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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.4092
EAN num: 9781576751831
ISBN number: 157675183X
Label: Berrett-Koehler Publishing houses
Manufacturer: Berrett-Koehler Publishing houses
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 276
Printing Date: August 15, 2002
Publishing house: Berrett-Koehler Publishing houses
Sale Popularity Level: 331054
Studio: Berrett-Koehler Publishing houses
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Accountability shows how to get people in organizations to be more personally accountable for high performance in their work and for the sucess of the organization – without resorting to the traditional management systems that rely on control and manipulation. Contrasted with three other commonly used, accountability models, the authors recommend Personal Accountability over all others. The author show, that by gaining a higher sense of self-worth and autonomy, the quality of employee decision-making skills is greatly improved. They then outline the seven steps needed to attain Personal Accountability, including: surroundings, seeds of change, and style of leadership.
Lebow and Spitzer offer a new contribution to the area of organizational development, social psychology and the topic called “Accountability.” The authors bring a new emphasis, new approach and a new philosophy to 'accountability': how to give it to others and how to keep it going indefinitely. Existing books touch on portions of the Quadrant Four philosophy. Yet, none tell us “how” to do it. Accountability tells the reader what and how. Regarding each element or key to the wisdom behind Accountability, these authors help us sort out a piece to the puzzle.
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Rated by buyers 
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In this information age with corporation benefits that used to provide incentives for employees to stay being reduced or disappearing altogether it is critical that work place satisfaction be there. This book tells you how to do that.
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This book falls into the genre of business parables. Its optimistic theme is that freedom is a better management principle than control. Instead of relying on real-life examples, which might be hard to come by, the authors present a fictitious scenario in which wise older counselors impart the wisdom of freedom to young but amenable auditors. With freedom, workplace antagonisms and conflicts no longer fester. Employees cast aside their suspicions, differences, distrusts and other fruits of oppressive control, cooperating gladly and willingly in an atmosphere of near-utopian productivity. The real reward isn't corporate Eden, but personal accountability, freely given by employees who innovate and work hard because they are trusted. We trust that you'll know just how much freedom to apply before you create chaos instead of conscientiousness.
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As I was about to begin reading this book, I was immediately put off by its subtitle: "Freedom and Responsibility without Control." That makes absolutely no sense. Without any control, there is chaos. Lebow and Spitzer seem to use the word "control" with two entirely different meanings in mind. One connotes order and structure; the other connotes manipulation and suppression. In the ideal organization, everyone is personally accountable and in complete agreement about the standards of measurement. Alas, no such organization exists. Never has and never will. Lebow and Spitzer are quite correct when asserting that imposing "command and control" management on others is much less effective than helping them to assume a greater degree of personal responsibility for the quantity and quality of their work. "The key is to find a way to lead people without ruling them!" I agree.
In this book, they offer a fictitious narrative which begins in Denver as thousands of air travelers are stranded by a severe snowstorm. Pete Williams is among them. He meets Stan ("Kip") Kiplinger and they begin to discuss their respective business experiences, sharing their thoughts and feelings about leadership and management as they proceed together on a two-day railroad journey to Los Angeles. This is the context within which Lebow and Spitzer examine what they call a "dilemma": whether to commit to a freedom-based or control-based work environment. Although frequently careless with nomenclature and in their analysis of cause-and-effect relationships, Lebow and Spitzer nonetheless effectively use the extended exchanges between Pete Williams and Stan ("Kip") Kiplinger to explain how and why a freedom-based work environment is highly preferable to a control-based work environment.
I was curious to learn if Lebow and Spitzer view them as mutually-exclusive. Apparently the answer is both "yes" and "no": Yes if the control is established and then maintained over one person by another...No if an individual assumes personal accountability, thereby assuming responsibility also for her or his self-control. If I understand Lebow and Spitzer correctly (and I may not), the core issue in this context is one of ultimate authority. Where does it lie? Is it granted? If so, by whom? Or is it seized? Then what?
