Alexei Sidorenko has followed the trend and provided us with some help with “risk culture”.
I am not a fan of this latest fad.
I think we should focus on whether the culture of the organization is healthy, in that it promotes desired behaviors.
Last year, I wrote Is there an effective risk culture? It centered on the work of Horst Simon, who describes himself as a “Risk Culture Builder”. He defined risk culture:
- “Risk culture is the system of values and behaviours present in an organization that shapes risk decisions of management and employees. One element of risk culture is a common understanding of an organization and its business purpose” NC State ERM Initiative
- “Risk culture is a term describing the values, beliefs, knowledge, attitudes and understanding about risk shared by a group of people with a common purpose” Institute of Risk Management[1]
The year before, I covered work by the Institute of Internal Auditors Australia. They have a different set of definitions that I like more.
Culture is a characteristic of a group of people – the shared perceptions about what behaviour is ‘correct’, prioritised and likely to be rewarded. Organisations pursue many different strategic priorities and operate in different political, economic and social contexts, so their cultures…
