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Accountability
Improvement Competition in our global economy is forcing
businesses to pay more attention to productivity.
Accountability, which drives productivity,
is necessary to survive and prosper. Being accountable means that one accepts ownership of, or is liable and responsible for, the performance of tasks which one has been given the authority to complete. It involves doing a job right the first time, and doing it in a quality and timely fashion. It involves risk. People
must be held accountable in order for fair and equal
relationships to occur between employees.
To be effective, accountability must be to
individuals, not to groups, task forces, committees or
organizations. Accountability
can’t exist outside of one-to-one relationships.
Without accountability growth won’t take place and
goals won’t be accomplished.
Organizations are generally reluctant to hold people
accountable because of a desire for comfort.
Confrontation and conflict are often required to hold
people accountable, and many managers don’t like to make
their employees or themselves uncomfortable. This is one of the reasons some managers and employees dread
performance reviews. However,
management will lose credibility by allowing low
productivity or other poor performance to be
seen as acceptable.
Many individuals will then settle for the status quo,
and stagnation will spread through the organization. Organizations with accountable employees are the most
successful and productive.
Success comes from instilling accountability into the
organizational culture, and this will not occur overnight.
It requires recognition of individuals for both above
expected, and lower than expected, performance. MDI
helps its clients foster and improve accountability in the
work place by: 1. Determining
the extent of one-to-one relationships and/or individual
accountability 2. Determining
the extent to which behaviors, tasks, activities and
attitudes connect with organizational values 3. Determining
the effectiveness of management expectations, and how well
they have been communicated, clarified, and are understood
from top to bottom in the organization 4. Determining
the extent to which measurement
(quality and time
frame) are connected to the expectations 5. Determining
the extent to which there are both effective positive and
negative consequences for failing to meet expectations 6. Determining
whether the consequences for not meeting expectations are
enacted with immediacy, objectivity, and clarity 7. Determining
the extent to which management sets the appropriate example
by holding itself accountable as it does others 8. Mentoring
and training managers on ways to improve accountability, and 9. Preparing
a report to senior management with specific
recommendations on how to improve individual
accountability. Other Services
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