Risk management is every managers’ responsibility: Are HR practitioners ready for the challenge

Abstract

Risk and Enterprise Risk Management has become a strategic imperative in most organisations and government departments over the years. Most company boards and government entities in South Africa have adopted various corporate governance frameworks as a mechanism to direct and control the operations of their organisations. As a result, risk management and enterprise risk management has become every manager’s responsibility. The key question that the study investigates is whether HR managers are aware of this strategic imperative and ready to be risk champions in their environment. Data was collected from forty eight (48) HR Managers and Practitioners from private companies and sixty eight (68) HR Managers and Practitioners from government departments and government companies in Durban, Kwazulu-Natal and Cape Town, Western Cape using both personal interviews and questionnaires which were distributed to one hundred and fifty (150) employees, of which one hundred and sixteen (116) questionnaires were completed (return rate 77.3%). The results of this paper indicate that, in general and across all sectors, HR practitioners’ levels of understanding of corporate governance and risk management is limited.