The Accountability Paradox in an Age of Reinvention: The Perennial Problem of Preserving Character and Judgment

The rapidly expanding literature on accountability reveals a centrally important paradox: Responsible interpretation and application of external accountability demands depends on the cultivation of the virtues that support good administrative judgment, but the institutions and mechanisms that are us...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Administration & society 2004-07, Vol.36 (3), p.255-281
Main Authors: Jos, Philip H., Tompkins, Mark E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accountability
Administration
Bureaucracy
Character
Compliance
Corporate culture
Criminal investigations
Customer satisfaction
Customer services
Decision making
Ethics
Governmental reform
Judgement
Judgment
Leadership
Moral Judgment
No Child Left Behind Act 2001-US
Organization theory
Political Science Theories
Public Administration
Public management
Special counsels
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Summary:The rapidly expanding literature on accountability reveals a centrally important paradox: Responsible interpretation and application of external accountability demands depends on the cultivation of the virtues that support good administrative judgment, but the institutions and mechanisms that are used to communicate these external standards, and that monitor compliance with them, often threaten the very qualities that support responsible judgment. Consulting a rich and varied literature, this paradox is explored as it emerges in both the more familiar compliance-based accountability processes and the less well-understood performance-based processes associated with reinvention and the new public management.
ISSN:0095-3997
1552-3039
DOI:10.1177/0095399704263479