Risk Action Risk Assessment There Are a

Risk Action Risk Assessment There are a variety of ways in which the risks of an organization can be assessed, including many different forms or methods of qualitative analysis.

Determining specific frameworks, theories, and models for assessing qualitative risks that face an organization can be even more essential and complex than developing an assessment plan for assessing quantitative risks; due to their very nature, qualitative elements of an organization are by definition more subjective, more difficult to concretely measure, and more unpredictable in their effects due to these variations in understanding and measurement (Hutter & Power 2005).

Many of the qualitative risks that can confront an organization and potentially thwart its growth and success if not properly dealt with come from the human elements of the organization, such as knowledge and skill levels, and risk identification and assessment in these areas has its own set of ethical and practical complications (Duffey & Saull 2008). The following paragraphs will briefly outline some of the actions necessary in qualitative risk assessment.

First, an information sharing plan that creates transparency regarding the risk assessment procedures and purposes should be developed, and its implementation throughout the process assured. Such a plan is necessary for both ethical and practical reasons, showing respect for the human resources that will necessarily be a part of any comprehensive qualitative risk assessment and ensuring greater reliability and validity of the information gather from the individuals in the organization (Duffey & Saull 2008).

Working with the human resources of the company rather than simply trying to objectively observe can be of great assistance in this area. Once the information sharing system and procedures have been designed and agreed upon, it is necessary to communicate information to the relevant parties once the risk assessment procedures have begun (Duffey & Saull 2008).

This need not involve a memo sent out to everyone in the organization, but if knowledge and skill levels of individuals are to be assessed then department heads should be communicated with in order to facilitate the assessment more efficiently, and other similar communications and discussions should take place throughout all phases of the risk assessment (Duffey & Saull 2008). Ongoing transparency and two-way communication throughout the process will ease it and make it more effective.

Not all of the qualitative risks in an organization can be measured directly through its employees, however, and issues such as supplier and customer relations, brand perception, and a host of other non-quantitative business elements must be observed and analyzed (Hutter & Power 2005; Frame 2003). In order to address these concerns, effective measurement.