“area” and performs only a clearly defined and demarcated set of activities,
according to Sprenger. The reasons for this are easy to identify: division of labor,
organizational fragmentation, hierarchical structures, large organizations and
internationalization.
There is also a general confusion about what responsibility actually is. And this
uncertainty is manifested in the behavior of all parties, ranging from accusation
to compassion, indignation and guilty consciences. Responsibilities are confused,
everybody has an opinion on everything and even the top management gets
involved in the minor details. In the age of job rotation, no one feels responsible
for the long-term consequences of decisions.
The standard case: the employees try to do everything right for their boss (and
not the customers) or at least to behave in a way that does not get them in trouble.
Fearing for their careers, they repeat what they hear and do not say what matters.
And the bosses do not trust their employees and monitor them because after all it is
their job to do so. Problems are systematically shifted from one level to the next, to
“up there.” Personal responsibility is lost in the wake of countless orders, directives
and service regulations, and the internal entrepreneurship needed degenerates into a
fight against regulations and policies.
But why is organized irresponsibility such an epidemic, as Sprenger has
diagnosed? Because responsibility has two meanings: one is the responsibility of
accountability, which is experienced as a burden and sounds like indictment if
something goes wrong. The other is the positive interpretation of responsibility,
which is accepted actively and provides employees opportunities to develop and to
prove themselves. Unfortunately, in most companies the secondary responsibility
of accountability overshadows the primary responsibility based on duties. As such,
responsibility is something that nobody wants to have (see Sprenger 2002a,
pp. 18–35).
2.3.4.2 Everyone Has a Choice
Nevertheless, everyone working at a company still has responsibility at different
levels in different areas and in different functions. In practice the acceptance of a
task is an irrevocable commitment to act and to be held accountable in case of
negligence. This allows us to make the following definition of personal responsi-
bility: “The everyday practical importance of personal responsibility simply means
the willingness to exercise jurisdiction, even without ana prioriclearly defined task
responsibility” (Sprenger 2002a, p. 37). For Sprenger, personal responsibility
means:
- Autonomous and voluntary action, orchoosing
- Committed action based on personal initiative, orwanting, and
- Creative action, orresponding
Anyone who is aware that their work, their boss, the company they work for and
their attitude towards their work is their own decision, no longer regards himself or
2.3 The Relationship Between Leader and Led 101