reply must incorporate at least 2 different scholarly citations and 2 Biblical references in APA format. Any sources cited must have been published within the last five years. Acceptable sources include journal articles, theoretical texts (you are required to incorporate/cite the textbook, the Bible). Discussions are encouraged to be written in third person.
Discussion Thread: Importance of Trust in Business
Laura Potolsky
Introduction
Matthew 12:25 says that “no city or house divided against itself will stand” (Crossway, 2008). Similarly, without unity of mission and values, it can be challenging, if not impossible, to see organizational success and goals come to fruition. This is just one of the reasons why teams need to be cautious in the hiring process to ensure that new employees are in alignment with the company’s values in the areas of trust, commitment, and effort for any given task. The following paragraphs will therefore discuss trust in the business environment and why it is essential.

The Necessity of Trust
Trust is foundational to the basis of any relationship, both in personal lives as well as in the business environment. It “can significantly contribute to its success and the performance of its members” (Gelei & Dobos, 2022, p. 244). Once broken, it can be difficult to gain trust back. What are some Biblical and present-day examples of betrayal of trust? We see in the Bible that Joseph was betrayed by his brothers, Samson was betrayed by Delilah, and Jesus was betrayed by Judas (Crossway, 2008). Betrayal of trust is still seen today in the business world, such as in cases such as Enron, where the organization encouraged employees to invest in the company even though it was bankrupt. Oftentimes, businessmen and women may be tempted to be dishonest in an attempt to gain financially (Christodoulou et al., 2022).
What is one way to increase trust and honest practices in business? Performing regular audits of financial practices and ethical conduct can prove that the motives and processes behind the business are honest, leading to trust from the stakeholders. These audits can lead to improved company culture and decreased turnover. Ethics audits can also be used “to detect misconduct before it becomes a major problem” (Ferrell et al., 2017, 9-3, para. 1). From a slightly unrelated medical standpoint, prevention is often much less costly than treatment, so even though it is never fun to be audited, it is usually an excellent business move.
Conclusion
While audits can be useful, it is helpful to remember, that apart from Jesus, the world is broken, and hearts are deceitful. We should never place our hope in exciting business propositions, powerful people, and material wealth. If we look to God for our satisfaction and all-powerful supplier, we will not be left wanting and will be less tempted to give in to evil practices.
References
Crossway. (2008). ESV study bible. Crossway.
Christodoulou, D., Samuell, D., Slonim, R., & Tausch, F. (2022). Counteracting dishonesty strategies: A field experiment in life insurance underwriting. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 36(2). https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.2302
Gelei, A., & Dobos, I. (2022). Evolving trust in business relationships – A behavioural experiment. Acta Oeconomica, 72(2), 231–247. https://doi.org/10.1556/032.2022.00013
Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell. (2017). Business ethics: Ethical decision making & cases. Cengage Learning.