Who Is Accountable for Pinning Down Unclear Accountabilities?
Managers need a way to identify unclear responsibilities and resolve gaps before an audit or failure exposes them. Senior leaders should specify who owns that process and where staff can raise concerns.
THE IDEA
Who Is Accountable for Pinning Down Unclear Accountabilities?
Here, R2A2 is the source’s shorthand for operational roles and responsibilities.
Whether an organisation has problems with operational R2A2 often depends on how much effort relevant senior leaders have put into pinning things down in detail. In some areas where there is a significant operational or regulatory requirement for clear operational roles, or there was a problem in the past, you can find roles have been clarified proactively and things work well.
Where this is not the case, internal audit departments are often the ‘canary in the coalmine’ identifying R2A2 problems. For example, an auditor will start an assignment, and a manager will say, ‘That's not entirely our responsibility; you need to speak to the finance/procurement/IT manager’. And there can then be a wild goose chase to establish who does what. Sometimes these uncertainties, confusions or disagreements in R2A2 won't matter enormously, but at other times, they do.
Of course, internal audit departments can't visit all parts of an organisation every year, which raises the question: ‘What is the management process to flush out unclear roles and responsibilities on a proactive basis?’ and ‘Where do managers or staff go to flag up concerns in R2A2, and what's the process to resolve gaps or uncertainties?’
When to use it
When a cross-functional project faces delays because team members are unsure who owns specific deliverables.
In a regulatory compliance context where accountability for controls must be unambiguous.
During a post-merger integration to clarify decision rights and operational roles between legacy teams.
When an internal audit reveals recurring issues in handoffs between departments.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Internal Audit Wild Goose Chase
An auditor starts an assignment, and a manager says, 'That's not entirely our responsibility; you need to speak to the finance/procurement/IT manager.' This leads to a confusing process to establish who actually owns the task or decision.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
Who in your organization is ultimately responsible for ensuring that roles and responsibilities are clearly defined for key processes?
What proactive process does your team use to identify and resolve gaps in R2A2 before they cause problems?
How would you escalate a concern about unclear accountabilities to ensure it gets resolved?
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Beyond the Five Whys Root Cause Analysis and Systems Thinking (James C. Paterson)