Administering accountability implies a ‘hands-off’ approach by management. Management informs the employees of their expectations and hopes that employees understand their job responsibilities well enough to be able to relate management’s expectations to such responsibilities. It then accepts the results achieved by their employees.

Managers are then not driving their expectations demanding accountability, but rather passively waiting in the hope that employees will display accountability because they seem to understand the organisation’s expectations and are committed to them.

Failing to clearly communicate performance expectations actually encourages a lack of accountability.

Managing accountability on the other hand, requires a very hands-on approach and an ongoing and relentless interest in the outcomes to be achieved. Managing accountability requires an aggressive people oriented management style where performance problems are anticipated or identified and purposefully addressed.

Accountability must therefore be made explicit. Never should a manager assume that employees know what is expected from them. Outcomes must be discussed, analysed and the performance expectations linked to them must be properly communicated.

Employees must accept responsibilities, commit to them and know that they will be held accountable and that such accountability will be managed. An accountability culture also requires discipline. It is this discipline that ensures that expectations will always be clear. A highly disciplined organisation has clear accountabilities.

Johan Willemse Cluster Manager:

Finance and Accounting Southern Business School