Check and Balance

There is a huge difference between "check and balance" and plain distrust.



"Check and balance" is one of the most commonly evoked concepts in corporate environments. Sadly, all too often it turns out to be nothing more than a highfalutin term for lack of trust.

Making surprise inspections of people's activities (usually with a subconscious intent of discovering anomalies), conducting spot audits of certain units of a company, or similar forms of management intervention, are not examples of check and balance. What check and balance is, is a mechanism for ensuring that policies are as egalitarian as possible--that is, in favor of the greater good, as opposed to being beneficial to only one or a few units in the organization.

This is not to say that making random checks for possible wrong practices is a bad thing. Just call it what it is--a random check for possible wrong practices. Because calling it "check and balance" is not only insulting to those being audited; it also manifests a lack of trust on the part of the employer or manager.