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Responsibility vs. Accountability

Responsibility-vs.-Accountability

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7 views9 pages

Responsibility vs. Accountability

Responsibility-vs.-Accountability

Uploaded by

vishu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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RESPONSIBILITY

VS.

ACCOUNTABILITY
WHAT''S
WHAT S
THE
DIFFERENCE?
Responsibility vs. Accountability
What's the Difference?

Responsibility and accountability are two terms that are often considered synonymous and are used
interchangeably. However, they actually have very distinct meanings. It is important to understand the
differences between responsibility vs accountability in order to assess who fits where in the office structure
and / or when clarifying assignment to a given project.
Responsibility in the Workplace
What are some aspects of responsibility in the workplace you should know about?

Responsibility is the duty to respond to and complete tasks.

It can be shared among a team - multiple people can be responsible for


achieving a specific outcome by working on the same task, or having different
tasks they are responsible for that lead to the same goal.

Responsibility cannot technically be assigned to someone. A person must choose


to take responsibility for something themselves.

It is specifically task-focused - it can include: who has what role, what that entails,
and what must be done in order to be successful.
Accountability in the Workplace
How can we define accountability in the workplace?

Accountability is literally the While responsibility is an ongoing


ability and/or duty to report on (or duty to complete the task at hand,
give account of) events, tasks, and accountability is what happens after a
experiences. situation occurs

Accountability for a specific task,


Accountability is how a person
process, service, etc. should be
responds to and takes ownership of
assigned to just one person.
the results of a task.

If more than one person is accountable,


Being accountable often means that the
there is a much higher risk that each will
person is liable to face consequences
think the other is taking charge, leading
from some authority if the task isn't
to no one taking accountability.
completed successfully.

Sometimes, accountability can be at


Tasks should be assigned based on an play when the accountable person
individual's skills and competencies. communicates that the objective isn't
being reached.
The Key Differences
Responsibility in the Workplace Accountability in the Workplace

The duty to complete tasks; not doing so is a The duty to give an account of tasks after they are
failure of responsibility. completed.

Happens after a situation occurs (or in the form of a


Ongoing while final goal is being worked towards.
status update).

Can be shared among a team; many people


Should be assigned to just one person to avoid thinking
can have the same task, or different tasks that
someone else will be doing the job.
work towards the same goal.

Specifically task-focused. Specifically results-focused.

Cannot be assigned to someone. Each person Is assigned (ideally to one person). They are held
must take responsibility on their own (more accountable for results and potential consequences
behavioral). of not reaching desired results.
Example: Doing Chores
We can feel responsible for doing household
chores without having accountability. If
someone who lives alone has the
responsibility to do their laundry, but fail to do
so, they have no one to answer to but
themselves. They will be responsible, but they
won’t face any consequences from an
authority.

However, a parent could make their child


accountable for the laundry getting done. In this
case, if the laundry doesn’t get finished, the
child would have to explain (give an account of)
why the task hadn’t been completed to their
parent (the authority) and could face potential
consequences.
Example: Customer Service
Suppose your company has an online help portal
where customers can ask questions, and get
responses in real time from CSR. It is the
responsibility of the CSRs to respond to these
questions – that is their task, working toward a
goal of, for example, a response time of three
minutes or less per question.

Accountability shouldn’t lie with the multiple


CSRs all doing the same task with the same
goal in mind – instead, it should be assigned to
one person (e.g. a manager) who would be
accountable for the response time. In this case,
they wouldn’t necessarily face consequences if
the goal wasn’t met – accountability for this
situation could be to inform a higher authority
(their boss) that the goal wasn’t being achieved.
Example: Stockperson
In some cases, someone can both have
responsibility for something, and also be held
accountable for it.

Consider this example: an employee is


responsible for keeping the storage room
stocked with computer paper. They are aware
that this is their job, and will continue to bring
more paper to the room before it runs out. As this
is an ongoing task, they are merely responsible
for it – they will not be held accountable until the
task is completed. In this example, that could be
if the employee fails to stock the room and has
to face consequences for it.
Responsibility vs. Accountability
While they seem to be very similar terms, and are often used interchangeably, there are key
distinctions you can draw out when comparing responsibility and accountability in the
workplace. It’s important to know the differences in order to ensure that the right people (and
number of people) are assigned to specific tasks, and also to know who is responsible for
what, and who will be held accountable for certain outcomes.

Remember: you can take responsibility, and you can hold someone accountable.

For more articles and white papers, check out


our Human Resources Blog!

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