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- DictionaryAc·count·a·ble/əˈkoun(t)əbəl/
adjective
- 1. (of a person, organization, or institution) required or expected to justify actions or decisions; responsible: "parents could be held accountable for their children's actions"
- 2. explicable; understandable: "the delayed introduction of characters' names is accountable, if we consider that names have a low priority"
Accountable definition: subject to the obligation to report, explain, or justify something; responsible; answerable.. See examples of ACCOUNTABLE used in a sentence.
Definition of accountable adjective in Oxford Advanced American Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
- Overview
- What does being accountable mean?
- What is responsibility?
- Accountable vs. responsible
- Examples
Success often depends on the decisions people make and how they respond to them. It's important for employees at all levels to understand and recognize how their actions and reactions influence their company's success. This involves knowing your role on a team and taking ownership of your actions, but how this looks in the workplace may be confusin...
Being accountable means taking ownership of the results of a task. An accountable person answers for their actions and the results achieved. It requires the person to provide an explanation for why and how success or failure occurred.Accountability may help increase trust in the workplace, particularly employees trusting their leaders. Being accoun...
Responsibility refers to a person owning or being in charge of a specific task or assignment. It relates to that person's duty to respond to and complete tasks. This includes:
•Who has a certain role
•What that role entails
•What the role requires a person to do to be successful
People often consider accountable and responsible to be the same thing, and many people use the terms interchangeably. However, there are differences between them and their role in the workplace. A person may still be responsible for a task without being accountable. Similarly, a person may take accountability for a responsibility.Here are some dif...
Example 1
Taylor works as an executive assistant at an accounting firm. She completes weekly inventory checks of supplies in the break room and office supply closet. It's Taylor's responsibility to order more supplies when the inventory of any item is low.However, Taylor miscounted the number of boxes of coffee creamers. She accidentally mistook a box of regular coffee creamer for a box of non-dairy coffee creamer, so she didn't order more non-dairy coffee creamer. Later in the week, her manager asked Taylor where the non-dairy coffee creamer was, and Taylor recognized the error. Taylor took accountability for her mistake, apologized for the error and made a note to add non-dairy coffee creamer to the supply order for the week.
Example 2
Kelly and Gemma work as online customer service representatives for Runway Department Store. It's their responsibility to respond to online customer inquiries sent via email within 48 hours of when a customer sends their emails. However, they share the same inbox and work opposite schedules.A customer called the customer service department, and Kelly and Gemma's manager spoke to the customer on the phone. The customer felt upset they had not received a reply after a week, so the manager asked Kelly and Gemma what happened. Kelly realized she opened the email but forgot to reply to it, making it look like Gemma did not need to reply. Kelly took accountability for not properly marking the email, and Gemma took accountability for not double checking the emails at the cutoff point in the inbox.Related: Improving Accountability in the Workplace
Example 3
Michael works as a content writer at a digital marketing agency, and Kate is the agency's content department manager. Michael is responsible for writing blogs for clients. Kate is responsible for reviewing each blog and obtaining client approval.Michael received a blog request with a short turnaround time for a client he'd written many other blogs for. He wrote the blog quickly and sent it to Kate for the approval process. Because she trusts Michael's work and the blog had time-sensitive content, Kate reviewed the blog herself and decided to skip asking for the client's approval. Instead, she sent it directly to the website production team to publish.However, the client's account manager contacted Kate later that day. The client complained that the agency published the blog without getting their approval first. The account manager tried to blame Michael for the mistake, but Kate took accountability. She said the decision to publish the blog was hers, and she called the client to apologize personally. Share: Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Email
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English ac‧count‧a‧ble /əˈkaʊntəbəl/ adjective [ not before noun] responsible for the effects of your actions and willing to explain or be criticized for them accountable to The government should be accountable to all the people of the country. accountable for Managers must be accountable for their dec...
May 1, 2020 · I believe it’s about being accountable. Accountability is keeping your commitments to people. You’re responsible for things, but you’re accountable to people. If you’re working from...
ac•count•a•ble /əˈkaʊntəbəl/ adj. answerable (to); responsible (for):[ be + ~ + to/for + object] I am accountable to my supervisor. I am accountable for my own work. [ be + ~] able to be explained: His actions were not believably accountable. ac•count•a•bil•i•ty /əˌkaʊntəˈbɪlɪti/ n. [ uncountable] ac•count•a•bly, adv.
Definition. accountability. By. Andrew Zola. Ivy Wigmore. What is accountability? Accountability is an assurance that an individual or organization is evaluated on its performance or behavior related to something for which it is responsible. The term is related to responsibility but is regarded more from the perspective of oversight.
