Thanks for pointing to this, Johnnie.

IMO, "accountability" is a much less well understood aspect of organizational life than most realize, has become by and large another element of "command-and-control" and can kill much in the way of responsiveness and innovation.

I'd expand the last question maybe, to "How can all of us get better at helping all of us be more effective ?"

Some people talk about accountability as a system for making sure people do what we want them to do. In other words, a way of creating obedience -- the person in power shapes behavior through rewards and punishments. In this system, the "boss" sets expectations, and the "inferior" person complies. The boss "holds people accountable" by punishing those who disobey. While the inferior may follow through, they really on do it out of fear or greed -- without the boss and his rewards or punishments, the action would not occur. So, the inferior only does the work when he might get caught -- this is obedience, not accountability. Accountability means accepting responsibility for the outcome of your choices. It means taking ownership of your life -- the successes and the failures. Under this definition, I can not make someone else accountable, all I can do is set a context for people to become accountable. If I take responsibility for someone else’s life, I actually take away his accountable.