MAY 7, 2018

Accountability vs Responsibility in
Project Management
When we saw this article about “Accountability vs Responsibility in Project Management” from Shim
Marom, we felt like it would make a great addition as a guest post on our blog. Workfront is always
looking for ideas to make work more effective and we hope you benefit from Shim’s insights!

It took me some time into my project management career to realize, and logically accept the fact,
that within the project management domain one has to have clear appreciation of the distinction
between accountability and responsibility.

The fundamental point this discussion is

attempting to address is the question of
“when and where does the buck stop?”

And more specifically, should any issues arise during the course of a project delivery, is it the project
manager who is by default the one who needs to pay the ultimate price for the failure or is this issue a
bit more complicated than that?
:
 Refer to our post, "What is a Project Manager?" for some insight into what this role should
include.

Let’s examine the following simple scenario:

You manage a large integration project involving 10 different technology groups. Clearly you can’t be
intimately familiar and hands-on with each and every aspect of the integration process.

Obviously, like many other project managers you heroically claim that everything that happens in
your project is your responsibility, but is this really the case?

Is there a point at which things might happen under your watch for which you could not and
would not take the responsibility?

The Difference Between Accountability and

Responsibility
So, what is the difference between accountability and responsibility?

A literature search highlights the fact that there doesn’t seem to be clear and unanimous definitions
for each of these terms. In fact, a cursory look at dictionary.com clearly demonstrates the confusion
where the definition for accountability is explained also in terms of responsibility, and vice versa.

In The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability, the authors
suggest that:

“Responsibility may be bestowed, but accountability must be taken. In other words, responsibility can be
given or received, even assumed, but that doesn’t automatically guarantee that personal accountability
will be taken. Which means that it’s possible to bear responsibility for something or someone but still lack
accountability."

With that interpretation in mind it could be inferred that every person on the project team could be
☰ responsible (by assignment) but his or her accountability is dependentAdobe Experience
on their Cloud
level of commitment
and acceptance of such accountability.

I’m not happy with this definition as it makes things a bit loose. Can project managers get a "get out of
jail card" based on the argument that their team did not exercise their right to accept accountability?
Doesn’t seem right to me so we need to dig a bit further.

Does Accountability Live at the Top of an

Organization?
A good summary document by Michael L Smith and James Erwin, titled “Role & Responsibility
Charting (RACI)” provides the breakthrough I was looking for.

The authors make the following excellent observation:

:
 Managers and supervisors are not accountable
for everything in their organization.
Responsibility charting ensures accountability is
placed with the person who really can be
accountable for specific work.
Often this results in accountabilities for actions
being moved down to the most appropriate
level.

This is an important point. Accountability does not necessarily live at the very top but rather it is
positioned at the most appropriate level, with the person who can be accountable for the work.

The Ultimate Definitions

The authors provide further elaboration on the definitions of responsible and accountable, as follows:

The accountable person is the individual who is ultimately answerable for the activity or
decision. This includes “yes” or “no” authority and veto power. Only one accountable person can be
assigned to an action.

The responsible person is the individual(s) who actually complete the task. The responsible
person is responsible for action/implementation. Responsibility can be shared. The degree of
responsibility is determined by the individual with the “accountability."

The above definitions provide a much greater level of clarity and are easy to understand within a
project environment. But casting our mind back to the scenario provided earlier in this post, would
we now be in a better position to ascertain whose fault it is should the project fail to deliver?

Clear determination of the project's roles and responsibilities (by publishing a detailed RACI chart)
can go a long way towards eliminating any ambiguities and misunderstandings.
:
 An up-front determination of accountabilities
and responsibilities is just the beginning, and
this needs to be followed by a clear
communication and acceptance of these roles
and responsibilities by the assignees.

Blame games and apportioning of faults can only thrive in an environment where it has never been
clear who is responsible and who is accountable. If these are not properly communicated there’s a
good chance it is you, the project manager, who will be asked to respond to the “please explain” note
from the project sponsor.

Think about it!

Shim Marom

Shim Marom is the author of quantmleap.com. His blog is an attempt to look at the domain of project
management from unorthodox and unconventional perspectives, utilizing the latest in science, art,
and philosophy to examine and explain assumptions and methods widely used within the project
management profession.

This article is by Shim Marom from quantmleap.com.

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