The Importance of Accountability Essay

Accountability is important in any organization, in health care patients live can be at stake. â€Å"Accountability is defined as â€Å"being answerable to audiences for performing up to certain prescribed standards, thereby fulfilling obligations, duties, expectations, and other charges†. Employees on all levels need to be kept on a certain standard so accountability will be measured by performance assessments, this can be done weekly, biweekly, monthly and yearly. Check and balances is in place so that one department is not favorable over others, every department so that the organization can be successful. Having everyone accountable for their actions will increase workplace productions because others will not have to worry about others tasks. Maintaining a positive morale is essential it will increase employee’s productions and reduce employee error especially in a health care setting. Measuring Employees Accountability â€Å"As managers, providing an honest and thoughtful assessment can help your employees learn and grow, thereby making them more productive team members. Wilbanks, L. (2011).† Assessments are the core of any organizations because this is where a manager and employee can see where someone is lacking and address the problem. Positive reviews are praise for the employee that is doing their job correctly but negative reviews is where employee will need to address the problems by improving or getting more training. Yearly assessments are the most important because it is going to take every past assessment into consideration and if improve is not seen disciplinary actions may be taken as far being laid off depending on management’s decision. Check-and-Balance Checks-and-balances in government is put in place so that no one branch of government is more powerful than any other one. Organizations adopted this process so that no one department gets all the power but there is a certain amount of power to each department so that the organization can be successful. If power is not equally divided one or more departments are not going to be effective in the care for its patients. Accountability Organizations Working Culture There are many ways accountability is important and will affect a working culture usually in a positive way. One way that it will positively affect the work place is that employees will stick to their task at hand and not have to do other employees tasks. Each employee needs to be accountable for what their job description says and stick to their assignment. In a health care setting doing more than the employee is entitled to can be a serious problem especially if they are underqualified. For instance a monitor tech should only worry about the monitor but if a patient complains about being in pain he/she cannot give the patient anything that should be handled by nurses with directions by the physicians. There can be serious consequences for the technician because it can drastically affect the patient even causing death if something was administered wrong. Each patient was hired to do certain tasks and veering off those tasks should not be acceptable by any organizations. Positive Culture Morale is important in any organization because without a positive morale employees will not want to work or not put their full effort into their work. â€Å"Happy workers are known to be more creative, productive and team oriented. Jennifer Newman and, D. G. (2006, Jul 19).† Creating a positive culture among employees could be a difficult task for managers but not impossible. Having everyone accountable for their tasks and if organization goals are being met, rewards can be given out such as bonuses or lunches. This goes a long way for employees and shows what they should strive for instead of being off task. Employees knowing that they will get rewarded for their hard work and dedication can create a positive workplace for everyone as well as patients. Avoiding Culture of Blame The blame game is something to be avoided in the workplace because it only cause stress and strain on everyone in the workplace. Managers need to make sure it is understood that each employee stays on task and for those that are lacking or not handling their jobs will be met with disciplinary actions the day of their assessment. Keeping control is going to be very important for the managers because extra stress can lead to problems with patients. Importance of Accountability In this paper the importance of accountability was elaborated thoroughly, each employee needs to be accountable for each and every action they do on a day to day basis. Weekly, biweekly and annual assessments is a very important measurement so that the performance of each is kept at a certain standard. Keeping each department in a check-and-balance is important so that no one department is seen as all powerful among others. Each department needs to cooperate amongst each other to make the organization successful. Accountability is important so that there is a positive working culture. References Jennifer Newman and, D. G. (2006, Jul 19). 11 ways to boast morale in the workplace. Harbour City Star. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/357835576?accountid=458 Porter-O’Grady, T., & Malloch, K. (2007). Managing for success in health care. St. Louis, MO: Mosby. Wilbanks, L. (2011). Performance reviews. IT Professional Magazine, 13(1), 58-60. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/MITP.2011.13