Creating a Culture of Adaptive Accountability in an Organization

Abstract

The three-step method for creating a culture of adaptive accountability in an organization is proposed. It is aimed to promote adaptation of taking accountability of employees for the changes in a work environment. The changes are engendered by variability of the organization's objectives. The dynamic work environment is formed in the first step. It includes determination of the needed actions corresponding with the current objective of the organization, the action structure, and the actions-relevant skills, the difficulties in performance of the actions, and the extents of accountability for the actions that are correlated with the actions' difficulties. Adaptation of taking accountability of employees for the actions to their aspiration and readiness to perform the actions is realized through a coordinated self-evaluation process in the second step. The employees evaluate their aspiration and readiness to perform the actions by examination of individual skills and the work environment. Aspiration of the employee to perform the action is induced by the condition implying more compensation for the action having the more extent of accountability. Readiness of the employee to perform the action is evaluated on the basis of the degree of difference between employee skills and the action-relevant skills. Adjustment of the employees' compensations to their accountability for the actions is fulfilled by taking into consideration the extents of accountability for the actions in the third step.