What is Accountability?
Accountability can be defined as the willingness to take responsibility for a set of actions that one has put into effect. This may come in many forms and features such as a person taking responsibility for a crime they committed or a company CEO owning up to a failed business venture that cost the company a considerable amount of time and money. In other words, accountability is the way in which a person assumes that all actions they commit have repercussions and as such, take measures to ensure that their actions comply with distinct moral and ethical standards.
This act is particularly important in modern-day business practices due to the potential impact unscrupulous business practices have on the economy. Evidence of this can be seen in actions of Bernie Madoff (swindled billions of dollars from investors using a Ponzi scheme), the banking industry in the U.S. (hid toxic default ridden mortgages as viable investment-grade stocks) and finally the Greek government (utilized a complex system of swaps and exchanges in order to hide the extent of their debt from other members of the E.U.).
What must also be understood is that the need for accountability encompasses not only financial practices but business operations as well. This comes in the form of the need to comply to international environmental standards of manufacturing (which China has been violating), the need to provide workers with a decent wage and safe working environment (which China has also been violating) and lastly the necessity of implementing operating procedures that take into account Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) (which various U.S. based corporations have been violating by turning a blind eye towards the effect of outsourcing on the U.S. manufacturing industry).
It is these and other examples too numerous to mention that show the impact of a lackadaisical approach to accountability and how it can negatively impact the lives of millions if not billions of people around the world. From a certain perspective, it can be stated that accountability involves not only taking responsibility for when actions result in adverse consequences but also the use of a moral and ethical framework in a decision-making process wherein an individual (or group of individuals) takes into account the potential impact of their decision and aligns their response in a way that results in a positive impact to all those concerned rather than one that just benefits the business itself.
Applying Accountability in the Field of Hospitality Management
In the field of hotel, management accountability becomes applicable in cases involving consumer interactions and how management deals with consumer complaints. The fact of the matter is problems do occasionally occur when a consumer’s concerns aren’t met. This can come in the form of either a wrong booking being placed, the wrong room type being given or even nonsensical things such as being woken up at the wrong hour by the hotel’s complimentary wakeup service.
When a guest presents a complaint hotel management has one of two options: they can either take responsibility for the error, provide some form of compensation and sincere apology for the error or they merely give a lackadaisical response to the customer’s complaint. What must be understood is that when customers patronize a particular hotel, they patronize not only the services and rooms that the hotel provides but the “experience” of staying at that hotel.
This can come in the form of either the unique type of rooms issued, the services provided. A general feeling of luxury or the “hominess” of the hotel itself. All these factors contribute to a positive consumer experience and greatly increases the likelihood of repeat business. In fact, it can be stated that a positive consumer experience is a necessity when it comes to encouraging guests to come back in the future. Taking this into consideration a failure to assume accountability for a mistake usually results in a far less likelihood of repeat business due to the failure of the hotel management in delivering what can be defined as a positive guest experience.
What must be understood is that in the case of the hospitality industry, the impact of a failure to take accountability for inappropriate practices or problems with services is felt much more severely as compared to other industries. The reason behind this is the fact that hotels rely not only on positive word of mouth experience but also on repeat business by guests that enjoyed the services that were provided. When a hotel shows that they don’t take accountability for their actions when it comes to a mistake they made guests become wary over what else has the hotel been less than forthcoming about resulting in not an only negative word of mouth publicity but the loss of all future income that could have been gained from that guest.
Taking this into consideration it can be seen that taking accountability for a failure to provide or deliver a promised set of services is an important aspect in the field of hotel management since without proper measures of accountability in place failures in service will continue to drive guests away due to the lack of a sufficient method of providing guests with the necessary means of reassurance to ensure that their experience will continue to be a positive one.
Applying Accountability at School
All students are held accountable for their grades; there are no excuses when it comes to failure or passing, either a student studies to pass or doesn’t to fail. It is based on this that when it comes to school work students need to consider the concept of accountability when the temptation to cheat arises. Such instances can arise when a student hasn’t prepared for a test or has been out eating and drinking when they should have been studying.
In such instances, a student needs to consider the fact that they are responsible for whatever negative actions result from their laziness or ineptitude. While cheating may seem like a viable solution, it almost always isn’t due to the possibility of expulsion should they be caught. However, this rampant cheating continues to occur in nearly all school levels, whether the student is either in grade school or college. What must be understood is that the impact of cheating isn’t felt now but rather later on. Cheating produces a result that is not commensurate with a person’s actual knowledge or level of performance.
Tests are there in order to gauge a person’s capability and provide a means in which they can receive feedback on their capabilities. Without an appropriate method of gauging what a person is capable of doing they may be allowed to advance to higher grades or courses which would actually be detrimental for them since they would be exposed to harder lessons that they would be unable to comprehend due to their initial laziness which would result in them cheating once more in order to pass. This creates a cycle of destructive behaviour that can be detrimental for them throughout their life.