- What is Political Operational Accountability?
What is political operational accountability?
What is Operational Accountability?
Operational accountability is the things people do to create accountability. It’s what is actually going on, operating, when accountability is happening.
For instance, here is an article about it in business. They define:
Accountable: Answerable for correct and thorough
completion of deliverable or task
And they discuss how to drive milestone completion to support this. They say what tasks different people should do. For instance, in meetings, the manager should: Prep, Report, Prioritize, Problem Solve, and Close the Loop. They go on to discuss each step.
Note: Implicit in the definition of accountability is the definition of the deliverable or task. An example of a deliverable might be completed research on the ways to address a challenge, a plan of action for implementing a solution, a schedule, or a product delivered. Being answerable usually involves either reporting that the task was completed, or if it wasn’t completed, saying a bit about what happened and what portion was achieved, and a new plan for completion.
Also implicit is to whom the people are accountable to, usually a manager. The manager guides the group and sets goals, or approves them. Usually, the manager handles rewards and if needed, replaces someone. So the manager judges individual performance. How the manager does these things, perhaps noting the average number of days deliverables are early or late, or grading each project, is also part of operational accountability.
What is Political Operational Accountability?
Political operational accountability, to citizens, is the actions that we and our politicians take, so accountability of representatives to citizens occurs.
Donors, lobbyists, and party leaders work out their arrangements with members of Congress in phone calls and meetings, and sometimes through their staff. Specific goals are laid out, like sponsoring a bill or voting for or against one. They talk and come to an agreement. Then the member of Congress fulfills the agreement or they work it out in another meeting or call.
All these parties have something the member of Congress wants. They all might contribute money to the member’s campaign. The party can also cooperate on a bill or support an amendment the member favors. So meeting and talking and making deals are the main operational aspects of accountability to these people.
There is little Political Operational Accountability to Citizens
But what can citizens do? I’ve called my representative’s office and talked to someone on her staff. The person said they would forward my concerns. I sent her an email and after a week or more received what seemed like a canned letter that didn’t really answer my question. I replied but didn’t receive anything back.
I tried several times to arrange an appointment and was finally put on a waiting list.
I have no way to reliably communicate with my representative. Accountability doesn’t happen.
Even if I did, she’s a well-liked incumbent. Almost no one runs against her. If someone offered good communication with voters, I’d be interested. But it would take too much money to try to reach enough voters. We’re not particularly organized to be reached inexpensively. We’re not listening for this kind of communication, even though many of us would welcome it.
So all we have is the vote on election day if there’s significant competition. We lack ways to operate accountability. Thus, we have little accountability in politics.
In the next post, I’ll discuss how accountability could operate.