In this conversation of accountability and responsibility, I haven't
yet seen anyone state the reason for caring about the conversation.
What difference is distinguishing these terms supposed to make?
I maintain that they are essential linguistic tools for
organisational conversations of coordinating action. I maintain that
they are essential distinctions for a management language if
management is to exist at all.
I have not yet found a corporation where there exists a common
(operational) definition of these two terms and they are often used
interchangeably and, even more confusingly, that they are often used
in reversed senses by different managers in the same organisation.
I distinguish them in ways that are consistent with their roots as I
know them but, more importantly, in ways that distinguish them as
useful linguistic tools. That is that responsibility is the ability
to promise which is consistent with free and self generated choice
and cannot be "assigned" by others. That is, I cannot make you
responsible for anything. Accountability is the agreement or
contract where someone commits to another some specific action or
outcome for which they are willing to be held to account.
-- Michael McMaster Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk