What is Accountability?
You hear the terms "responsibility" and "accountability" a lot when dealing with safety and health, and sometimes people speak as though the two terms have the same meaning. But, as used in OSHA standards and throughout our courses, these two terms have very different meanings. Let's find out why.
Go get your dictionary. You'll find responsibility and accountability defined something like:
- Responsible - expected or obliged to account for or answer to; involving obligation or duties. Responsibility - able to account for or answer to.
- Accountable - responsible; liable; legally bound or subject to giving an account (or explanation), answerable. Accountability - able to give account or answer to.
If you examine only these two definitions, it's understandable why you might conclude that they have virtually the same meaning. However, the notion of being "liable or legally bound" gives accountability an added meaning. When applying these two concepts to management in the workplace, they take on very important and distinct differences in meaning and application.
- Responsibility may be thought of as simply the "obligation to fulfill a duty or task." To be responsible, you need only be assigned one or more duties.
- Accountability, on the other hand, may be thought of as establishing the "obligation to fulfill a task to a required level of performance or else." When you are held accountable, your performance is measured against some specific criteria or standard and consequences are applied appropriate to the level or quality of performance.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
2-2. When your performance is measured and consequences are applied by the employer, you are _____.
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