There’s a blog post and comments over at Linked-In about the difference between accountability and responsibility. Here’s what I said…
I agree with Thomas Dodds (a commenter there) who says:
“So I TAKE responsibility and I am HELD accountable.”
In my work with the Responsibility Process I think, write, and teach everyday about the difference between Responsibility and Accountability. I’ve been studying individual and shared responsibility for 20 years and wrote the book “Teamwork Is An Individual Skill: Getting Your Work Done When Sharing Responsibility.”
Enough of that.
A few things I’ve learned
1) As a society we are pretty loose about how we use the language of Responsibility and Accountability. Yes, the words are interchangeable, so I don’t mean to argue how anyone else should use these two terms. However, we also link them together all the time. For the last year or so I’ve used a google bot to search the web daily for the words Responsibility and Accountability used within the same short phrase. And everyday my google reader is full of blog entries and articles quoting someone saying something like “when is so-and-so going to take responsibility and accountability!”
2) While I acknowledge the words are used interchangeably, there are two important meanings at work, and it is those meanings I care about: There is the process of making, keeping, and managing agreements and expectations in any relationship (business management or otherwise). And there is the feeling of ownership for one’s life, for situations (including one’s accountabilities), and for r-e-s-p-o-n-d-i-n-g when things go wrong.
I prefer to use the word Accountability to refer to making, keeping, and managing agreements and expectations. And I prefer to use the word Responsibility for the feeling of ownership.
Here’s a fun way to see the difference: If you have a manager and aren’t clear about what you are held accountable for, you might want to take responsibility for finding out.
3) Whether or not you are held accountable isn’t up to you. It’s up to others. Here’s a test:
Have you ever been held accountable for something you don’t think you should have?
(Uh-huh, I thought so. Me too.)
And I bet there have been times that you haven’t been held accountable for something you were proud of and wanted to be held accountable for.
4) The primary purpose of a hierarchy is for systematically managing accountabilities. See the 50-year research effort of management scientist Elliott Jaques on this topic.
I and most companies I see could be much much better at managing accountability.
5) Responsibility trumps accountability. It doesn’t matter what you are supposed to be accountable for; what matters is what you feel a sense of ownership for. If an person’s sense of responsibility is smaller than his or her accountabilities, the accountabilities will suffer.
This is a trillion dollar problem in business I’m convinced… Also in social and government sectors.
6) Managing accountability is the systemic stuff of Management. Creating a culture of Responsibility is the stuff of leadership.
and finally, and most exciting to me…
7) Responsibility is not just a character trait (or flaw), but instead is a mental process that operates in everyone exactly the same way. It regulates how we choose to avoid or take responsibility. This means that Responsibility can be systematically observed, taught, and learned.
So anyone can learn to master responsibility. And anyone can develop responsibility in a team, a family, a church, a school, or a work culture.
That’s very cool. That’s why I’ve devoted my life to a worldwide vision to promote this knowledge.
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Hi Christopher, it’s been many years. How are you? I’m researching a new book (actually 2nd ed. of an old book), and your page was just what I needed just when I needed it. Thanks!
My last daughter just graduated from UT. The Austin ties are slipping away…
Take care,
Fred
Hey Fred. It is so good to read your comment here and follow it to your Conscious Manager blog. I am well. Congratulations on your daughters’ successes.
Tell me about your book and why was this blog post important?
I am completely agreed with Christopher.
Its help me to improve my knowledge on this topic.
Thanks
Javed Rao
10/10
sir
i would like to ask what is the right term to be used: “accountable for” or “accountable to.”
thanks
Hi Keinth,
Thanks for your question. Both phrases are commonly used. Here are some examples:
I am accountable for completing my job assignments.
I am accountable to my management.
I am accountable for delivering what I promise.
I am accountable to my customers.
I am accountable for paying my taxes.
I am accountable to the Internal Revenue Service.
I hope that helps.
