Description

Risk management attempts to reduce the impact and consequence of events, by preventing them and reducing their impact when they do occur. Implicit in this is the identification of hazards, assessment of the risk, development and implementation of mitigating controls that and review of their effectiveness.
The aim of the study was to conduct a critical review of existing risk management systems and validate whether a relationship could be determined between their implementation into organizations, and actual risk management performance. The underlying assumption was that risk management programs resulted in improved risk control measures which in turn may result in improved risk management performance within an organization.
The research occurred within a systems-thinking framework, as the underlying conceptual approach was to assess whether risk management systems have any causal impact on a company’s risk management performance. A single research method was thought inadequate to validate the statement. The researchers’ belief in an underlying de facto risk management theory and value systems, required validation prior to assessing whether its’ introduction positively or negatively impacted on risk management performance.
In line with the stated aim and objectives of the study, a combination of quantitative and qualitative design was selected. Quantitative research consisted of survey combined with correlational analysis, whilst case study design was utilized for the qualitative component.
The specificity of the objectives resulted in concurrent research activities. These included the development and performance of two survey(s) as well as sixteen case studies and correlation analysis.
The 1st objective; that risk management systems were perceived to be beneficial to a company’s risk management performance was, proven by the survey results.
Objective 2 which addressed whether a causal relationship could be determined between implementation of risk management systems, and actual risk management performance could not be proven by the case study and correlation analysis.
Objectives 3: that there was a reduction in injuries and or fatalities after the introduction of a risk management system and,
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Objective 4: whether companies implementing risk management systems demonstrated risk management performance above that of their industry sector was proven by the case study and correlation analysis.
The recommendations suggested that improved risk management performance could be achieved by synergizing and aligning current risk management system implementation efforts. Two tools were proposed and it was suggested that these be used sequentially, namely;
• Improved structured use of risk assessments:
• Utilizing a risk maturity in conjunction with a tracking tool to monitor effectiveness and,
• Monitoring the effectiveness of the implementation.