TOPIC 1.8: Risk Management

Risk management has been raised as an issue for public sector managers mainly as a consequence of the greater degree of flexibility and responsibility that has accompanied public reform initiatives. Generically, risk management requires organisations to:

• identify the inherent risks
• determine the implications of such a situation developing and devise appropriate strategies to minimise them
• assess the residual risk
• monitor residual risk.

The risk management process needs to be conducted with the fullest participation and consultation of all who are involved as stakeholders or implementers of the policy or program. In GSZ634 Managing Operations for Outcomes, you will revisit systems thinking approaches to identifying and managing risk. The importance of identifying all stakeholders before coming up with a risk management plan will be highlighted. Once plans have been put in place to manage risks, they are continually monitored and reviewed to determine their effectiveness. Monitoring is especially important since risk priorities can change with circumstances. Identifying and managing risk is a way of making processes more transparent to scrutiny and thus increasing accountability.

Conclusion

Module 1 has focused on the adaptive system of government, the impact of stakeholders, the networked interplay between stakeholders (within and external to government), digital strategies and the challenges of network management.

We have considered the complex system of

• changes in the environment impacting the system of government
• stakeholders and their influence on government business
• social media and digital relationships
• moving towards networked organisations
• networked government and managing outwards
• contracting relationships
• Types of partnership
• risk management

The next module – Cross sector collaboration – addresses systems thinking approaches to engaging stakeholders, network management, building social capital and evaluating service performance.