Risks Facing an Organization Is a Key

¶ … risks facing an organization is a key element of operating an effective and efficient company that is poised both for flexibility and stability, especially in turbulent times (Hutter & Power 2005). Action plans can provide an organized, focused, and directed way t examine such far-reaching and complex aspects of an organization, providing the tools and perspectives necessary to define and achieve the smaller individual tasks necessary in achieving the overall goal of risk assessment (MindTools 2011).

The following paragraphs will present an overview of an action plan for a typical organization that is trying to assess its risks, listing the considerations and the steps necessary in adequately achieving this end. Such an action plan could be easily modified to fit the specific needs of any organization. The first step of a solid action plan consists of identifying the tasks necessary to complete the larger goal of the project at hand (MindTools 2011).

For risk assessment, these tasks include analyzing the operating environment, determining internal capabilities and resources, examining competitor's resources and innovations, observing consumer patterns, and gathering other information relevant to the development, production, and sale of an organization's products (Hutter & Power 2005). Examining past behaviors and performance of both the organization and the wider industry in which it operates can also yield highly useuf information regarding future risk, and should constitute a major portion of the tasks necessary to achieve the overall goal of this action plan (Greve 2003).

Consultation with individuals involved in the risk assessment project or in key knowledge positions should occur to develop additional necessary tasks. Following te identification of the tasks that need to be completed, the next step of the action plan is to analyze and delegate the tasks (MindTools 2011).

In a risk assessment project, few of the steps are meaningful in and of themselves but rather the information an knowledge obtained in the performance of each individual task depends upon the information derived from other tasks in order to have real meaning (Hutter & Power 2005).

Ensuring that tasks are completed in a manner that best supports cohesive knowledge growth is an important part of the action plan in risk assessment, and this requires careful analysis and the delegation of tasks and responsibilities to parties best able to acquire the requisite knowledge. Ensuring separation of research areas yet ample communication between the members of the team regarding findings and difficulties in task performance can help make this project become more efficient and effective overall (Hutter & Power 2005).

Before implementing the plan, the third and final step s reviewing the action plan for its comprehensiveness and its consistency.