LESSON 3: CORE PRINCIPLE OF

FAIRNESS, ACCOUNTABILITY,
AND TRANSPARENCY
LESSON OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson, the students should be
able to:

1. Explain the meaning of fairness, justice,

accountability, stewardship, and transparency;
2. Explain the notion of competence,
professionalism, and responsibility;
3. Explain the relationship of accountability,
stewardship, and responsibility with ethical
businesses; and
4. Explain the notion of organizational diversity
and the role of women in the business
organizations.
NOTIONS OF ACCOUNTABILITY, FAIRNESS, AND
TRANSPARENCY
BUSINESS LEADERS
Influence the scope and character of formal ethics
programs and the integration of ethics into
everyday organization life.

BUSINESS LEADERSHIP
Affects the moral capability and performance of
organization.
WHAT IS ACCOUNTABILITY?
the most important aspect of prevention
and detection of corruption.

Accountability Structures

Accountability is the ability to account for

your actions and performance to your
stakeholder.
Accountability includes the fact that
persons are willing and able to hold you
accountable.
ACCOUNTABILITY- WHAT IT IS:
 To be accountable is to be liable to explain or
justify one’s actions and decisions.
 Accountability is the process of explanation and
justification.
 Holding to account is the process of requiring
explanation and justification, but it is also about
testing, forming a judgment, and if necessary,
taking action.
 Accountability implies responsibility; it is
reasonable only to hold people to account for
those things for which they are responsible.
ACCOUNTABILITY- WHAT IT IS NOT:
 It is not synonymous with responsibility.
 It does not imply a management relation.

 It is not “one off” annual event.

 It is not the same as appraisal.

 It is not about confrontation, “putting someone in

his place’’ or “giving him a hard time’’.
WHAT IS FAIRNESS?
Fairness comes from the old English faeger,
meaning “pleasing, attractive”

FAIRNESS
It is the quality of making judgments that are free
from discrimination.
FAIRNESS in the context of a business
organization
Involved in all decision making including any
decisions related to HIRING, FIRING and
COMPENSATION and the REWARDS
SYSTEM.

The recent research has expanded the meaning

of EQUITY or FAIRNESS.
Employees perceive their organizations as just
when they believe rewards and the way they
are distributed are fair.
FAIRNESS HAS TO DO WITH JUSTICE
1. Looks at the balance of benefits and burdens
distributed among members of a group;
2. Can result from the application of rules,
policies, or law that apply to a society or a
group.
TRANSPARENCY
 Transparency has become an increasingly
popular word in recent times; it is used and
sometimes misused by both scholars and
practitioners.

Why? And What is TRANSPARENCY?

TRANSPARENCY
 The quality or sate of being transparent
 Minimum degree of disclosure to which
agreements, dealings, practices, and transactions
are open to all for verification.(Business
Dictionary)
 Transparency acquires intrinsic or ethical
salience as an important feature of a person’s
relational dimension. It is described as a
personal quality necessary to develop unity
and communion between individuals.
 It is essential in building families, and through
family does not submerge the identities of
individuals, people, and cultures, but makes
them more transparent to each other and link
them more closely in their legitimate diversity.
NOTIONS OF COMPETENCE,
PROFESSIONALISM, AND RESPONSIBILITY
The following are the minimum competencies
expected of professionals:

 Technical skills encompass the ability to apply

specialize knowledge or expertise.
 Human skills is the ability to understand,
communicate with, motivate, and support other
people, both individually and in groups, which
defines human skills.
NOTIONS OF COMPETENCE,
PROFESSIONALISM, AND RESPONSIBILITY
 Conceptual skills are the skill and the mental
ability that managers must have to analyze and
diagnose complex situations.
NECESSARY SKILL FOR A WORKING
PROFESSIONAL

 Human maturity
 Work is done in a spirit of service and love for
those around us
 Relational intelligence(RI)

 Trustworthy
THE RELATIONSHIP OF
ACCOUNTABILITY/STEWARDSHIP/
RESPONSIBILITY WITH ETHICAL BUSINESS

Servant leaders go beyond their own self-interest

and focus on opportunities to help followers grow
and develop.
They do not use power to achieve ends; they
emphasize persuasion.
Characteristic behaviors include listening,
empathizing, persuading, accepting stewardship,
and actively developing followers’ potential.
THE NOTION OF ORGANIZATION DIVERSITY
AND THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN BUSINESS
ORGANIZATION

Organizations use a variety of efforts to capitalize

on diversity, including recruiting and selection
policies, as well as training and development
practices.
Effective, comprehensive workforce programs
encouraging diversity have three distinct
components.
WOMEN IN ORGANIZATIONS

Business organizations stand to gain from the

presence of women, especially on their Boards of
Directors.
Although women will remain a distinct minority on
boards for foreseeable future, women continue to be
appointed to boards through their personal
relationships as well as track records and
appropriate expertise.
Thank you