Understanding and Managing Risk Attitude - Hardcover

Hillson, David; Murray-Webster, Ruth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0566086271 ISBN 13: 9780566086274

Publisher: Gower Publishing Ltd, 2005

Synopsis

Assuming a basic knowledge of risk management concepts and processes, Hillson (director, Risk Doctor & Partners) and Murray-Webster (managing partner, Lucidus Consulting) focus on a key human determinant of the success or failure of risk management, risk attitudes held by individual and groups within organizations. They explain how risk attitudes i

About this title

Review:

Reviews of the Second Edition: 'As a way to approach business, the book is well worth a read by managers; whether they seek to manage change in their organization, be a leader getting more from staff, set goals or simply avoid failure. In a couple of words, the keys seem to be optimism and self-awareness.' Professional Security 'It is a serious study of how people handle risk in different scenarios and provides a genuine insight into how people behave in risk situations.' Managing Risk ' Managers looking to move to higher levels of risk management maturity in their organisations will find much insight and guidance in this innovative book.' UKexcellence. Reviews of the First Edition: 'This book provides a pivotal insight into the complexities of human behaviour, psychological influences and subconscious preferences that determine how people initially respond to significant uncertainty. It opens the door to a facet of risk management that is not well understood, namely risk attitudes. It helps us determine whether it is appropriate, and creates a road map to change risk attitude if it is both necessary and desirable.' Carl Anthony West, Operations Auditor, British Waterways 'Organizations and project leaders seeking to dramatically improve the effectiveness of their risk management process will want to incorporate this book's information into their daily activities...' Craig D. Peterson, PMP, President, Project Management Institute, Risk Management Specific Interest Group 'The work will repay the intellectual engagement required of the reader with a shift of paradigm towards people-centred risk management that focuses on preferred or innate "risk attitude" rather than lower level risk management process and tasks.' Pierre Anson-Tsang, Benefits Realisation Consultant, and Mike Buck, Senior Project Manager, PricewaterhouseCoopers 'For many managers, risk management is about choosing the right technique to analyse the risks in the corporate risk register - it is seen as a standardised procedure for avoiding things going wrong. David Hillson has pioneered an approach to risk management that is as much about seeking opportunities as avoiding mistakes. Now he and Ruth Murray-Webster turn to the cultural and psychological aspects of risk management to great effect. They persuasively argue that a mature risk attitude is a vital part of the effective management of risk in business, which can be achieved through the development of high levels of emotional literacy in risk managers and their teams. The argument is extensively supported by clear diagrams and vignettes that aid understanding of important concepts. Managers looking to move to higher levels of risk management maturity in their organisations will, therefore, find much insight and guidance in this innovative book.' Professor Graham M. Winch, Centre for Research in the Management of Projects, Manchester University, UK 'This book has prompted me to think more deeply as a change director about what I am trying to achieve with my overall risk approach, specifically whether and how to tackle environmental factors, and understand better the behaviours that create them.' Jon Bassett, Director of Implementation, AXA Life UK 'Anyone involved in implementing risk management will benefit from this book, including risk practitioners, senior managers and directors responsible for corporate governance, project managers and their teams...also essential reading for HR professionals.' Educational Book Review 'This concise and very readable book looks at the question of risk from a refreshingly different viewpoint...absolutely essential reading for anyone tasked with the management of risk or interested in the various and complex issues surrounding the subject.' Quality World, September 2005 '...aims to help the reader understand the human aspects of risk management and mange the influence of human behaviour on the risk process. And after looking at issues such as emotional intelligence/literacy and its relationship to risk attitude, the authors suggest that readers might be in a good position to apply the guidance to their personal lives too.' Supply Management, June 2006 'This is an outstanding and inspiring book for all who are initially interested, or deeply involved, in the study and practice of risk understanding and effective management. It is hard to put down and easy to re-read and discover further questions and answers.' - The RoSPA Occupational Safety & Health Journal

From the Author:

Risk matters, as it represents significant uncertainty that can affect achievement of our objectives. That’s why risk management is so important. People also matter, since projects aren’t performed by machines. How individuals and groups behave is a major Critical Success Factor for all aspects of managing projects – including risk management.

Risk process effectiveness is strongly influenced by the risk attitudes of the people involved. Although everyone agrees that risk attitudes are important, diagnosis is not the same as treatment. This book offers a practical guide to both understanding and managing risk attitude. It first describes the risk attitude spectrum and what influences the position people adopt. This is followed by an introduction to emotional literacy, which is well recognised as a framework for understanding how and why people behave. Finally the book applies the insights from emotional literacy to the challenge of managing risk attitudes, giving practical guidance on how to adopt the appropriate risk attitude for any particular situation.

The authors believe that combining their twin passions for understanding risk and understanding people has produced something uniquely useful which will make a major contribution to project and business success

About this edition

• Publisher: Gower Publishing Ltd
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0566086271
• ISBN 13: 9780566086274
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 198