Promoting trust between members of distributed teams

The operational concept Integrated Operation (IO) is gradually being introduced by petroleum companies on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS). The introduction of IO implies that distributed teams increasingly are used in operation of petroleum installations. Trust between team members is a prerequisite for successful teamwork, but it is particularly challenging to establish between members of distributed teams. This study explores how well-calibrated trust may be promoted between members of distributed teams at the NCS (IO teams). Through surveys and observations of the performance of IO teams, a set of trust promoting factors were identified: To promote well-calibrated trust, initiatives that facilitate trustworthy performance are of key importance. These initiatives include ensuring that all team mates have the necessary disciplinary and teamwork competencies and are technology literate. A range of initiatives to promote well-calibrated trust between team members are, moreover, identified. These include facilitation of personalized assessments of trustworthiness, based on evaluations of a team mate´s ability, benevolence, and integrity, and depersonalized assessment, e.g., based on information provided by a third party or organizational affiliations.