Organisational design considerations for performance through responsibility and accountability

Abstract

Organisational performance, and how this performance can be influenced, continue to be primary concerns for managers. Although many motivational and performance related theories are presented by literature, the role and importance of responsibility and accountability as concepts within the organisation and in performance theory have been neglected, to the point that authors clearly highlight the need for further research in this regard (Mero, Guidice, & Werner, 2014; Greenwood & Miller, 2010). This research developed a speculative model which integrates organisational design theory with responsibility and accountability theory. The aim of the speculative model is to enhance managers understanding of how responsibility and accountability fit into the organisation and how an organisation can be designed to strengthen these concepts to the extent that performance can be positively influenced. The study also presented guiding principles as examples of the practical implication inferred from the results of the study and the speculative model developed. The qualitative research was conducted at an engineering firm in South Africa. Fifteen in-depth interviews were conducted with employees in positions at different levels (organisational level, group level and individual level) of the organisation. These interviews enabled the researcher to explore mechanisms related to responsibility and accountability and inductively develop the speculative model. It was found that the various links that determine how strong responsibility and accountability are present in a specific context could successfully be linked to different design components within the organisation, highlighting a specific area of focus within the organisation when a specific link of responsibility or accountability needs to be addressed.