Making sense of risk: a sociological perspective on the management of risk

Jacob Taarup-Esbensen

doi:10.1111/risa.13211

Making sense of risk: a sociological perspective on the management of risk

Bidragets oversatte titel: Hvad er risikostyring?: Et sociologisk perspektiv på risikostyring

Jacob Taarup-Esbensen

Samfundssikkerhed - Katastrofe- og Risikomanageruddannelsen

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftsartikel › Forskning › peer review

Abstract

Jeg undersøger risikostyring ud fra et sociologisk perspektiv startende med en gennemgang af litteraturen på området frem til i dag. Jeg argumentere for at risikostyring i organisationer i høj grad er præget af individers meningsskabelse samt den enkelte risiko managers opfattelse af verden omkring sig og at dette har indflydelse på den måde samlet set organisationen agere på. At det ikke nødvendigvis er objektiv evidens der ligger til grundlag for beslutninger, men at beslutningen giver mening for individet som ligger til grund for en given risiko beslutning.

Bidragets oversatte titel	Hvad er risikostyring?: Et sociologisk perspektiv på risikostyring
Originalsprog	Engelsk
Tidsskrift	Risk Analysis
Vol/bind	39
Udgave nummer	4
Sider (fra-til)	749-760
Antal sider	12
ISSN	0272-4332
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.13211
Status	Udgivet - apr. 2019

Emneord

risk management
Sensemaking
Risk Assessment
Risk

Adgang til dokumentet

10.1111/risa.13211

Andre filer og links

Link to publication in Scopus

Citationsformater

@article{ccb4a1ddd7c3427a97f8778ded4a8a21,

title = "Making sense of risk: a sociological perspective on the management of risk",

abstract = "This article describes how risk has been conceptualized in the business and organizationalliterature through four distinct transformations: from the techno-scientiﬁc perspective to thecognitive, the social-cultural, and, ﬁnally, to the constructionist perspective. Each domainconceptualizes risk in different ways, as organizations have found it difﬁcult to understandand mitigate using the risk management tools available. Conceptualizing risk as sensemakingbecomes relevant due to the complexity of information available to the risk manager, and,coupled with time constraints, this means that risk managers increasingly rely on makingsense of possible threats rather than on the accuracy of the information received. This shiftpresents four contributions to the current literature. First, it suggests that the role of riskmanagement is shifting from being technical in nature to being about risk sensemaking, wherethe manager engages with the social and physical environment with the aim of acquiring cuesthat could indicate how future events will unfold. Second, a sensemaking perspective impliesa shift in the use of risk management systems from being “containers” of knowledge aboutpast risk events to lending legitimacy to the plausibility of the success of future decisions.Third, the role of the risk manager in managing individual risks changes and becomes one ofmanaging everything using the social networks and systems available as indicators of futurerisk events. Finally, the risk manager and the systems he or she relies upon are regardedas a source of risk in themselves as both act as gatekeepers for organizational risk decisionmaking.",

keywords = "risk management, Sensemaking, Risk Assessment, Risk",

author = "Jacob Taarup-Esbensen",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 Society for Risk Analysis",

year = "2019",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1111/risa.13211",

language = "English",

volume = "39",

pages = "749--760",

journal = "Risk Analysis",

issn = "0272-4332",

publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",

number = "4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Making sense of risk

T2 - a sociological perspective on the management of risk

AU - Taarup-Esbensen, Jacob

PY - 2019/4

Y1 - 2019/4

N2 - This article describes how risk has been conceptualized in the business and organizationalliterature through four distinct transformations: from the techno-scientiﬁc perspective to thecognitive, the social-cultural, and, ﬁnally, to the constructionist perspective. Each domainconceptualizes risk in different ways, as organizations have found it difﬁcult to understandand mitigate using the risk management tools available. Conceptualizing risk as sensemakingbecomes relevant due to the complexity of information available to the risk manager, and,coupled with time constraints, this means that risk managers increasingly rely on makingsense of possible threats rather than on the accuracy of the information received. This shiftpresents four contributions to the current literature. First, it suggests that the role of riskmanagement is shifting from being technical in nature to being about risk sensemaking, wherethe manager engages with the social and physical environment with the aim of acquiring cuesthat could indicate how future events will unfold. Second, a sensemaking perspective impliesa shift in the use of risk management systems from being “containers” of knowledge aboutpast risk events to lending legitimacy to the plausibility of the success of future decisions.Third, the role of the risk manager in managing individual risks changes and becomes one ofmanaging everything using the social networks and systems available as indicators of futurerisk events. Finally, the risk manager and the systems he or she relies upon are regardedas a source of risk in themselves as both act as gatekeepers for organizational risk decisionmaking.

AB - This article describes how risk has been conceptualized in the business and organizationalliterature through four distinct transformations: from the techno-scientiﬁc perspective to thecognitive, the social-cultural, and, ﬁnally, to the constructionist perspective. Each domainconceptualizes risk in different ways, as organizations have found it difﬁcult to understandand mitigate using the risk management tools available. Conceptualizing risk as sensemakingbecomes relevant due to the complexity of information available to the risk manager, and,coupled with time constraints, this means that risk managers increasingly rely on makingsense of possible threats rather than on the accuracy of the information received. This shiftpresents four contributions to the current literature. First, it suggests that the role of riskmanagement is shifting from being technical in nature to being about risk sensemaking, wherethe manager engages with the social and physical environment with the aim of acquiring cuesthat could indicate how future events will unfold. Second, a sensemaking perspective impliesa shift in the use of risk management systems from being “containers” of knowledge aboutpast risk events to lending legitimacy to the plausibility of the success of future decisions.Third, the role of the risk manager in managing individual risks changes and becomes one ofmanaging everything using the social networks and systems available as indicators of futurerisk events. Finally, the risk manager and the systems he or she relies upon are regardedas a source of risk in themselves as both act as gatekeepers for organizational risk decisionmaking.

KW - risk management

KW - Sensemaking

KW - Risk Assessment

KW - Risk

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85054500944&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/risa.13211

DO - 10.1111/risa.13211

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0272-4332

VL - 39

SP - 749

EP - 760

JO - Risk Analysis

JF - Risk Analysis

IS - 4

ER -

Making sense of risk: a sociological perspective on the management of risk

Abstract

Emneord

Adgang til dokumentet

Andre filer og links

Fingeraftryk

Citationsformater