Trust, Control and Autonomy: A Dialectic Relationship - Trust Theory: A Socio-Cognitive and Computational Model - page 221

Adjusting the Frequency of the Feedback
We showed in Section 7.1.2 as the frequency of the feedback on the task can be:
purely temporal (when the monitoring ( Mon ) or the reporting ( Rep ) is independent of the
structure of the activities in the task);
linked with the task phases (when the activities of the task are divided in phases and the Mon
or the Rep is connected with them).
Trustor and trustee can adjust the frequency of their feedback activity in three main ways:
by changing the temporal intervals fixed at the beginning of the task delegation or task
adoption (when the Mon / Rep is purely temporal);
by changing the task phases in which the Mon / Rep is realized with respect to those fixed at
the beginning of the task delegation;
by moving from the purely temporal Mon / Rep to the task phases Mon / Rep (or vice versa).
Adjusting the Frequency and Kind of Intervention
As explained in Section 7.1.2, the intervention is strictly connected with the presence of
the Mon / Rep on the task, even if, in principle, both the intervention and the Mon / Rep could
be independently realized. In addition, the occurrence of intervention and Mon / Rep are also
correlated. More precisely, the intervention can occur:
1) never ;
2) just sometimes (during some phase or at specified times, a special case of this is at the end
of the task);
3) at any phase or at any time (depending on the necessity) .
The adjustment of the frequency of intervention by the trustor is an important case of
adjustment of the trustee's autonomy. Suppose that at the beginning there is an agreement
about the fact that the established frequency of intervention is never , and suppose that the
trustor intervenes once or twice during the trustee's task realization: the trustee's autonomy
has been reduced. In general, a trustee is more autonomous if the frequency of the trustor's
intervention is low. So the adjustments by the trustor in this direction (low frequency of
interventions) produce an increase of trustee's autonomy. If the trustor adjusts the possible
kind of intervention established at the beginning of delegation this might increase or reduce
the trustee's autonomy depending on this adjustment.
7.2.9 When to Adjust the Autonomy of the Agents
We will examine in this section the general principles (criteria) for adjusting (restrict-
ing or expanding) the trustee's autonomy by both the trustor/client/delegator, and the
trustee/contractor/delegee.