Accountability entails acceptance of responsibility in any area of profession or occupation. It enables employees to adhere to set standards that govern the accomplishment of their tasks. Accountability empowers staffs to achieve their personal goals and organizations to achieve their set targets. Therefore, accountability should be strictly ensured for smooth flow and running of organizational activities, either as an individual member of staff or team responsibilities.
Accountability is highly beneficial in the health care industry. It is a culture that should start from the top management flowing downwards to the juniors. For instance, doctors have to be accountable for their health care responsibilities. The hospital managers have to work hard, 24/7 to accomplish their tasks as well as the owner of the whole organization. Time commitment and dedication lead to full accountability.
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Importance of Accountability in Health Care Industry
The service quality of hospital facilities is enhanced by accountability. According to (Azevedo et al., 2018), how well or poor the health workers provide services to clients or patients determines his or her satisfaction. A higher level of service quality results to maximum satisfaction to the consumers. If hospital nurses treat and handle patients with a lot of care and concern, the probability of such patients visiting the hospital more frequently is very high, hence promoting customer loyalty. Also, responsible health workers create a good public image that promotes consumer preferences of the organization. Patients’ satisfaction determines how well his or her expectations were met, from the perceptions derived from the services and products offered in the hospital. The facilitators of health service quality may include timely delivery of services, intensive care and concern from the health professionals to the patients, the strategic flow of hospital procedures from self-examination to results, better medial products that provide cure and favorable medical charges to the patients.
Measurements of Employees Accountability
There are various criteria that are applied in measurements of health workers accountability in the health sector. The employee performance is shown by the outcomes or the results for the services he or she offered. Staffs should be able to produce patients’ data and information concerning their diagnosis and treatments for evidence purposes and future reference. Patient data boost decision making on the type of medication to be used to provide a treatment. In addition, the outcomes of Medicare provided in terms of patient safety and the experience of care, shows how well or poor the health provider was accountable to his or her responsibilities. Are there increased death cases and deteriorating conditions of patients, how is the public opinion of health providers in a specific hospital, is the sum of patients or clients visiting the hospital increasing or decreasing; such situations measures how the health employees offer their services to patients. Finally, the overall performance of health organizations and hospitals can tell how their staffs execute the assigned tasks. If the performance is good, then the employees are accountable, and if it is poor, they are not fully responsible for their duties (National academy of sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2016).
Applications of Accountability to Ethical Considerations in Leadership Management
Accountability plays a vital role in ensuring ethical measures are implemented in a different organizational setting, from the seniors to the junior staffs. Leonard and Trusty (2016) assert that leaders and top managers should be the key role models to their employees by making morals and ethical decisions. The primary responsibilities of leaders for instance, in this case, the doctors and hospital managers, is to promote and model ethical values in the workplace or hospital environment. Their own behavior should show accountability of upholding morals and ethical decisions. Leaders should know themselves, what they are expected to accomplish and their ethical values.
Checks and Balances Process
In the health care sector, there are checks and balances which aids in proper organization of finances. Checks and balances ensure the honesty of financial sectors that make the staffs’ in charge responsible and the overall activities to run smoothly. This process also enhances the accuracy of business activities that promote trust, accountability as well as productivity. The financial departments of the various organization are responsible for checks and balances. They use these forms to lower cases of frauds and incorrect information. The checks and balances hinder small parties and unauthorized individuals from altering official payments and receipts numbers for personal gain. Financial integrity promotes organization efficiency. The absence of checks and balances in any organization creates space for supervisors’ threats and impracticable goals. An ethical culture avails right checks and balances that facilitates realistic goals and helpful supervision. Moreover, check and balance systems prove to the clients that the provider gives satisfactory services for the charged amount, and also the health care provider can track the consumer payments from the system (Philips & Gully, 2014). A prosperous healthcare setting is achieved through a check and balance system.
Effects of Accountability on Organization’s Working Culture
An organization working culture is highly affected by the accountability of organization workers. The expansion of work culture is determined by adequate accountability. With accountability, employees can communicate effectively with each other and appropriately tackle team activities. They can also count on their colleagues on the performance of primary duties as expected whereas the top leaders get the morale of assigning more tasks. With the availability of excellent services, consumers' loyalty to the organization is strengthened, and hence they refer more friends and relatives. A just culture in organizations is created by responsibility and accountability.
Maintenance of Positive Working Culture
Maintenance of positive culture is created through various ways that support common goals of workers. With a positive working culture where everyone is accountable for his or her actions, the productivity of the Mother Company is improved. Such approaches include ensuring work-life balance where the wellbeing of staffs is put in place, and creating a strong team spirit that promotes achievement of common objectives. Recognition for hard work which motivates the staffs. Availability of open communication and transparency that ensures all staffs are up to date of the current undertakings and expectations of their employers. The management should impart code of conduct and moral guidelines, and also focus on training and development of employees to keep them abreast of current trend in their professions (Browning, 2017).
Accountability is a core aspect of all employees in the health sector and all industries. Health professionals should always adhere to accountability as a guiding principle while accomplishing their tasks. They should focus on providing quality health services to patients to boost their fitness and well-being. Quality services and products highly influence consumer satisfaction. Ethical practices should model the behavior of health workers especially while handling patients and other colleagues. Improvement in health performance of the health care sector depends on the productivity of the stakeholders.
References
Azevedo, G. et al. (2018 ). Handbook of Research on Modernization and Accountability in Public Sector Management . USA: IGI Global.
Browning, G. (2017). Work that Works: Emergineering a positive Organizational Culture. New Jersey: Wiley.
The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. (2016). Accounting for Social Risk Factors in Medicare Payment: Criteria, Factors, and Methods . Washington: The National Academies Press.
Leonard, E., & Trusty, K. (2016). Supervision: Concepts and Practices of Management (13th ed.). USA: Cengage Learning.
Phillips, J., & Gully, S. (2014). Organizational Behavior: Tools for Success. (2nd ed.). USA: Cengage Learning.
