THE CHAMELEON OF ACCOUNTABILITY - FORMS AND DISCOURSES

Accountability is a cherished concept, sought after but elusive. New models of administrative reform promise to provide heightened accountability through managerial controls. Interviews with 15 Chief Executives of Australian public sector organisations reveal the chameleon quality of accountability. Accountability is subjectively constructed and changes with context Five forms of accountability identified in the interviews are explored: political public, managerial professional and personal. Two discourses of accountability are also identified: a structural and a personal discourse. CEOs experience an accountability which encompasses multiple and conflicting meanings. The paper argues for a new conception of accountability and new approaches to enhancing it. Imposing managerial controls is less likely to be effective than informing the process by which administrators construct and enact a sense of being accountable.