Core Principles of Fairness,
Accountability, and
Transparency
Accountability
Accountability what it is:
• To be accountable is to be liable to explain or justify one's actions and decisions.
• Accountability is the process of explanation and justification.
• Holding to account is the process of requiring explanation and justification, but it isalso about testing,
forming a judgment, and if necessary, taking action.
• Accountability implies responsibility: it is reasonable only to hold people to account for those things which
they are responsible.
Accountability what it is not:
• It is not synonymous with responsibility.
• It does not imply a management relationship.
• It is not a "one off" annual event.
• It is not the same as appraisal.
• It is not about confrontation, “putting someone in his place” or “giving him a hard time.”
Accountability
Why is it important?
Accountability structures are the most important aspect of prevention and detection of corruption. A
civil society organization without proper accountability systems is fragile and open to rumours about
mismanagement and abuse of power.
Accountability Structures
Accountability is the ability to account for your actions and performance to your stakeholders.
Accountability includes the fact that persons (your stakeholders) are willing and able to hold you accountable.
With the willing and able aspects of the definition, we have an operational understanding of accountability
which can guide us in asking questions to accountability structures in the organization. Accountability, then, is
the obligation to demonstrate that work has been conducted in compliance with agreed rules and standards or
to report fairly and accurately on performance results vis à vis mandated roles and/or plans.
Fairness
• comes from the English word fæger, meaning “pleasing, attractive”
• In the context of a business organization involves balancing the interests
involved in all decision making including any decisions related to hiring,
firing (including the investigatory process), and the compensation and
rewards system.
• Overall, fairness has to do with justice, which is to give to another that
which is due him/her her. More concretely, justice:
1. looks at the balance of benefits and burdens distributed among
members of a group
2. can result from the application of rules, policies, or laws that apply to a
society or a group. In general, the just results of actions override
utilitarian results.
Transparency
• The state of being transparent.
• Lack of hidden agendas and conditions, accompanied by the availability of full information required for
collaboration, cooperation, and collective decision making.
• Minimum degree of disclosure to which agreements, dealings, practices, and transactions are open to all for
verification.
• Has become an increasingly popular word in recent times; used and sometimes misused by scholars and
practitioners.
• An issue that often emerged in the documents by Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate
• Referred to transparency seven times.
1. At the individual level: 2. At the organizational level:
a) It is described as a personal quality a) In the first case (CV 47),transparency is identified as an
necessary to develop unity and important mechanism for guaranteeing social accountability.
communion between individuals (CV 53, b) The discussion is focused on the role that transparency plays
54) in international and non government organizations (NGOs)
b) "The human family does not submerge working in humanitarian projects. This understanding of
the identities of individuals, peoples, and transparency as a means for organizational accountability is
cultures, but makes them more consistent with previous Catholic Social Thought (CST)
transparent to each other and links them documents. Appropriate information disclosure is necessary
more closely in their legitimate diversity" to inform donors about how their money is used by these
(CV 53) organizations.
Notions of Competence, Professionalism, and Responsibility
I. Competence
• having the necessary technical, human, and conceptual skills to do a particular job or carry out a
particular duty.
• also means having the necessary human maturity as well as attitude or spirit of service.
A. Technical Skills
• Encompasses the ability to apply specialized knowledge or expertise.
B. Human Skills
• The ability to understand, communicate with, motivate, and support other people, both individually
and in groups, which defines human skills.
C. Conceptual Skills
• The skills and the mental ability that managers must have to analyse and diagnose complex
situations.
The first and most basic necessary skill for a working professional is solid competence in the human sphere,
in the sphere of work. Such competence requires the following characteristics:
a) HUMAN MATURITY – a person works not only hard and solidly but also efficiently, that is, with
professionalism; and
b) WORK IS DONE IN A SPIRIT OF SERVICE AND LOVE FOR THOSE AROUND US – the worker has to take in and
develop the social dimension that the work involves. He realizes that work is something that helps improve
social conditions general it is a source of progress and well-being (llanes, 2003).
Notions of Competence, Professionalism, and Responsibility
II. Professionalism
• the qualities connected with trained and skilled people.
• The working professional also needs "relational intelligence (RI)" in order to connect
and interact effectively and respectfully with people and stakeholders from various
backgrounds diverse cultures, and with different interests, inside and outside the
organization, and to build lasting and trustful relationships. RI is based on a
combination of emotional intelligence and "ethical intelligence."
III. Responsibility
• a duty to take care of something
• Part of the responsibility of the worker is to be trustworthy: employees need to
demonstrate that they have integrity, benevolence, and ability in situations where trust
is important – say, where they could behave opportunistically or let employees down
but do not.
• Trust can also be won in the ability domain simply by demonstrating competence. In
contract with subordinates, demonstrating they are not trustworthy, will find employee
are less satisfied and less committed, have a higher intent toward turnover, engage in
citizenship behavior, and have lower task performance.
The Relationship of Accountability/Stewardship/Responsibility with Ethical Standards
I. Accountability - To be accountable is to be liable to explain or justify one's actions and decisions.
II. Stewardship
• the conducting, supervising, or managing of something, especially the careful and
responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care
III. Responsibility - a duty to take care of something
Scholars have recently considered ethical leadership from a new angle by examining
servant leadership. Servant leaders go beyond their own self-interest and focus on
opportunities to help followers grow and develop. They do not use power to achieve ends;
they emphasize persuasion.
What are the effects of servant leadership?
