Define the basic concepts of responsibility, accountability, and liability as applied to ethical decisions. How are these concepts related?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Responsibility is the first key element of ethical action. Responsibility means that an individual, group, or organization accepts the potential costs, duties, and obligations for decisions made. Accountability is a feature of systems and social institutions. It means that mechanisms are in place to determine who took responsible action; i.e., who is responsible for the action. Liability is a feature of political systems in which a body of law is in place that permits individuals to recover the damages done to them by others.
These concepts are related as follows: I will assume the blame or benefit for the actions I take (responsibility); this blame or benefit accrues to me through the requirement that I be able to explain why I have taken the actions I have (accountability), for actions traceable to me by defined mechanisms in the organization; and if those actions result in harm to another, I will be held by law to reparations for those actions (liability).