#accountability #organization #antipattern #dysfunctional

idea

Accountability sinks happen in large organizations. When decisions are sufficiently diffused and far from their consequence, and when they combine as results the feedback loops disappear. There is no way for the people who suffer the consequences to provide feedback, there is no direct connection between the decision and its consequences, and people who took the initial decision are not held accountable for it.

For example, an executive of a hotel decides to lay off cleaning people to reduce cost. Rooms start not being ready when customers arrive, and they are not happy they have no way of signaling it to the exec. The bottom line will decrease as a result, but not immediately, and the origin of this decrease will not directly be attributable to the decision. This is complexified when other executives decide to reduce the frequency of reducing linen, and the experience of staff at reception.

links

references

Mandy Brown / Accountability sinks (also in walabag) after The Unaccountability Machine, Dan Davies