What is a Letter of Responsibility?

The letter of responsibility is a public management method. Superiors and subordinates sign a letter of responsibility for a certain job. The superior assigns work tasks to subordinates, and the subordinates promise to complete the work goals with all their strength. In this way, responsibility is achieved The purpose of decomposition and pressure conduction.

This is equivalent to the subordinate issuing a "military order" to the superior, and the superior placing a "tightening curse" on the subordinate. From this point of view, the original intention of signing a responsibility letter between superiors and subordinates is good, and if used well, the effect should be good.

Extended information:

Current problems

Too many responsibility certificates make grassroots staff "grab their eyebrows and beards" and struggle to cope with various inspections and assessments from superiors and material submission work. Some higher-level departments regard the responsibility certificate as a "universal prescription", thinking that as long as the responsibility certificate is signed, all tasks can be implemented, but they do not consider whether the grassroots have the ability and method to implement the responsibilities.

In fact, it is also a form of formalism. There are too many reports of responsibility. The essence is that some superiors use administrative power to suppress subordinates. The root cause is that the performance appraisal system is imperfect and unscientific, which exposes a typical bureaucratic style. Some grassroots cadres even said that the number of certificates of responsibility in a local area is often a direct reflection of the local bureaucracy and formalism. This simple and crude management and assessment mechanism has long been unable to adapt to the new situation and must be reformed as soon as possible.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Statement of Responsibility