Accountability and Desert

In recent decades, participants in the debate about whether we are free and responsible agents have tended with increasing frequency to begin their papers or books by fixing the terms “free” and “responsible” in clear ways to avoid misunderstanding. This is an admirable development, and while some misunderstandings have certainly been avoided, and positions better illuminated as a result , new and interesting questions also arise. Two ways of fixing these terms and identifying the underlying concepts have emerged as especially influential, one that takes the freedom required for responsibility to be understood in terms of accountability and the other in terms of desert . In this paper, I start by asking: are theorists talking about the same things, or are they really participating in two different debates? Are desert and accountability mutually entailing? I tentatively conclude that they are in fact mutually entailing. Coming to this conclusion requires making finer distinctions among various more specific and competing accounts of both accountability and desert. Ultimately, I argue, that there is good reason to accept that accountability and desert have the same satisfaction conditions.     

Counselor Accountability

With increasing competition for the tax dollar, it seems that the public demand for counselor accountability may persist. Therefore it may be in the best interest of the profession to seize the initiative by demonstrating collective worth via some accountability strategy, thus obviating the need for external monitoring and control. This professional initiative may protect the freedom of counselors to assume their appropriate roles and attend to the individual needs and aspirations of their clients.     

Relationships among team ability composition, team mental models, and team performance

This study examined the relationship between the similarity and accuracy of team mental models and compared the extent to which each predicted team performance. The relationship between team ability composition and team mental models was also investigated. Eighty-three dyadic teams worked on a complex skill task in a 2-week training protocol. Results indicated that although similarity and accuracy of team mental models were significantly related, accuracy was a stronger predictor of team performance. In addition, team ability was more strongly related to the accuracy than to the similarity of team mental models and accuracy partially mediated the relationship between team ability and team performance, but similarity did not.     

A Puzzle Concerning Gratitude and Accountability

P.F. Strawson’s account of moral responsibility in “Freedom and Resentment” has been widely influential. In both that paper and in the contemporary literature, much attention has been paid to Strawson’s account of blame in terms of reactive attitudes like resentment and indignation. The Strawsonian view of praise in terms of gratitude has received comparatively little attention. Some, however, have noticed something puzzling about gratitude and accountability. We typically understand accountability in terms of moral demands and expectations. Yet gratitude does not express or enforce moral demands or expectations. So, how is it a way to hold an agent accountable? In a more general manner, we might ask if there is even sense to be made of the idea that agents can be accountable—i.e., “on the hook”—in a positive way. In this paper, I clarify the relationship between gratitude and moral accountability. I suggest that accountability is a matter of engaging with others in a way that is basically concerned with their feelings and attitudes rather than solely a matter of moral demands. Expressions of gratitude are a paradigmatic form of this concerned engagement. I conclude by defending my view from the objection that it leads to an overly generous conception of holding accountable and suggest in reply that moral responsibility skeptics may not help themselves to as many moral emotions as they might have thought.

     

Citizenship behavior at the team level of analysis: the effects of team leadership, team commitment, perceived team support, and team size

The authors investigated citizenship behavior at the team level of analysis by examining 71 change management teams, teams that are responsible for implementing organizational change. The authors collected data at an automotive-industry firm in the mid-Atlantic United States using a questionnaire methodology and an examination of company records. Team leader behavior, team commitment, and perceived team support all had large effects on team citizenship behavior, whereas team size had a small-to-negligible effect.     

Excellence,Accountability, and Private Education

Washington veteran Charles “Chuck” O'Malley analyzes some contemporary threats to the world of private education. In the name of more stringent standards, federal and state governments can encroach upon the legitimate domain of Christian schools and colleges. Self-accreditation can insure private schools of excellence and accountability as well as autonomy.     

Accountability and the thoughts in reactive attitudes

As object-directed emotions, reactive attitudes can be appropriate in the sense of fitting, where an emotion is fitting in virtue of accurately representing its target. I use this idea to argue for a theory of moral accountability: an agent S is accountable for an action A if and only if A expresses S’s quality of will and S has the capacity to recognize and respond to moral reasons. For the sake of argument, I assume that a reactive attitude is fitting if and only if its constituent thoughts are true, and I argue for the above theory by determining thoughts partly constituting resentment and gratitude. Although others have argued that the capacity to recognize and respond to moral reasons is necessary for accountability, the argument here is significantly better in two respects. First, it does not rely on intermediary ethical principles, supplementary arguments, or assumptions about the nature of reactive attitudes specifically. Instead, it simply assumes that reactive attitudes, like all emotions, have cognitive content. Second, the argument here is more powerful because it brings to light the quality of will condition and has the resources to flesh out the capacity to recognize and respond to moral reasons.

     

Accountability in a computerized society

This essay warns of eroding accountability in computerized societies. It argues that assumptions about computing and features of situations in which computers are produced create barriers to accountability. Drawing on philosophical analyses of moral blame and responsibility, four barriers are identified: 1) the problem of many hands, 2) the problem of bugs, 3) blaming the computer, and 4) software ownership without liability. The paper concludes with ideas on how to reverse this trend. Several people have contributed generously to this work. Michael Davis, Deborah G. Johnson, Arthur Kuflik, Pamela Samuelson, Debra Satz, Richard De George, Larry May, and Dennis Thompson read drafts and made invaluable suggestions. Reviewers forScience and Engineering Ethics offered thorough and challenging commentary. An earlier version of the paper was presented at The American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division Meeting, December 1993, where audience comments and questions led to clarification of several key issues.     

