The Commission For Environmental Cooperation

Accountability: We will take responsibility for our work and its outcomes. Mistakes are acknowledged, not ignored or passed on, or blamed on others. We will demonstrate a personal commitment to our team members and ourselves.

The changes or outcomes can be conveyed in the following terms. First knowledge, and skills outcomes are thought of as short-term outcomes. Then behaviors are included, which weigh up as intermediate-term outcomes. Additionally, values, conditions, and status are changes and outcomes, which reflect long-term outcomes. Furthermore, the number and percent of participants the department wants to accomplish the outcome is the outcome target. For example, 1,500 teens (10% of teens) quit drinking over the next year is an outcome goal. (McNamara, n.d.)

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the importance of accountability, communication, and timeliness because I was late to accountability formation. I need to be aware of what can happen when I make irresponsible decisions and how the repercussions can negatively affect me now, but also in the future.

Accountability standards have massively improved over the years.Accountability is being held responsible to something. Standards are a certain level of success to reach in an area. Therefore, accountability standards are a level of quality that an individual is held responsible for. We have changed how we view these standards as well. In the past our accountability standards has been underdeveloped. That didn’t change until President Ronald Reagan put out a report titled “A Nation At Risk” in 1983.

Measuring performance means when a business will measure the quality of the activities that are passing and the quality of the services provided to the customers by employees. It involves creating a simple, but effective, system for determining whether organizations meet objectives. It’s also a process of collecting and reporting information regarding the performance of an individual, group or organizations. It can

Accountability manifests itself both in real life and in fiction. Real life accountability ranges from keeping tabs of where a student is in school and extends to keeping track of emergency personnel in life or death situations. Teachers knowing where a student is, such as them being sick and not coming to school that day or keeping tabs on them while on a field trip keeps them at ease knowing their students are all accounted for and nobody was left alone when they need a chaperone. In a life or death situation, such as recovery and life saving operations after a hurricane or earthquake, the police, fire department, even the coast guard need to maintain accountability of their officers and other personnel as well as the people they have recovered from the wreckage. Although these real world examples are merely just examples of what accountability is needed for, however people need to know exactly why it is needed in business and in the field.

Throughout my schooling career I have often taken on the role as a leader. Consequently, a great deal of power is placed upon my shoulders as I am often the one making the final decision. As such, I am always accountable for my actions and my group’s actions. Being the leader, if I am not accountable this creates a negative precedent showing the group that being accountable is not important. Thus, a group that is not accountable for their actions fails as no one is able to fess up to their mistake and move forward to a solution. I see this first hand when playing hockey. When a goal is scored, players will often blame the other players for the team’s failure. This causes issues because if no one is accountable for their actions then no change can be made and the system continues to fail. If the players became accountable they would be more effective in leading change and developing a better plan to prevent goals. This is on a small scale however, accountability effects much larger groups and leaders. If leaders are unable to be accountable, then their leadership is ineffective as they will never be able to move

One who takes responsibility for those who works under his or her authority needs to have accountability at all times.

In NI and ROI the term accountability has been a matter for debate but Ontario’s non-judgemental culture has been a success and as a result has broken down a trust barrier and provided room for camaraderie and collegiality’. This was created by forming top-down and bottom-up partnerships and staff seeing principals and senior leaders as co-learners rather than facilitators. Fullan states “when peers interact with purpose, they provide their own built-in accountability”. (Fullan, 2008,

The essential meaning of accountability is a process or mechanism of which actors are obliged to explain and to justify their conduct through institutional relations or arrangements, whereby they might face “consequences.” Actors can be either individuals, e.g. official, or an organization, such as public institution. To be accountable, an actor should be able to clarify and vindicate its policy in front of a forum that could also be an individual or an institution. The forum, then, can query for explanations and deliver findings. Principles of accountability and its mechanisms are often provided in the Constitution and other domestic regulations.

Accountability is important, because without it, there's no where to place the blame when mistakes occur. In fact, accountability covers more than just blameworthiness; responsibility, answerability, and liability also come into question when discussing the importance of accountability. The very application of the word, describes a system, in which actions, decisions, and policies are all accounted for (or: kept track of, recorded, and assessed and evaluated). Accountability can even extend into the administration of new policies, that are rendered due to obsolete rules and regulations or just out-right compliancy issues; the governance of decisions that define expectations or verify one's performance-- as well as managing and guiding

At the present time, as the owner of a small consulting business, accountability plays a significant role in the organization’s culture. Moreover, it is the expectation of the organization that each consultant is accountable for their work performance’s outcome. Equally important, accountability starts with the leader of the organization. As the leader, the implementation of accountability is to require each consultant to be accountable for real outcomes. For this reason, the goal is to examine what is needed to achieved total accountability.

It is important to note first, what accountability is. I will state why it is important as well as go over scenarios in dealing with accountability.

Stakeholders are people or groups with interest in an organization that can affect or be affected by the organization itself, its objectives, or its policies (BusinessDictionary, 2015). Each stakeholder brings their own perspective to the table based on their relationship with the organization (e.g. internal or external role), their level of experience, and their area of expertise about the subject matter they are involved with. At a high level, the list of stakeholders for any organization could include people or groups such as: customers, employees, government agencies, suppliers, unions, community resources, shareholders, and business owners. For the purpose of this assignment, I will discuss and review stakeholders relative to the

“Accountability traditionally meant writing favourable terms into a contract, monitoring vendor performance and then working with the supplier to uphold its obligations” (www.ey.com)