1. Study of 123 supervisors found it resulted in higher levels of commitment to the
supervisor, self-efficacy, and perceptions of justice, which all were related to
organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). This relationship between servant
leadership and follower appears to bestronger when followers are focused on being
dutiful and responsible.
The Relationship of Accountability/Stewardship/Responsibility with Ethical Standards
2. Servant leadership increases team potency (a belief that one's team has above-
average skills and abilities), which in turn leads to higher levels of group
performance.
3. A study with a nationally representative sample of 250 workers found higher Ievels
of citizenship associated with a focus on growth and advancement, which in turn
was associated with higher levels of creative performance (Robbins and Judge,
2013).
Responsibility for one's education and work experience has also been found to be related
to ethical behaviour in organizations. Some studies reported positive influences between
education or employment or work experience and ethical behaviour. For example, some of
those studies found that individuals in the latter years of their career displayed higher
ethical judgment. The major argument is that, as one gains further experience and
education, higher levels of moral reasoning are expected. This higher level of moral
reasoning, in turn, leads to more ethical behaviour.
Notion of Organizational Diversity and the Role of Women in Business Organizations
• Organizations use a variety of efforts to capitalize on diversity, including recruiting and selection
policies, as well as training and development practices. Effective, comprehensive workforce
programs encouraging diversity have three distinct components:
i. They teach managers about the legal framework for equal employment opportunity and
encourage fair treatment of all people regardless of their demographic characteristics.
ii.They teach managers how a diverse workforce will be better able to serve a diverse
market of customers and clients.
iii.They foster personal development practices that bring out the skills and abilities of all
workers, acknowledging how differences in perspective can be a valuable way to improve
performance for everyone.
• Much concern about diversity has to do with fair treatment. Most negative reactions to
employment discrimination are based on the idea that discriminatory treatment is unfair.
Regardless of race or gender, people are generally in favor of diversity-oriented programs,
including affirmative action, if they believe the policies ensure everyone a fair opportunity to
show their skills and abilities. Some diversity programs are truly effective in improving
representation in management. They include strategies to measure the representation of women
and minorities in managerial positions, and they hold managers accountable for achieving more
demographically diverse management teams (Robbins and Judge, 2013).
Notion of Organizational Diversity and the Role of Women in Business Organizations
Organizational Diversity
• the equality of opportunity and employment without any bias because of these traits.
Women in Organization
• Several studies show that business organizations stand to gain from the presence of
women, especially on their Boards of Directors. Although women will remain a distinct
minority on boards for the foreseeable future, women continue to be appointed to
boards through their personal relationships as well as track records and appropriate
expertise(Burke, 1997).
• Findings appear to show that, among others:
1. firms employing more women managers have probably done a better job of recruiting
capable managers from the total available talent pool, and consequently will be in a
better position to link with Customers, employees, and other constituencies (Shrader
et al, 1997);
Women in Organization
2. firms having higher proportion of women serving on their boards do engage in
charitable giving to greater extent than firms having a lower proportion of women
serving on their boards. Further, the results suggest a link between the percentage of
women on boards and firm philanthropy in the areas of community service and the arts,
but found no link between women board members and firm giving issues (Williams,
2003);
3. investors (in Singapore value the diversity and potential contribution of women on the
board of directors, that is, the appointment of female directors may be viewed as a
means of improving corporate governance of firms whose boards may be dominated by
old-boys networks, besides adding to the diversity of corporate boards (Ding and
Charoenwong, 2013); and
4. since women represent significant proportion of the customer base in many
corporations, the presence of female directors would bring the female perspective to
the boardroom and positively impact the bottom-line of companies, as explained by
evidence that male CEOs find the viewpoints of female directors beneficial in
understanding female clients (Burke, 1994).
Women in Organization
An oft-repeated research topic in this area is whether and how the participation of women
in the firm's board of directors and senior management enhances financial performance.
Some findings show that firms operating in complex environments do generate positive and
significant abnormal returns when they have a high proportion of women officers. Although
the participation of women as directors does not seem to make a difference in this regard,
firms with a high proportion of women in both their management and governance systems
generate enough value to keep up with normal stock-market returns. These findings tend to
support the policies currently being discussed or implemented in some countries and
organizations to foster the advancement of women in business (Francoeur et al, 2008).
Likewise, firms employing higher percentages of women are likely to perform better
inasmuch as they are more progressive and more competitive because their management
contingents more closely mirror the composition of existing markets (Shrader et al., 1997).
Case Study
People’s Recovery, Empowerment, and Development Assistance (PREDA)
People's Recovery, Empowerment, and Development Assistance (PREDA) Fair Trade was a not-
for-profit organization working at the national and international levels for the protection of
human rights, especially women's and children's rights. It was founded in 1974such as: creating
opportunities for economically disadvantaged producers; increasing farming market access, both
domestic and export, for these businesses; and ensuring transparency and accountability, among
others. Organizations in the Philippines started to engage heavily in fair trade in the 1980s,
especially due to the sugar and coffee crises when prices fell sharply, causing unemployment
among thousands of Filipinos. In response to the situation, organizations started to implement
structures that alleviated poverty and lessened dependency on sugar and coffee exports. PREDA
works hand in hand with the Philippine chapter of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO)
which works for the development of progressive and responsible fair trade stakeholders in the
country, as well as ensures that all member organizations are engaged in their commitment to
the principles and standards of fair trade, such as: providing income and food security to
disadvantaged communities: empowering community-based producers; and promoting a quality
and market-driven image of fair trade products.
