The most feared situation is to end up inadvertently in the wrong place at the wrong time and get blamed. Yet this is exactly what happens in a structure that systematically diffuses responsibility. It is because managers fear blame-time that they diffuse responsibility; however such a diffusion inevitably means that someone, somewhere is going to become a scapegoat when things go wrong. Robert Jackall
About This Quote

In the business world, people often blame others for things that they themselves have caused. In a case of one person taking responsibility for an incident that he or she had nothing to do with, the blame is then placed on that person who is not responsible for the unfortunate event. In a case where a company has a systematic way of diffusing responsibility, a manager might say, “Well, it’s not my fault. I had nothing to do with this situation. Why don’t you ask someone else?” This way of diffusing responsibility makes the real culprit go free and the innocent person be blamed.

Source: Moral Mazes: The World Of Corporate Managers

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