Accountability forces in performance appraisal

This experiment investigated the effects of two factors felt to influence the quality of ratings: anticipated feedback sharing and knowledge of subordinates' self-assessment. One hundred and eighty subjects receiving either favorable, unfavorable, or no subordinate self-assessment information were led to anticipate either face-to-face, written, or no feedback sharing with a subordinate. Main effects were found both for type of feedback sharing and level of subordinate self-assessment. Partial support was also found for the interaction of feedback sharing and partial self-assessment effects. Supervisors anticipating sharing face-to-face feedback with a subordinate rated the latter's performance significantly more positively than did supervisors who received no self-assessment data; while supervisors receiving knowledge of an unfavorable self-assessment rated their subordinates significantly more negatively than those receiving no self-assessment information. Ancillary analyses support the contention that the impact of knowledge of self-assessment information is largely motivational, as opposed to informational, in nature. Despite their potential to influence ratings, it is suggested that face-to-face feedback sharing requirements and the use of subordinate self-assessment data are not necessarily detrimental, but rather that care should be taken to minimize their potential to reduce rating quality.     

Diversity in goal orientation, team reflexivity, and team performance

Although recent research highlights the role of team member goal orientation in team functioning, research has neglected the effects of diversity in goal orientation. In a laboratory study with groups working on a problem-solving task, we show that diversity in learning and performance orientation are related to decreased group performance. Moreover, we find that the effect of diversity in learning orientation is mediated by group information elaboration and the effect of diversity in performance orientation by group efficiency. In addition, we demonstrate that team reflexivity can counteract the negative effects of diversity in goal orientation. These results suggest that models of goal orientation in groups should incorporate the effects of diversity in goal orientation.     

Accountability: A Total Commitment

The counseling profession has the knowledge and methodology to provide accountability in delivering its services. What remains is for leaders to use these resources and to develop more effective services. This article describes the program concepts and procedures implemented in one state employment service agency to establish an accountable counseling program. These procedures include the development of a compentency-based training and supervision system. The competency model is described and its goals are specified. Accountability at all levels of the system is defined, including the responsibility of management to guarantee the public quality counseling services.     

行政问责的伦理价值

行政问责作为一种责任监督和追究机制,不仅具有政治、行政和法律等方面的价值,也具有重要的伦理价值,它们主要体现在:促进政府履行责任伦理构建责任政府,规范权力运行助推权力向善,尊重"民意"实现公共利益和弘扬道德责任塑造伦理人格等方面.     

The effects of team strategic orientation on team process and information search

We tested the effects of team strategic orientation on team member perceptions, work strategy and information search. In Experiment 1, 80 teams worked on a hidden profile decision-making task. A defensive team strategic orientation increased members’ perceptions of the problem’s scope, leading to a more process-focused work strategy and broader information search compared to an offensive team strategic orientation. When teams needed critical information from the environment, defensive teams outperformed offensive teams; offensive teams performed better when critical information resided within the team. In Experiment 2, these findings were replicated with 92 teams performing a different decision task. When making a second decision, half of the teams were led to change their strategic orientation; teams shifting from offense to defense altered their information search behavior more readily than did teams shifting in the opposite direction, suggesting an asymmetric adaptation effect.     

An examination of organizational and team commitment in a self-directed team environment

A model hypothesizing differential relationships among predictor variables and individual commitment to the organization and work team was tested. Data from 485 members of sewing teams supported the existence of differential relationships between predictors and organizational and team commitment. In particular, intersender conflict and satisfaction with coworkers were more strongly related to team commitment than to organizational commitment. Resource-related conflict and satisfaction with supervision were more strongly related to organizational commitment than to team commitment. Perceived task interdependence was strongly related to both commitment foci. Contrary to prediction, the relationships between perceived task interdependence and the 2 commitment foci were not significantly different. Relationships with antecedent variables help explain how differential levels of commitment to the 2 foci may be formed. Indirect effects of exogenous variables are reported.     

Team capability beliefs over time: Distinguishing between team potency,team outcome efficacy,and team process efficacy

Teams that have positive beliefs about their capability tend to perform more effectively. However, relatively little is known about the nature and change of different types of team capability beliefs. Team potency and team efficacy are two approaches to understanding team capability beliefs, but few studies have considered these beliefs simultaneously. We investigate their distinctiveness and relative predictive power. Additionally, we propose two types of team efficacy: team outcome efficacy and team process efficacy. In two longitudinal samples of executive MBA study teams (sample 1, N=213 individuals in 41 teams; sample 2, N=360 individuals in 89 teams), we showed that team potency, team outcome efficacy, and team process efficacy are factorially distinct and measure invariant at four time points over 7 months (except for high levels of team outcome efficacy for which factorial invariance emerged). We also show differential predictive validity. Team outcome efficacy was the strongest predictor of objective team performance, whereas team process efficacy was the best predictor of citizenship behaviours. Team potency predicted both outcomes, albeit more weakly. Collectively, the findings show the value of a more fine‐grained approach to teams' capability beliefs, including a new validated measure of team process efficacy.     

Building team adaptive capacity: the roles of sensegiving and team composition

The current study draws on motivated information processing in groups theory to propose that leadership functions and composition characteristics provide teams with the epistemic and social motivation needed for collective information processing and strategy adaptation. Three-person teams performed a city management decision-making simulation (N=74 teams; 222 individuals). Teams first managed a simulated city that was newly formed and required growth strategies and were then abruptly switched to a second simulated city that was established and required revitalization strategies. Consistent with hypotheses, external sensegiving and team composition enabled distinct aspects of collective information processing. Sensegiving prompted the emergence of team strategy mental models (i.e., cognitive information processing); psychological collectivism facilitated information sharing (i.e., behavioral information processing); and cognitive ability provided the capacity for both the cognitive and behavioral aspects of collective information processing. In turn, team mental models and information sharing enabled reactive strategy adaptation.