The Notion of Accountability in the Public Sector

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this presentation is to investigate the various views, perceptions and attitudes of people with regards to the notion of accountability within the public sector with the hope of suggesting, recommending and creating knowledge base that can be utilized to enhance best accountability practices in the public sector. Players in the public sector accountability roles should be helped to take an active role in shaping the notion of accountability for public effectiveness and efficiency. The current employment accountability system is top-down and excludes players at the bottom to contribute to the formulation of accountability parameters and standards. The notion stems from the assumption that individuals in organizations are held to a certain standard of excellence, hence responsible for their actions and be answerable for the results of their actions. Implementers at the receiving end just receive parcels of finished products for implementation .This creates platforms for those in management positions to take advantage of their counter parts and abuse them in effecting accountability as a tool for control and appraisal .The current practice has opened up  avenues for  practice of unprofessional and the unethical practices to prevail in work places .Thus , the presentation  came up with mitigatory measures to shift the current perception of accountability to a user-friendly approach that  will promote unity among players and ensure quality work and service delivery in work places if adopted 

Material and Methods: This presentation used the qualitative survey methodology to gather data on, ‘The Notion of Accountability in Public Sector. The interpretivist approach was taken on body in this presentation. This philosophy of qualitative survey was selected for use in this presentation as it is powerful when it comes to  individual in-depth  interviews  or questionnaires to collect analyze and interpret data on what people see, believe hear or think about the notion of accountability in the public sector. The methodology clearly reports on the meaning, perceptions, characteristics and descriptions of phenomena. Actually it was chosen for use due to its open endedness and exploratory nature which are basic fundamentals of depth research. Questionnaires were chosen for their ability to solicit definitive information without allowing chances of data ambiguity. Conversely, the interviews were taken on board in this presentation due to their upper hand in gathering qualitative thick descriptive data hence providing the researcher with the much needed data to warranty research finding generalization. The approach allowed random sampling from the study population leading to data gathering, presentation, analysis and discussions.

Findings: The research findings revealed a wide range of scenario coming out of the notion of accountability in the public sector. The major finding emanates from the theory x of the trait theories where those in management view employees as naturally lazy and unwilling to do their jobs or task assignment. As such management and public in general expect employees to account for their performance so that they can be appraised where work outcomes are positive to pre-determined goals and be punished where performance fall short of set expectations and goals. Concerns and perceptions of those at the bottom who happens to account to top management are often neglected and not taken seriously leaving those who are supposed to account feeling worthless and not owning the entire process of accountability. Some of the tasks given to employees to carry out are not feasible but the door for grievance and challenge handling is closed since there is a one way information flow system which is predominantly top-down. The long chain of bureaucracy is a barrier to information communication which should be two way. Those in lower levels of management lack clarity of some specific issues but are compelled to ensure task accomplishment by those in top management who have no time and mandate to receive instruction from people at the bottom lines of the accountability chain.

Implications to Theory, Practice and Policy: The presentation recommended best accountability practices where people at the lower level of accountability are offered opportunities to contribute to the construction and formulation of accountability guidelines so that they do not become strangers in implementation of tasks meant for them so as to account. This can be achieved through making reviews on basic assumptions under pinning decision making in areas of accountability within the public sector.