Accountability Among Self-Managed Workers Linked
To Greater Job Satisfaction, Trust In Management
Oct 3, 2000
Erie, Pa. -- Among self-managed workers, accountability to coworkers and the organization at large is linked to both job satisfaction and trust in supervisors and managers, a Penn State researcher says.

"Our findings suggest a noticeable linkage between accountability and job satisfaction," says Dr. Peg Thoms, associate professor of management at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. "Because job satisfaction is partially situational, we would expect that workers who feel more accountable due to participative work environments such as self-managed teams would have higher job satisfaction than workers who have little accountability to coworkers or management."

In any event, companies should make sure that their efforts to extend workplace accountability are not seen by employees as an attempt at external control but rather an effort to promote internal control and improved communications among coworkers and between employees and supervisors, according to Thoms.

"Our research confirmed the significant relationship between job satisfaction and trust in immediate supervisor and management," she says. "In addition, we found an important correlation between accountability and trust, although at present we cannot state with certainty which is the cause and which is the effect."

Thoms is co-author of "Relationships between Accountability, Job Satisfaction and Trust," presented recently at the Academy of Management conference in Toronto. Her co-authors are Dr. Jennifer J. Dose, assistant professor of human resource management at Messiah College in Grantham, Pa., and Dr. Kimberly S. Scott, consultant at Hewitt Associates LLC.

The researchers took their data from a survey of 264 employees of a manufacturing company in the Midwest. At the time of their study, the company had just begun to set up totally self-managed teams authorized to establish production standards, hire new workers, and engage in key problem-solving.

The importance of workplace accountability can scarcely be exaggerated, Thoms says. Research has demonstrated that people held accountable for their behavior were more likely to be high performers and be more attentive to others' needs than individuals who were not held accountable.

"However, employees wish to know that their contributions are valued, but do not take as kindly to being `checked up on,' " she adds.

EDITORS: Dr. Thoms is at (814) 898-6434 or by email.

Contacts:
Paul Blaum 814-865-9481