Looking at responsibility...

Who is responsibible?

When a football team loses

I’ve always wondered why when teams lose - calls to sack the manager come thick and fast. Happened with Capello after the world cup – happened to the ex Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti quite recently. Why? I’ve always thought that if a team loses it’s down to the players... as they’re the ones out on the field. .. they’re the ones playing... not the manager. They need the determination - skills and stamina to out class the other team. (Bit of luck doesn’t hurt)

However. If you are paid a handsome sum to impart the knowledge - develop skills - a strategy - to train a group of highly skilled footballers to play together almost seamlessly - develop good strong team spirit - then... if they fail to deliver – if they lose – are you not responsible? When judged according to your remit… I guess you could be found wanting.

When a young person leaves school struggling to read or write or do math

A parent really is child’s first educator in my opinion. Yet - If the parent themselves were never taught or struggled with education - it can be difficult for them to pass on those skills to their child. What they can do though is pass on the desire – the hunger to learn – the recognition that an education is life changing/ life enhancing - with amazing and wonderful possibilities for the future.

However. If your business is educating. If you are provided with the resources to educate and you exist to educate – if then a child leaves an educational establishment unable to do so - then the responsibility must sit with that establishment .. should it not? That establishment / and those who dwell in it I guess - could be found wanting.

When a child dies at the hands of a parent/guardian due to neglect or ill treatment

The responsibility in my opinion must sit with the parent/guardian. It almost implies mental illness … but that’s almost too easy to say these people are mentally ill - and it's possibly unfair to those who are - to imply that every mentally ill person could potentially be capable of such a thing. – No.

It does scream pure wickedness though without a doubt.

However. If you are paid a handsome sum to direct and improve services targeted at children for example - with a view to eradicating these terrible crimes -teaching parents - and most importantly perhaps … protecting children - and a series of systematic failures occur - which with the benefit of hindsight could have been avoided. If bureaucracy gets in the way of common sense - and if staff underperform due to a possible management culture that fails to offer the necessary support and moral boost that may be necessary. Then one could say the responsibility for any failures that result in the death of a child (at worst ) sits with that individual -and if judged according to that remit - that person/s could be found wanting.

Responsibly - an online definition

A duty or obligation to satisfactorily perform or complete a task (assigned by someone, or created by one's own promise or circumstances) that one must fulfill, and which has a consequent penalty for failure.

When things don't go according to plan - responsibility is often shared as we are all interconnected in some way - but when in a position of power or influence your level of accountability naturally increases.