Examining accountability in terms of responsibility

A second related problem arises when examining accountability in terms of responsibility. Measuring a program's impacts is one problem but assigning responsibility for those impacts is another. Extensive management sharing among different levels of government means that there is very little for which a single actor, agency, or program in government in the United States has exclusive responsibility. When responsibility is so widely dispersed that effectively no one is in charge, accountability becomes meaningless unless it recognizes joint responsibility.

Joint responsibility provides a rationale for measuring outcomes over which no actor has exclusive control or responsibility. These outcomes must be measured for two reasons: first, to answer questions about the impact programs have upon their clients (or other people affected indirectly), the relative cost-effectiveness of various programs, and the unmet needs in a given jurisdiction. And, second, because the public, legislators, chief executives, and funding agencies want the answers.

Business and management goals

Measuring business goals

Employees and business system changes