Organisational risk as it derives from what managers value: A practice-based approach to risk assessment

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 these observations, a claim is presented that organisational risk conceptions derive primarily, although not exclusively, from what managers consider being of value both in and for their organisational practice. In order to illustrate this claim, a case study is presented of how managers in a Swedish public transportation administration conceive of the organisation’s reputational risk. The implications of a view of risk being immanent to what managerial practice defines as being of value are discussed in the concluding remarks. 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.