Management theory is rife with the idea of “holding others accountable”. I have been struggling with the values implied by this language. AHS focuses on facilitating “Just Culture” to create a health care environment conducive to enhanced patient safety (AHS, n.d.). A central tenet to improving patient safety is the idea that a “blameless culture” is essential to reporting of errors, delving into systems and skills, and ultimately achieving the intended outcome of improved patient safety (Mardon, et. al., 2010). Logically, this philosophy should generalize to non-malicious mistakes made in the performance of one’s job.
From my perspective, accountability foisted upon another is imbued with a sense of autocracy. You are accountable to me, as your leader or manager, for an outcome. If you do not achieve that outcome, you will have disappointed my expectations of you. The sense of shame associated with disappointing the expectations of an authority figure is not new to any of us. A short trip back to childhood certainly provides many examples for most of us. The emotions it dredges up are dread, embarrassment and fear. This takes me to an article I recently read on fear as a motivator – it can indeed motivate you, but it has a dark side – avoidance and paralysis (Bern, 2008). Is this what we believe is the best way to develop employees?
Reading up on this topic offered some alternatives. Boone & Makhani (2012) provided many ideas that resonated with me and illuminated the path. These included approaches like inspiring collaboration around a vision; identifying and nurturing strengths in constituents and allowing some power and decision-making authority to rest at the level closest to the customer.
A quick search online on the idea of accountability shows powerful support still exists in literature, and this implies to me that autocratic leadership is still far more present than leaders may feel comfortable acknowledging. There were a couple of dissenting opinions, however. This blog by Fowler (2013) is a quick read, and very worth the time. It delves into the idea of “ownership” rather than accountability. I much prefer this concept. Comparing these two concepts draws on the ideas of intrinsic versus extrinsic individual motivators (Thomas, 2009). Accountability is an extrinsic motivator, and ownership or “personal accountability” would be an intrinsic motivator. Undoubtedly, there are times when an employee may be developing ownership, and during that development process, accountability is an essential step. The ultimate goal, however, would remain that the employee internalize that sense of ownership.
In the workplace, accountability can be thrown around like a sledgehammer. The term accountability can imply, as described by Fowler (2013) that people cannot be trusted to do what they have been hired to do and that they must be managed or they will cheat the workplace/system. Developing ownership is an alternative approach that is more supportive and inclusive. The opportunity to take ownership may help to motivate employees borne out of their desire to justify their leader’s trust rather than the need to avoid scrutiny and judgment under a more autocratic leadership style.
References
Alberta Health Services – AHS. (n.d.). Just culture – living our organizational values. Retrieved from https://insite.albertahealthservices.ca/4742.asp
Bern, G. (2008). In hard times, fear can impair decision making. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/jobs/07pre.html
Boone, Larry W.; Makhani, Sanya. Review of Business. Winter2012/2013, Vol. 33 Issue 1, p83-96. 14p.
Fowler, S. (2013). If you are holding people accountable, something is wrong (and it isn’t what you think.). Retrieved from https://leaderchat.org/2013/10/07/if-you-are-holding-people-accountable-something-is-wrong-and-it-isnt-what-you-think/
Mardon, R., Khanna, K., Sorra, J., Dyer, N., & Famolaro, T. (2010). Exploring relationships between hospital patient safety culture and adverse events. Journal of Patient Safety, 6(4), 226-232. doi:10.1097/PTS.0b013e3181fd1a00
Thomas, K. (2009). The four intrinsic rewards driving employee engagement. Retrieved from https://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/the-four-intrinsic-rewards-that-drive-employee-engagement/