Risk MGT Module 1
Risk MGT Module 1
ATUN
Instructor
Sorsogon State University
Nowadays, people and organizations rely way less on traditions and superstition than they
did in the earlier days, and this may not be due to mankind being more rational itself, but
rather because of our ability to understand risk, which allows us to make more informed and
rational decisions.
The opportunity to manage risk, including here the amount and type of risks that the
organizations accept to pursue or retain in order to make forward-looking choices, are key
ingredients that catalyze the progress of the economic system.
RISK
A situation that exposes someone or something
to danger, harm or loss.
RISK VS. HAZARD
HAZARD
Anything that can cause harm.
RISK
How great the chance that someone will be
harmed by the hazard.
RISK MANAGEMENT
Avoid: The best thing you can do with a risk is avoid it. If you can prevent it from
happening, it definitely won’t hurt your project.
Mitigate: If you can’t avoid the risk, you can mitigate it. This means taking some sort of
action that will cause it to do as little damage to your project as possible.
Transfer: One effective way to deal with a risk is to pay someone else to accept it for
you. The most common way to do this is to buy insurance.
Accept: When you can’t avoid, mitigate, or transfer a risk, then you have to accept it. But
even when you accept a risk, at least you’ve looked at the alternatives and you know
what will happen if it occurs. If you can’t avoid the risk, and there’s nothing you can do to
reduce its impact, then accepting it is your only choice.
Avoidance (eliminate, withdraw from or not become involved)
Reduction (optimize – mitigate)
Sharing (transfer – outsource or insure)
Retention (accept and budget)
IMPLEMENTING THE RISK MANAGEMENT PROCESS
The organization’s risk management process should involve the
systematic application of policies, procedures and practices to the
activities of communicating and consulting, establishing the context and
assessing, treating, monitoring, reviewing, recording and reporting risk.
The main purpose of the risk management process is to enable the
organization to assess the existing or potential risks that may be faced,
evaluate the risks by comparing the risk analysis results with the
established risk criteria, and treat such risks using the risk treatment
options. The organization should use such process in the decision
making process
RISK MANAGEMENT PROCESS
Establishing the context: When establishing the context, the organization needs to
take into account the organization’s external environment (political, social, etc.) and
internal environment (objectives, strategies, structures, ethics, discipline, etc.). The
organization’s context must be understood before the full range of risks can be
identified. While establishing the context, the organization should define the purpose
and scope of its risk management activities, and determine the objectives of the risk
management process and the specific objectives of risk assessment. Furthermore, the
organization should define the scope and boundaries related to the risk management
process and identify all of the constraints that affect the scope. After identifying the
constraints, the organization should define the risk criteria which will be used during the
whole process.
RISK MANAGEMENT PROCESS
Risk identification: The identification of risks should be a formal, structured process
that includes risk sources, events, their causes and their potential consequences.
Simply said, risk identification is about the creation of a comprehensive list of risks (both
internal and external) that the organization faces, and can involve input from sources
such as historical data, theoretical analysis, expert options, and stakeholder’s needs.
The risk identification process enables the organization to identify its assets, risk
sources, risk events, existing measures and consequences. By identifying such
elements the organization will be ready to begin the risk analysis process.
Risk analysis: The organization should analyze each risk that was identified in the
previous step. Based on the level of risk that is determined after the risk analysis, the
organization is able to define whether the risk is acceptable or not. As so, if the risk
turns out to be unacceptable, the organization can take actions to modify the risk to
correspond to the acceptable level of risk
Risk evaluation: This step offers the organization the opportunity to have a mechanism that
helps them rank the relative importance of each risk, so that a treatment priority can be
established.
Risk treatment: Proper risk management requires rational and informed decisions about risk
treatment. Typically, such treatments include: avoidance of the activity from which the risk
originates, risk sharing, managing the risk by the application of controls, risk acceptance and
taking no further action, or risk taking and risk increasing in order to pursue an opportunity.
Remember that organizations do not always find themselves in trouble because of their
excessive and reckless behavior. Sometimes organizations fall behind their competitors as a
result of their reluctance to take risks and pursue opportunities.
Communication and consultation: Proper risk management requires structured and
ongoing communication and consultation with those affected by the organization’s operations.
The communication seeks to promote awareness and understanding of risk and the means to
respond to it, whereas consultation involves obtaining feedback and information to support
decision-making
Recording and reporting: Another step of the risk management process based on ISO
31000 is the recording and reporting, i.e. the outcomes of the risk management process are
to be documented and reported through appropriate mechanisms. Recording and reporting is
important for reasons such as communication of the risk management activities and
outcomes pertaining to those activities throughout the organization and providing the
necessary basis and information for making informed decisions.
Monitor and review: Considering that both the external and internal environments are
subject to constant change, the purpose of this step is to help organizations assure and
improve the quality and effectiveness of the risk management process.
Monitoring includes actions such as examining the progress of treatment plans, monitoring
the established controls and their effectiveness, ensuring that activities which are proscribed
are being avoided, and checking that the environment has not changed in a way that affects
the risks.
ASSESSMENT