Organizational Risk as it Derives from What Managers Value: A Practice‐Based Approach to Risk Assessment

Abstract

Two observations serve as starting points for this paper. First, conventional risk assessment techniques provide sophisticated ways to identify and estimate hazards, but eschew the fact that there is no risk unless something of value is considered to be at stake. Second, what managers consider as being of value follows from how they organize their managerial practice. Based on a case study of a Swedish public transportation administration, a claim is presented that organizational risk conceptions derive primarily, although not exclusively, from what managers consider being of value both in and for their organizational practice. In particular, it is suggested to begin the risk assessment process with a critical appraisal of what managers hold as being of value and why.