Accountability myopia: Losing sight of organizational learning

Jan 1, 2005
By: Ebrahim A Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 56 - 87
Abstract
This article challenges a normative assumption about accountability in organizations: that more accountability is necessarily better. More specifically, it examines two forms of "myopia" that characterize conceptions of accountability among service-oriented nonprofit organizations: (a) accountability as a set of unconnected binary relationships rather than as a system of relations and (b) accountability as short-term and rule-following behavior rather than as a means to longer-term social change. The article explores the effects of these myopias on a central mechanism of accountability in organizations - evaluation - and proposes a broader view of accountability that includes organizational learning. Future directions for research and practice are elaborated.
Copy Citation Ebrahim, A. (2005). Accountability myopia: Losing sight of organizational learning. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 34(1), 56-87. doi:10.1177/0899764004269430 Copied to clipboard.
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