The Swift Trust Partnership: A Project Management Exercise Investigating the Effects of Trust and Distrust in Outsourcing Relationships

Abstract

The Swift Trust exercise provides instructors with the opportunity to discuss the issues of managing trust and distrust perceptions in a team-based design. Lewicki, McAllister, and Bies’s (1998) framework is used to allow students to experience the difficulties of deriving a common set of contract requirements based on team dynamics and reputational factors of a potential future trading partner. This interteam exercise provides instructors with a medium-term simulation (from three to four class periods) that can be used to discuss integrating simultaneous trust and distrust perceptions. Discussion of pedagogical issues and implications is provided to assist instructors in conducting this exercise.