1. Authority: The power of taking decisions in order to guide the activities of others. Authority is that power which influences the conduct of others.
2. Responsibility: It is the obligation of a subordinate to properly perform the assigned duty. When a superior issues orders, it becomes the responsibility of the subordinates to carry it out.
3. Accountability: When a superior assigns some work to a subordinate, he is answerable to his superior for its success or failure.
Principle of Absoluteness of Accountability: Authority can be delegated but
responsibility/accountability cannot be delegated by a manager. The authority
granted to a subordinate can be taken back and re-delegated to another person.
The manager cannot escape from the responsibility for any default or mistake on
the part of his subordinates. For example, If the chief executive asks Marketing
Manager to achieve a sales target of sale of 100 units/day. The marketing
manager delegates this task to deputy sales manager, who fails to achieve the
target. Then marketing manager will be answerable for the work performance of
his subordinates. Thus, accountability is always of the person who delegates
authority.
