Chapter Twelve Making Risk Management Work

sGiven the topics covered in the first 11 chapters, it seems a tall order to bring such a large number of topics into a cogent summary. Additionally, the book has introduced three distinct views of risk management – the traditional/technical view, enterprise risk management, and an alternative view that is yet-to-be-fully-articulated. The summary is further complicated by the challenges of managing in complex environments. Nevertheless, an effort should be expected. Here, the framing of public organisation risk management in practice (which will be applicable to risk management in other public contexts), begins with setting sustainable resilience as the central organising idea. From this come several practical principles that will serve to contextualise a range of specific processes and actions that constitute risk management as understood in the book. This requires some consideration of operational issues – programme implementation tactics, defining particular roles, evaluating outcomes, embedding assessment and analysis, and implementing tools. However, it also discussed somewhat more philosophical issues like the development of ‘network schema’, leadership in complexity, and the twin ideas of innovation and adaptation. Recognising that effective risk management always depends on the particular organisation or situation, a general guide to practice is outlined here.