In general, if you trust people, they will be trustworthy. If you treat people as if you don't trust them, they will give you reason not to trust them. When you trust others and give them no reason not to trust you, they will trust you. Mutual trust is essential for successful management.
When one of your employees says, "Can I take off today at 2:00 PM? I'll work a few hours extra later in the week," you should say, "Yes." You lose nothing, and you gain the loyalty and respect of your employee. There are many more opportunities to be the bad guy than the good guy. Take every chance you can get to be the good guy. Who knows, maybe in a few weeks you'll need to ask the employee to work a few extra hours for a job you need to have done.
Reference:
McGregor, D., The Human Side of Enterprise, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1960.