Time out. In creating Minds, Howard Gardner examines the lives and achievements of Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso, Igour Stravinsky, T.S. Eliot, Martha Graham, and Mohandas Gandhi. However different they may be in most other respects, they all possessed superior intelligence and exceptional self-discipline. Each illustrates a paradox: the extent to which they were free to achieve what they did was dependent almost entirely on the extent to which they could control their talents and skills. The same is true of peak performers in the business world. For example, Michael Dell, Henry Ford, Bill Gates, William Hewlett & David Packard, Ray Kroc, Steve Jobs, Akio Morita, Ted Turner, Sam Walton, and Thomas Watson Jr. True, all were CEOs and at least one, Ford, was (by all accounts) a tyrant. My point is, they and other peak performers in their respective organizations all demonstrate the importance of personal accountability, of what David Reisman once described as inner-directed motivation. But what about so many others who are unwilling and/or unable to assume at least some degree of personal responsibility for their efforts, even within what Lebow and Spitzer would characterize as a freedom-based environment?
In my opinion, there is nothing inherently wrong with any of what Lebow and Spitzer call "Ten Control-Based Ideas That Destroy Accountability." There are countless organizations, ones which have a freedom-based environment, in which most (if not all) of the ten are well-received, indeed deeply appreciated. I am in full agreement with Lebow and Spitzer's core assertion previously acknowledged. Where we part company is the point at which, in my opinion, their cynicism seizes control of the narrative. This is most evident on page 227 when, for example, they assert that incentive programs and pay-for-performance plans "promote cheating and distract people from doing the `right thing' by encouraging the practice of `going for the dough no matter what!'" Or consider their repudiation of employee recognition programs because they "discount the contributions of those who are not recognized, encourage suck-ups, and foster office politics." In some organizations, granted, that may well be true. But of all? Or even of most?
According to Lebow and Spitzer, organizations "get" people to be accountable by granting individual freedom as a right, by asking everyone to be personally responsible, and by having faith in people. Which individual freedoms? Why is each a "right"? Should all effort be voluntary? What if at least some people refuse to be personally responsible, claiming their refusal ... Read More
Rated by buyers -
This is a must read book if you are a CEO and you know where you are yesterday is not where you should be or can be. If you feel your company is doing well but there is something missing, somewhere you need to be leading your company, you can sense it but you can't quite put your finger on it - read the BOOK!
Here's why. As a CPA I have been helping business leaders take fresh looks at their businesses, transforming them from ordinary business to better businesses for over thirty years. I have guided them through policy & procedure redesign, reengineering, incentive pay design/pay for performance compensation planning, performance measurement design and benchmarking, balanced scorecard and more. These companies have improved their bottom line. But it has always resulted in the sacrifice of something else in the business and the results are hard to sustain. I believe the missing links are shared values,real accountability, and a work environment where employees are free to choose to be accountable and own their jobs. Those are the missing links necessary to transform organizational culture and turn ordinary businesses into extraordinary enterprises.
Lebow and Spitzer have created a process based on their own research and that of other leading consultants and researchers. A process that can be duplicated in your business; no matter how large or small. A process that engages your employees; from line positions all the way to the top. Many researchers have found some of the links, identified the companies that have done it, know the elements that distinguish the great companies from good companies, but don't have all the pieces or a process to make the leap.
In this book Lebow and Spitzer have really hit a home run!! The book's format is a refreshing narrative that tells the story of how the process works, why it works and who can make the leap. Every CEO, COO, CFO, division manager, plant manager, supervisor regardless of the industry, government agency or non profit organization should read this book.
Your own organizational transformation may be as close as your choice to read the book - Accountability, Freedom and Responsibility Without Control. Without question, this is a book whose time has come.
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As an independent consultant who left the confines of corporate America to be "free," this book has supplied many answers.
Rob & Randy have captured what many of us have been thinking - There must be a better way! They have reassured us who know that the way we manage has to change to be successful in the future. And, best of all they have put together some guidelines and a program to make it happen.
For any company owner or president who is serious about making changes and treating people respectfully, this is a must read.
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