Accountability means being responsible to some for the actions taken. It is about being able to explain, clarify and justify one’s actions. On the other hand, transparency is understanding and being frank in all transactions, communications, and operations in any organization.
Holly Hoe, the Vice President, Major Gifts United Way of Central Maryland provides for transparency and accountability in her business by ensuring that every workers and board members sign a code of ethics annually. The company is trusted with a lot of funds from donors to help people in the community and thus need to ensure that they need to ensure that they are accountable. They make sure that the donor information is private and strictly to internal purposes. Reputation is important, and thus the organization needs take care of its public trust.
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According to Marozzi, trust is an essential factor of social order and survival of any regime, as it affects the performance, welfare, and progress (Marozzi, 2014). A transparent and accountable organization is characterized by feeling trust of different degrees. This means that the organization trusts its employees with tremendous amounts of responsibility and opportunity and the clients of the organization believe that the organization is trustworthy. Additionally, employees trust each other. In any organization that invests in transparency and accountability, collaboration is key rather than competition. The employees feel free in sharing knowledge and this, in turn, benefits the company, thus making the organization dependable, empowered and successful.
Creating a workplace that has a high value of accountability and transparency influences the business positively. Some of the benefits include improved communication, attract and retain employees, and improve the goods and services offered by the organization (Poppo & Schepker, (2010). Therefore, for the organization to have accountability and transparent,
Ensure that you follow code ethics and not cross boundaries. Therefore, being honest and complying with the law to avoid misuse of funds. According to Kennedy & Malatesta, different challenges affect governance and ethical decision-making (Kennedy & Malatesta, 2010). Therefore, to avoid such problems, all employees should sign the code of ethics. Every person in the organization should follow the code of ethics. Therefore, such rules help maintain self-control, equality, proficiency and discretion at the place of work. Desecration of the professional ethics should be seen as misconduct or defiance and may lead to the dissolution of a contract of losing the job.
Eliminate ambiguity
Ambiguity is the doubtfulness of a situation. In any organization, ambiguity is dangerous, especially in trust issues. Therefore, removing any potential ambiguity in the organization will prevent confusion regarding communication, setting company guidelines, responsibilities processes. Accountability aids in the development of a clear comprehension of who is answerable for different parts of the organization. If the management is uncertain and leaves some questions unanswered, the employees are always left confused, and this could mar the efforts of accountability and transparency. Such problems can be avoided if the organization’s management increases open communication at all levels.
Lead by example
Leading by example is key, as the employees will probably be looking up to you as the leader to show them how to act. Change happens from top to bottom; therefore, the management must be attentive in transparency and accountability at all times. Thus, the administrators should share freely and communicate regularly with the employees. Being democratic and free with the employees will build a support and encourage an honest and trustworthy working environment. Additionally, as a manager, one should ensure they do not reward employees that achieve their goals at other people’s expenses. In a culture of transparency and accountability success is earned by tactics that promote honesty. According to Isaacs et. al. doing things in the best manner is the best way to enhance responsibility and transparency as it builds relationship and trust (Isaacs et. al. 2011).
Holly Hoe, the Vice President, Major Gifts United Way of Central Maryland uses the signing of a code of ethics in her company every year to ensure transparency and accountability, which is a little different from what I might do in my company. I would make sure that the code is signed after every six months. Moreover, I would ensure that my hiring techniques would enhance transparency and accountability. Transparency begins at the time of hire. Therefore, it is crucial to hire employees who are honest on receiving and giving an honest response. Again, it is important to hire workers who demonstrate high personal ethics such as honesty and lack of bias. Additionally, I would ensure that all managers are in a position to show the new hires on collaboration and teamwork in the organization. If the new employees are not given all the information needed, the long-term employees should be held responsible.
Inclusion in the organization’s affairs is critical. I would ensure that everybody is equally included into all the affairs of the company’s undertakings. Although not all activities require all employees included, the sharing information is necessary for creating a trustworthy environment. I would also give my employees a chance to experience ownership of the organization. However, I would also keenly observe them and lead by example to ensure that the accountability culture is enhanced.
Evidently, creating a transparent and accountable organization require gradual development. Eventually, the organization will take shape and be trustworthy. Ensuring communication and honesty will create a culture of accountability and transparency, which will spread to the clients. An organization with such credibility is bound to develop and succeed significantly.
References
Isaacs, A. N., Pepper, H., Pyett, P., Gruis, H. A., Waples-Crowe, P., & Oakley-Browne, M. A. (2011). ‘What you do is important but how you do it is more important.’ Qualitative Research Journal, 11(1), 51–60.
Kennedy, S. S., & Malatesta, D. (2010). Safeguarding the public trust: Can administrative ethics be taught? Journal of Public Affairs Education, 16(2), 161–180.
Marozzi, M. (2014). Construction, dimension reduction and uncertainty analysis of an index of trust in public institutions. Quality & Quantity, 48(2), 939–953.
Poppo, L., & Schepker, D. J. (2010). Repairing public trust in organizations. Corporate Reputation Review, 13(2), 124–141.
