| Aid to Pak tied to war on
terror: Obama administration WASHINGTON: The new Obama administration cautioned Pakistan that it would be held accountable for the security in the border regions of Afghanistan and that its performance in the fight against terrorism would be linked to the financial aid to the country. "(President Barack) Obama and (Vice President Joe) Biden will increase nonmilitary aid to Pakistan and hold them accountable for security in the border region with Afghanistan," the White House said in its foreign policy agenda document released soon after Obama occupied the Oval office. Source: The Times of India, 21 Jan 2009, 1130 hrs IST, PTI |
Accountability is a concept in ethics with several meanings. It is often used synonymously with such concepts as responsibility, answerability, enforcement, blameworthiness, liability and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving. As an aspect of governance / management, it has been central to discussions related to problems in both the public and private (corporate) world.
In families, organizations, and indeed even our society, one of the reasons for failure is the inability by leadership to establish and enforce accountability. Accountability in leadership is a topic that is not frequently discussed and the result is often relating to compliance to procedures, following work rules, treating customers with respect, achieving results, and getting along with co-workers. Accountability is at the heart of empowering people to perform well, demonstrating initiative, and acting responsibly. When a climate of accountability exists, things work smoothly; and when it is absent procedures fail and policies are ignored.
Let me describe organizational leadership. A manager complained, "My employees just don't take me seriously." She said, "Even though I tell them over and over, some employees won't even call in to say they are sick. They just don't show up."
I asked what she did when an employee didn't take the time to call in sick. She replied, "I just find somebody else to work the shift and then when they do show up I tell them to be sure to call me next time." I asked, "So how is this technique working?" She said, "It's not! That's the problem. I can't find good people these days."
This is an
example of the absence of a leader establishing and enforcing
individual accountability. When people do not feel that they are
held accountable for their behavior, they often lower their
performance to the lowest possible level acceptable to the leader.
In other words, leader behavior regarding the establishment of
accountability does a lot to determine a person's highest level of
performance.
They had not
been held accountable when they didn't call in sick before, so they
had no belief that it was a necessary requirement to maintain job
security. The manager's failure to hold her employees accountable
created an overly permissive climate where the employees could
dictate their own policies and procedures.
Effective leaders believe in and practice the principle of Behavior Must Equal Consequence. When an employee performs well and/or adheres to organizational rules, an effective manager will notice and provide the employee with appropriate feedback to reinforce the good performance. Likewise, when an employee does not perform well and/or does not follow the rules, an effective manager will notice and provide the employee with corrective feedback, or coaching to change the performance. Exactly the same thing is true in our everyday life activities such as - when raising children. Behavior Must Equal Consequence, both positive and negative, must be a guiding principle to raise responsible children who as a consequence act responsibly.
Without accountability, complacency starts to creep in an reaches levels where the whole system starts to fail. This is the primay reason for faliure of India to perform well as a nation. In our country, the Satyam, fiasco happens and PWC goes scot free - they should have been held accountable and their licence suspended - also to set an example for others - 'this will not be tolerated!'. The DDA scam happens and no IAS officers are suspended - were the DDA top bosses not responsible as people without addresses / PAN cards were alotted flats?
You might say - these cases are pending investigation and action will be taken. But tell me - haw many earlier cases can you recall when anyone was openly held accountable?
We as a people and India as a nation can not do well unless we are able to enforce accountability.
http://learnhub.com/redirect?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clf.org%2Fstates%2Fvermont%2Findex.asp%3Fid%3D806
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