Abstract:
The study aimed at assessing the role of trust in councillors and staffs’ relationship in LGAs in Tanzania. Specifically, three main objectives were established: (i) to examine the factors that build trust between councillors and staffs in LGAs; (ii) to investigate the importance of trust in maintaining good working relationship between councillors and staffs; and (iii) to examine the possible ways to ensure trustful relationship between councillors and staffs in LGAs.
The study was conducted at Misungwi District Council. A total of 98 respondents (17 councillors and 81 staffs) were depicted to form a study sample from a total population of 2616. Data collection tools included questionnaires whereby 72 questionnaires were circulated to 60 staffs and 12 councillors, interviews conducted to 26 respondents including 21 staffs and 5 councillors and some minutes and reports were reviewed. Collected data were analyzed using qualitative and quantitative analysis; the findings were reported using descriptive statistics.
The findings of this study revealed that trust has a significant role in maintaining effective work relationship between councillors and staffs in LGAs as it fosters team work spirit and reduces conflicts and misunderstandings hence creating harmonious work relationship with more trust between them. Another considerable role of trust is to increase cooperation and collaboration which are vital elements of an effective work relationship. Indeed, trust increases openness and transparency in work relationship. The observation revealed lack of social interactions between councillors and staffs in MDC as one of the missing trust building factors.
Finally, the recommendations provided include the council management to take further steps to address the problem of low trust between councillors and staffs. There is a need to review the council code of conduct to include issues of how professional relationships should be managed. To further confirm these findings there is a need to conduct more studies on councillors/staffs relationships in other LGAs.
