Cranfield University Jonathan Lupson A Phenomenographic Study of British Civil Servants' Conceptions of Accountability School of Management PhD Thesis Cranfield University School of Management PhD Thesis Academic Year 2006-2007 Jonathan Lupson A Phenomenographic Study of British Civil Servants' Conceptions of Accountability Supervisor: David Partington February 2007 © Cranfield University 2007. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the copyright owner. Abstract In the United Kingdom civil servants have traditionally been accountable to their managerial and political superiors for probity and due process in the execution of their duties. Recent parliamentary and administrative reforms have changed this view. Individual civil servants are now additionally accountable to a range of external groups for the results of their work. This change is reflected in the role of Senior Responsible Owner (SRO), a civil servant accountable to a management team for the achievement of a predefined project outcome. This thesis challenges the idea that accountability is a unitary concept that can be defined by others and delegated in this way. The subjective nature of human understanding suggests theoretical grounds for the existence of different conceptions of accountability among different individuals for a given outcome. In this research I have applied the analytical approach known as phenomenography to the study of these different conceptions. The approach has been widely used, mainly in fields outside management, to establish the bounded number of qualitatively different ways in which a given aspect of reality is conceived by different individuals. Analysis of interviews with 30 SROs from 12 government departments revealed four different conceptions of accountability, each with multiple attributes. The conceptions can be arranged in a hierarchy of increasing richness and complexity. This research contributes to theoretical knowledge of the concept of accountability in the field of public administration in four ways. First, the study adds time to the known attributes of accountability. Second, the study confirms sanctions as an attribute of accountability. Third, the hierarchy of four conceptions of accountability throws new light on the subject that calls into question the unitary view. Fourth, the results refute the notion of a schismogenic paradox of accountability and provide empirical support for meanings of accountability that transcend this paradox. Acknowledgements A PhD is supposed to be an individual piece of work. Yet ‘no man is an island, entire of it self; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main’ (Donne, 1624). Many individuals have supported me during the course of this PhD. First, my thanks go to my supervisor, Dr. David Partington, for his cogent advice on and constructive challenge to my arguments. I am grateful for his continual guidance and support throughout the research. I also wish to thank Professor Andrew Kakabadse, Professor David Parker and Dr Val Singh who, as members of my review panel, were unstinting with their constructive criticism and advice. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Wendy Habgood for her help in navigating the hidden paths of Cranfield’s bureaucracy. My thanks must also go to the staff of the Kings Norton Library for their endless patience with my inter- library loan requests. Outside of Cranfield, my thanks go to the 38 anonymous public servants, without whom this research would not have been possible. My thanks also go to the Office of Government Commerce, the Home Office and to those Cranfield alumni in the civil service who assisted me in my search for volunteers. I must also thank my two proof-readers, Maureen Lowry and Kathryn Lupson. Their work has helped me match my thoughts with my writing. Finally, my deepest thanks go to my wife Fiona and to my sons, James and Sam. Without their patience, understanding and good humour, I would not have been able to complete this project. They have been a constant source of support and encouragement throughout the ups and downs of a PhD. This thesis is dedicated to them. 4 Table of Contents CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 11 1.1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 11 1.2 RESEARCH OUTLINE..................................................................................................... 13 1.3 INTENDED CONTRIBUTIONS ........................................................................................... 14 1.4 THESIS STRUCTURE ..................................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER TWO: ACCOUNTABILITY ....................................................................................... 16 2.1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................. 16 2.2 THE CONCEPT OF ACCOUNTABILITY .............................................................................. 17 2.2.1 The Origins of Accountability................................................................................. 18 2.2.2 Typologies of Accountability .................................................................................. 21 2.2.3 The Components of Accountability........................................................................ 28 2.2.4 The Synonyms of Accountability ........................................................................... 34 2.2.5 A Definition of Accountability ................................................................................. 38 2.3 ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM CIVIL SERVICE.............................................. 39 2.3.1 The Origins of Civil Servant Accountability ........................................................... 39 2.3.2 The Trend towards Civil Servant Accountability.................................................... 43 2.3.3 The Changing Subject of Civil Servant Accountability .......................................... 48 2.3.4 The Role of Senior Responsible Owner ............................................................... 50 2.4 ACCOUNTABILITY RESEARCH ........................................................................................ 55 2.4.1 Accountability Research: Public Administration .................................................... 55 2.4.2 Accountability Research: Psychology.................................................................... 63 2.5 SUMMARY .................................................................................................................... 68 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY....................................................................................... 70 3.1 FOUR APPROACHES TO LEARNING ABOUT MEANING....................................................... 70 3.1.1 Behaviourism......................................................................................................... 72 3.1.2 Cognitivism ............................................................................................................ 73 3.1.3 Individual Constructivism....................................................................................... 75 3.1.4 Social Constructivism ............................................................................................ 76 3.1.5 Limitations of These Four Approaches.................................................................. 78 3.2 AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH ........................................................................................ 81 3.2.1 Phenomenography ................................................................................................ 81 3.2.2 Philosophical Foundations..................................................................................... 92 3.2.3 Phenomenography and Phenomenology .............................................................. 94 3.2.4 Criticism of phenomenography.............................................................................. 96 5 3.3 THE SELECTION OF A RESEARCH APPROACH............................................................... 100 3.4 SUMMARY .................................................................................................................. 104 CHAPTER FOUR: METHOD .................................................................................................... 105 4.1 SAMPLING.................................................................................................................. 105 4.2 ACCESS ..................................................................................................................... 106 4.3 DATA COLLECTION ..................................................................................................... 110 4.3.1 The Interview Protocol......................................................................................... 110 4.3.2 Pilot Study Fieldwork ........................................................................................... 113 4.3.3 Pilot Study Analysis ............................................................................................. 116 4.4 MAIN STUDY .............................................................................................................. 118 4.5 ANALYSIS..................................................................................................................