Conversations ‘around the water dispenser’ are a great source of insight. While they should be taken with a grain of salt—empirical support is rarely available—these casual exchanges can reveal prevalent perceptions or lingering issues. In a series of such chats that I have found myself in, I noticed a recurring theme or pattern emerge from the discussions.
There was a pervasive sense of caution within this group in relation to the everyday functions in the workplace. As gathered when prodded, every action had to be carefully considered—not just to ensure effective execution of tasks or responsibilities, but to avoid unintentionally creating friction or concern among team members about the approach, impact, or outcome.
The workload of a full-time employee in a managerial or leadership role is already substantial. Even more so when workplace culture demands constant navigation of interpersonal dynamics. While tasks may seem straightforward on the surface, employees often hesitate—not due to the task itself, but because of the potential implications their actions might have on others, implications that might manifest in negative acts or behaviors in the workplace.
One seemingly ‘small’ negative act that crops up in organizations is knowledge hoarding—deliberately or passively withholding pertinent information. These may initially seem trivial: a missed schedule update, an uncommunicated deadline, or a lack of materials.
Still, they can cause anxiety, disrupt workflows, and create that alienating sense of suddenly being out of the loop. Negative acts don’t exist in a vacuum. A chain reaction can be started by one action that sets off another. Even if the act was inadvertent or small, a worker who witnesses a coworker taking shortcuts or hiding information might feel that a serious injustice has been committed. That worker might react by taking a similarly defensive stance, possibly even imitating the behavior he or she found offensive.
People often assume the worst when there is a lack of trust. They perceive other people’s actions as indicators of larger injustice rather than as isolated errors because they feel personally threatened. In a study on knowledge hoarding, Holten et al. (2016) point out that when workers perceive injustice, they frequently retreat, defend themselves, and unintentionally or purposely feed the negative feedback loop.
The mistrust might be strengthened if what starts out as a protective instinct is later interpreted by others as more inappropriate behavior. It’s easy to assign blame to a few “bad apples” when a team fails, when dysfunction festers, or when a scandal breaks out. This tendency reflects a desire for personal absolution—projecting the issue externally. However, this way of thinking is frequently a self-defense mechanism. Workplace behavior, whether bad or good rarely occurs in isolation. These usually stem from deeper systemic dynamics. Acts like hoarding information or withholding resources typically emerge from mistrust—how employees perceive and interpret the behavior of those around them. Without a foundation of trust, these perceptions can spiral, turning minor issues into major crises.
Organizations cannot hope to truly serve their stakeholders—or society at large—without addressing how trust, or its absence, fuels this self-perpetuating cycle of dysfunction. Cultivating a high-trust organizational culture is essential to breaking that cycle. Leaders play a critical role in shaping this environment—being transparent about decisions (even difficult ones), addressing conflict openly and equitably, rewarding collaboration over competition, and creating a space where employees feel genuinely heard without fear of retaliation.
Organizations must take the deeper trust dynamics underlying negative acts seriously. If they hope to generate broader societal value, they must ensure their internal cultures are grounded in integrity. Trust is the mortar that holds together the foundation of a healthy workplace. Without it, even small cracks could grow, eventually compromising the entire structure.
Dr. Miguel Paolo L. Paredes, a 2024 National Academy of Science & Technology awardee, specializes in creativity, design, advertising, sustainable consumption, and business. He is an Associate Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Marketing & Advertising at De La Salle University’s Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business.
The views expressed above are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official position of DLSU.