Christopher
http://prodinst.com/blog/2009/07/23/communications-continuity-and-the-small-to-medium-enterprise/
This is an excellent summation of responsibility vs accountability. I still need some help understaning accountability. I define responsibilities as the items/duties/expectations indiviuals are responsible to complete/uphold. I define responsibility as ownership of the collective items/duties and expectations individuals are responsible to complete/uphold. As to accountability, I find myself struggling for a definition as a member of the military. I hold my personnel accountable for their actions (good or bad). I too am held accountable for their actions and mine. If one of my Marines committs a crime, the first person that is asked how this happened is me (my personnel reflect my leadership). I am responsible for training them, mentoring them and ensuring they understand their responsibilities. Can you help me define accountability in this context?
Accountability to me is when the person is liable to rewards or punishments. For example a sales manager is responsible for the the development of sales representatives reporting to him – but is accountable for the sales and recoverables.
Thanks Vivek — that is a common understanding. So the way I read your sentence, this sales manager is “supposed” to develop sales reps but won’t be held to account for doing so or not doing so?? Hence “responsible” is a position of non-liabillity?
Yes Gyriene. You are responsible for training these individuals. You are accountable for the way you trained these individuals. Let’s say that the marines were trained poorly. Whenever they performed, they demonstrated substandard knowledge and understanding of the task. Therefore, you are to be held accountable for the way you trained them.
This is my take on accountability — accepting the consequences (good or bad) in regard to the outcome of your decisions/actions, the decisions/actions of your personnel, and the outcomes (good or bad) of operations for which you are responsible.
Gyriene, Thanks for your kind words and for sharing your model of accountability and responsibility. I may not be able to give you a precise definition in your context of the Marines. As I say, the two words are so often used interchangeably. If I were to be the word police I might say this: Accountability literally means the ability to give an account. It’s looking back and explaining. So my accounting for failure by saying “it’s not my fault” is giving an account. Whether or not that gets me off the hook with, say, you — my boss, is up to the one holding me to account. You can hold me to account or not. So I think of accountability as the entire process in hierarchies or elsewhere of making and keeping agreements about action and performance, and of managing the consequences of those agreements.
And in my word police role I would say that responsibility literally means the ability to respond. It is in the present, the now. It has to do with what you think and do when things don’t go as planned. My wider definition of responsibility is this: Owning your power and ability to create, choose, and attract. Responsibility is subjective, internal, and transient as described by the Responsibility Process.
Here’s my best example. On my way home I call my wife. She asks if I could pick up bread, milk, and eggs. I say “Sure Honey.” When I get home without the groceries, can she hold me to account? Absolutely. Why? Because I said yes. However at the moment, more important than whether she has the right to hold me to account is my sense of responsibility.
Regardless of what word you use where I believe the internal subjective response to something going wrong will trump the external management process every time. I hope this helps a little. Interestingly the process of managing accountability is the single most important and basic tool of hierarchy and yet the management literature on the subject is a huge void. Management scientists seem to avoid the arena like the plague.
.
Awesome post, thanks for sharing mate. Keep the good work coming.
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thank you so much for the post to the topic responsibility vs accountability.
as it help me more understand on this topic as well as completed my assigment up to this topic.
I like what you have said here. However, I will add two things:
1. Being responsible is an [adjective] in it’s usage, however its respective verb [responsibly is the action I perform. One that I have control over.
2. Accountable is a means of measurement that others perceive as to whether my [actions] were performed.
These two terms and their respective counters [responsibility, accountability] should not be interchanged, but most often are unfortunately. This may be due to not fully understanding the subtle differences. One I control, the other is how I am viewed and measured.
In other words, hold me responsible for the actions I do and do not do, and subsequently accountable for my duties whether fulfilled or not.
Thank you so much man, I´m from Brazil, 22 year old, and this article was so clear about this question, brings up a solution instead of the traditional bla bla bla about the theme, and therefore a great opinion. Thank you so much man. Hope I made myself clear about this.
Perhaps it would help to think of one of the quotes that former President Harry S. Truman was famous for, and that is, “The Buck Stops Here”. That is probably the clearest and most well-known statements of accountability ever made, and it leaves no doubt in one’s mind as to where the ultimate responsibility lies.
Dennis, thanks for getting to the point as President Truman did.
Christopher
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