Risk Commentary

Definitions: ERM and Risk Assessment – Part 1/2

Enterprise Risk Management is a relatively young discipline. There is no universal agreement on what it really consists of. In some of the academic literature, the definition is assumed. Authors don’t bother with it, and yet actual practice of what people call ERM is varied.

I want to give a critique of some of the definitions of Enterprise Risk Management having currency in management discourse, and then propose my own definition of ERM. Standards such as ISO or AS/NZ 4360 do not define or even contain the term Enterprise Risk Management. But they do define risk itself consistently as being associated with the organization’s goals and objectives.

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ERM Case Study – Part 3/5

This is the next post in the Enterprise Risk Management implementation case study of Camosun College, B.C., Canada.

IMPLEMENTATION APPROACH
Project Approach – Key Players
As mentioned previously, the idea for enterprise risk management came from the Board of Governors, who were keen to participate in the provincial government’s foray into the new practice. While many public sector executive seemed at least intellectually to accept the idea of applying risk methods to strategy, the Board wanted to see it done and effect some real changes.
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ERM Case Study – Part 2/5

This is a continuation of the Enterprise Risk Management implementation case study of Camosun College, B.C., Canada.

INITIAL STAGES
Impetus to ERM: Compliance or Improvement?
The impetus towards risk management came from the Board of Governors. They were aware of BC Government’s initiative, led by Risk Management Branch, to incorporate enterprise risk management into regular planning and management across the provincial public sector (by 2004, already well into the implementation phase).
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ERM Case Study – Part 1/5

This is a case study in successful implementation of enterprise risk management — the first of five parts of the case of Camosun College.

Two key aspects of ERM; viz., a good risk identification/ assessment process, and the proper approach to program implementation, are emphasized in this case study. They apply to the implementation of ERM in any organization.
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Create Your Own Risk Management Examples

Experimenting with the Risk Management Process

In previous 3 posts, I described the agenda I use for the “Enterprise Risk Management-Developing and Implementing” workshop, to get participants to work through their own risk management challenges. I also reported on requests expressed in online course feedback. Many want case studies.

In the earliest days of implementing ERM in BC Provincial Government, I remember saying to the Deputy Minister of Finance that, notwithstanding our own innovative risk financing programs, we couldn’t find sufficient examples of the new enterprise-wide approach. He responded by saying that we would have to create our own examples.
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Successful ERM Implementation-4 Keys

Enterprise Risk Management implementation – are there proven principles?
Many risk management practitioners are struggling with trying to ensure successful Enterprise Risk Management – ERM – implementation. If you are in that situation, a first step would be to review conditions for success of programs of all types – whether corporate, public policy, IT implementation, or new management practices – that have been demonstrated in the literature in this area. Then see how they apply to your risk management plan.
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Economic Crisis: Why ERM Did Not Fail

Risk management controls: not implemented — or rather, subverted

We are continuing to experience economic turmoil. After the first severe and generalized wave of economic upheaval originating in the US recession, many in risk management circles were speaking of “the failure of Enterprise Risk Management”. First, let’s not characterize what happened in those terms, because failure depends upon one’s point of view; the failure was not universal. The people responsible for what Galbraith called the “seemingly imaginative, currently lucrative, and eventually disastrous innovation in financial structures” did not fail.  (He was writing back at the time prior to the October 1987 crash, about parallels to 1929 — but might just as well have been referring to collateralized debt obligations – CDOs).
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Enterprise Risk Management Manifesto

Enterprise Risk Management is now finding its place in creating strategic value.

Traditionally confined to either loss control in the realm of commercial insurance, or financial controls and audit, enterprise risk management has now taken an evolutionary step to encompass the entire spectrum of strategic and operational risk.

Risk has gained, in recent years, a high profile in the public mind, as waves of corporate malfeasance, natural disaster, security threats and economic meltdown have rocked the foundations of organizations in all sectors, and created profound distrust among stakeholders. ERM implementation is now proving its value as conventional risk management duties expand to embrace strategic planning and innovation.
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