ABSTRACT
This book is based on the premise that there is a problem with risk management as
currently understood and practised. Despite many years of development, with good
agreement on the key principles and concepts, a proven toolkit with mature
infrastructure support available, and a broad base of ongoing research, the areas
where risk management is supposed to add value still continue to experience difficulty
and failure. The reasons are many and various, but a common root is the effect of the
human dimension in risk management. Too many risk practitioners (and the
recipients of their services) act as if they believe that effective risk management simply
requires attention to tools and techniques, systems and processes. They seem to forget
that these are all operated by people, each of whom is a complex individual influenced
by many different factors. This is further complicated by the fact that most risk
management is undertaken by people working in groups, introducing additional
layers of complexity through relationships and group dynamics.
