What is the relationship between authority and responsibility? While authority and responsibility are coextensive, the two concepts can be separated. When superiors delegate authority to subordinates, they become responsible for the tasks performed and the proper use of the authority. While responsibility is a derivative of authority, it cannot be delegated. Subordinates can either perform tasks themselves or delegate the tasks to subordinates, but ultimately, responsibility flows upward.
Accountability
The term accountability is often defined as “the quality of being answerable,” “blameworthy,” “liable,” or “expected to account for actions.” The concept of accountability has become a central topic of debate in the public, nonprofit, and private sectors. How do we measure accountability? This article examines three ways to measure accountability and provides examples. Accountability is essential to effective public policy and governance. However, many debates are still incomplete.
Traditionally, corporate accountability focuses on accounting practices. However, today, corporate accountability extends beyond accounting practices, including investments, human resources, and the treatment of employees. Due to high-profile accounting scandals, public companies have come under increasing scrutiny in other areas. Accountability is therefore critical for both public and private organizations. Ultimately, we can say that accountability improves corporate governance by reducing the risk of financial fraud. Therefore, companies must make sure they implement a sound, transparent, and consistent system of internal control.
Duties
Duty is a commitment to act in a certain way. It may be derived from a system of ethics, morality, or honor culture. Law has also created many duties and their associated liabilities and punishments. This article will describe the difference between duties and liabilities, and discuss when they apply to people. Let us look at some examples of duties and their purposes. Listed below are a few:
A duty is a specific task that an individual is bound to do. The person responsible is responsible for the end result and the way the task is performed. When two or more people are assigned a duty, they are congruent. When they are congruent, they mean that the two terms are equivalent. The word “congruent” describes the same-sized or shaped objects. It is also used to describe responsibility. When an individual fulfills a duty, they are thereby demonstrating that they are able to perform the task in question.
Consequences
Moral responsibility has both causes and consequences. For example, in Frankfurt’s example, black and Jones have moral responsibility for Jones’ actions, which he could have done on his own or because someone intervened in the situation, but did not. Nevertheless, there is a dilemma involving these two cases. One answer is to consider the circumstances in which one or both of them have moral responsibility for the action. What happens if Black and Jones are equally responsible for their actions?
Wolf’s argument is based on the fact that JoJo’s upbringing rendered him incapable of appreciating the wrongfulness of his actions. Thus, the real excusing work is done by JoJo’s moral competence. We should treat people with bad values in the same way. This is the way responsibility works, but the consequences of bad values are very different. So, if you think someone is merely responsible for his actions, it may be best to avoid them.
Asymmetries between praise and blame
A common misconception about praise and blame is that they correspond. Despite the fact that praise and blame are not mutually exclusive, the attention paid to blame is often greater than to praise. For example, most people consider blameworthy behavior to be actions that merit a sanction. However, the conditions of blameworthiness aren’t necessarily the same for everyone. This is because praise and blame both respond to the individual’s choice and responsibility.
The difference between blame and praise is small, and the effect is only significant if there is some planning involved. Among the positive items, the differences were weaker. The differences were weakly related to perceived likelihood and commitment. However, none of the correlations was strong enough to reach conventional significance. In other words, a negative action tends to be more likely to elicit praise than a positive one.