Can you be both Responsible and Accountable in a RACI Matrix?

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dhaughey
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Here's the question I'm mulling over. Can you be both Responsible and Accountable in a RACI Matrix?

I'd argue yes. The responsible person does the work, and the accountable person is the one to go to if the work is late, over budget or fails to meet expectations. It could be the same person. Some of my colleagues disagree.

Example: A manager is asked to produce a sales report for their director. The manager is accountable for producing the report on time to the required standard. If the manager creates the report himself, he is also responsible for getting the work done. In this case the manager is both accountable and responsible. However, if the manager delegates the report creation to his sales assistant, then they are responsible for getting the work done. In this case the manager is accountable and the sales assistant is responsible.

I'd love to hear what you think? Can you be both accountable and responsible?

Duncan
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kwalford
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Anyone wondering what RACI is, go here:

http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/raci-matrix.html

There answer to this is, does the Responsible and Accountable role need to be two different parites in the RACI Model? Or, can the Responsible and Accountable roles be the same party in the RACI model?

If the latter of the above, then I would say, yes, the party Responsible will also be Accountable too.I feel that there are some circumstances where the same person could fulfill both roles. It may not be physically possible for two people to fulfill the roles of Responsible and Accountable.

My answer - YES
arorasach
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My view is YES,

Agree that the person who is doing the job or in capacity to complete the job is responsibility. Now if the same person is testify the results then he/she should be accountable for that action - means accountable too.

So if being a PM, dealing with team where I have a contact point for communication he will be responsible & accountable for the job for me however to see it deeper, actually the team members are responsible to complete the job, report to lead so that communication can be sent back to PM. Here team is responsible and team lead is accountable to PM.

So when I put this in RACI matrix, I put the team lead name as Responsible & Accountable for the task.
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dhaughey
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Thanks for your feedback guys. I agree, you can be both responsible and accountable.

Duncan
gkb2013
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In most of the situations, Responsible and Accountable can be different. Responsible is the person actually doing the task. Accountable is the one who is delegating the task to the doer ie his manager.In typical software projects, if Developer is the Responsible, Project Manager is the Accountable.
Mohamed.Benmerikhi
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I must admit that there are situations where responsaiblity and accountability are relative. Let me be clear, imagine the project manager is responsible for producing a report for a stakeholder and delegates part of the report writing to a team member. I guess in this case, the team member is both repsonsible and accountable to the project manager, but not to the stakeholder since the project manager is responsible for completing the rest of the report, therefore responsible for the coherence of the required document. In this case, I believe the project manager is both doing the work and delegating. Hence he is both responsible and accountable to the stakeholder (PMO).

This example reflects that the hierarchy may have an nfluence on the responsibility and accountability of actions.

Let me know if this makes sense

Mohamed
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