Organizing risk: organization and management theory for the risk society

Risk has become a crucial part of organizing, affecting a wide range of organizations in all sectors. We identify, review and integrate diverse literatures relevant to organizing risk, building on an existing framework that describes how risk is organized in three ‘modes’ – prospectively, in real-time, and retrospectively. We then identify three critical issues in the existing literature: its fragmented nature; its neglect of the tensions associated with each of the modes; and its tendency to assume that the meaning of an object in relation to risk is singular and stable. We provide a series of new insights with regard to each of these issues. First, we develop the concept of a risk cycle that shows how organizations engage with all three modes and transition between them over time. Second, we explain why the tensions have been largely ignored and show how studies using a risk work perspective can provide further insights into them. Third, we develop the concept of risk translation to highlight the ways in the meanings of risks can be transformed and to identify the political consequences of such translations. We conclude the paper with a research agenda to elaborate these insights and ideas further

De l’émergence dans les risques émergents

International audienceTechnological and societal evolutions combined with an increased reluctance for risk taking put on the front page the issues of defining and managing emerging risks. A review of existing definitions is however revealing of a great discrepancy in the way emerging risks are understood and tackled in various fields. Novelty, uncertainties, complexity or time for impact are very often considered as specific properties of emerging risks. However, our analysis demonstrates that these properties can be found for familiar risks, making them useless in distinguishing emerging ones. What is more, this lack in rigorous and scientific characterisation of emerging risks makes it difficult for risk managers to identify contexts requiring specific management approaches required by emerging risks. In tackling this issue, we rely on developments in complexity theory. Actually, emergence being one of the key properties of complex systems, we demonstrate in this communication how risks are to be seen as emerging properties resulting from complex interaction involving systems that combine hazards and vulnerabilities. Once the relevance and applicability of complexity related concepts are demonstrated, we discuss the associated implications for emerging risk management.La vitesse des évolutions technologiques et sociétales ainsi qu’une acceptabilité de plus en plus réduite font des risques émergents un sujet d’intérêt de plus en plus accru pour l’ensemble des acteurs de la société. Néanmoins, de nombreuses disparités et divergences existent quant à la définition même de ce concept. Ainsi, de nombreuses propriétés se retrouvent associées ou considérées comme caractéristiques du concept d’émergence : nouveauté, incertitudes, complexité, délais avant impact… Notre analyse de ces concepts et de leurs utilisations dans le cadre des risques émergents met en lumière deux éléments clés. Le premier est qu’aucun de ces concepts n’est caractéristique des risques émergents puisqu’ils peuvent se retrouver dans des risques considérés comme largement familiers et déjà gérés. Le second est que ce manque de rigueur et de caractérisation scientifique est préjudiciable aux acteurs de la gestion des risques dans la mesure où ceux ci ne peuvent identifier les contextes propres aux risques émergents et nécessitant le déploiement d’approche de gestion dédiées. Pour apporter une réponse à cette problématique, nous nous appuyons dans cette communication sur les apports de la théorie de la complexité. En effet, les systèmes complexes se caractérisant notamment par leur capacité à faire émerger de nouvelles propriétés ou états, nous proposons de traiter les risques émergents comme des propriétés nouvelles résultant des interactions entre systèmes complexes. Apres avoir démontré l’intérêt et l’applicabilité de la théorie de la complexité pour la caractérisation des risques émergents, nous discutons les implications d’une telle approche pour les modalités de gestion des risques émergents

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