Risk and organizational behaviour: a research model

Abstract

We live in times of increasing dynamism in the natural, social and business environments; with such dynamism comes fear, uncertainty and doubt. As a result the discipline of risk management is in the ascendancy. In a recent influential report the UK’s Royal Society called for research into the role that organization design plays in risk management. Defines a theoretical framework that is being used to investigate a part of that relationship: the link between risk management strategy and organizational behaviour. Organizations are identified with either a proactive or a reactive approach to risk management. The research issue is whether the “choice” of approach is dependent on organization structure or is it independent? Does structure determine the approach or does the approach determine the structure? What other factors play a role? The critical factor of risk perception in managers and its impact on implementation strategy is considered. The types of risk strategy an organization follows and its structure are defined using various measures of distinct factors. By establishing the nature and cause of relationships between the measures and factors, the relationship between organizational approaches to risk and organization structure may be identified. Describes a method for evaluating this relationship.