In this case, we could try to define accountability as the capability of the person who has been entrusted a certain position to answer and take full blame of the responsibilities that are entailed in that particular position .
The importance of accountability can not be under looked. Among the importance is , it helps in preventing errors. Some errors like improper planning and creating situations of untrustworthiness between employer and employee or a business and its clients. These are errors which if not rectified would cause a major blow to any business and therefore accountability comes in handy to help solve them.
Another importance of accountability is that it helps to detect errors during and after implementation of any policy that is meant to be rolled out. (AccountAbility: The institute of social and ethical accountability, 1997) . In this context ,it helps to counter the challenges that may hinder the successful completion of a policy that is meant to improve a business’s profits for example clearly defining the amount of money used for input so as to increase the output.
I have at a particular point been held accountable as a financial manager where I was expected to be giving full audits , a role I found a bit easy. This was facilitated by the cooperation of all workers in the company who were at all times willing to give the accurate information that I needed.
Employee accountability would be enhanced by those in positions by pushing for transparency at all times. Also there should be well laid out responsibilities for every employee so that they know what is expected of them and how far their mandate stretches. Employees should also be individually held responsible to avoid the group mentality.
REFERENCES
AccountAbility: The institute of social and ethical accountability. (1997). Social and Environmental Accountability Journal, 17(1), pp.19-20