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Article
Publication date: 1 June 2005

Arie Halachmi

This paper has two purposes. The first is to help elected officials address the issue of public accountability for crises and improve productivity and risk management in the…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper has two purposes. The first is to help elected officials address the issue of public accountability for crises and improve productivity and risk management in the process by outsourcing some traditional government functions to civil society based organizations that can do a better job. The second is to mobilize researchers to explore the implications of the shift from “governing” to “governance” for risk management and the development of risk culture.

Design/methodology/approach

After exploring some case studies, the paper examines some leading resources on the shift from “governing” to “governance”. The paper goes on to present an alternative approach for managing public risks.

Findings

In order to improve the management of public risks, and given the financial constraints faced by most governments, there is a need for a deliberate effort to entice civil society based organizations to help government identify and alert the public to possible risks. In other words, civil society based organizations that make claims for public resources in the name of good governance should, as necessary, play the role of a watchdog when it comes to public safety and guarding of the public interest in that regard.

Practical implications

Use of market forces and non‐governmental entities to replace government agencies and regulations that cannot assure the public safety because they are difficult to implement, expensive or likely to be compromised due to various forms of corruption and politics.

Originality/value

The paper advocates substitution of “management by exception” by a “management by risk” approach and the fostering of an administrative culture that is more mindful of the need to recognize and address possible risks. Such an approach, the paper claims, is a more promising approach than an increase in government regulation.

Details

International Journal of Public Sector Management, vol. 18 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3558

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 June 2022

Dini Rosdini, Nunuy Nur Afiah, Prima Yusi Sari, Tettet Fitrijanti, Hamzah Ritchi and Adhi Alfian

This study aims to explore how risk culture – tone at the top (TATT) and informed risk decision (IRD) – can affect the effectiveness of risk management (EORM) in the government.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore how risk culture – tone at the top (TATT) and informed risk decision (IRD) – can affect the effectiveness of risk management (EORM) in the government.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors experimented on 84 civil servants working in central and local governments in Indonesia, focusing on vital local governments and critical ministries/institutions in central governments.

Findings

TATT and its interaction with IRD do not affect the EORM, while IRD and socialization of risk affect and improve it. A weak TATT, low commitment and ineffective implementation of risk culture to the lower-middle echelon may impair a country’s risk management (RM) practice. IRD with socialization is also the key to improving decision-making and RM.

Originality/value

This paper illuminates the possibility of risk culture in regulating the EORM in the governmental general planning process using the experiment as the research method and provides different facets in the application of risk culture in the government, where the focus is on policy-making, budgeting and planning aspects by involving several important ministries, institutions and strategic local government’s civil servants.

Details

Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, vol. 16 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-6166

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 June 2022

Ching-Hung Lee, Dianni Wang, Shupeng Lyu, Richard David Evans and Li Li

Under uncertain circumstances, digital technologies are taken as digital transformation enablers and driving forces to integrate with medical, healthcare and emergency management

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Abstract

Purpose

Under uncertain circumstances, digital technologies are taken as digital transformation enablers and driving forces to integrate with medical, healthcare and emergency management research for effective epidemic prevention and control. This study aims to adapt complex systems in emergency management. Thus, a digital transformation-driven and systematic circulation framework is proposed in this study that can utilize the advantages of digital technologies to generate innovative and systematic governance.

Design/methodology/approach

Aiming at adapting complex systems in emergency management, a systematic circulation framework based on the interpretive research is proposed in this study that can utilize the advantages of digital technologies to generate innovative and systematic governance. The framework consists of four phases: (1) analysis of emergency management stages, (2) risk identification in the emergency management stages, (3) digital-enabled response model design for emergency management, and (4) strategy generation for digital emergency governance. A case study in China was illustrated in this study.

Findings

This paper examines the role those digital technologies can play in responding to pandemics and outlines a framework based on four phases of digital technologies for pandemic responses. After the phase-by-phase analysis, a digital technology-enabled emergency management framework, titled “Expected digital-enabled emergency management framework (EDEM framework)” was adapted and proposed. Moreover, the social risks of emergency management phases are identified. Then, three strategies for emergency governance and digital governance from the three perspectives, namely “Strengthening weaknesses for emergency response,” “Enhancing integration for collaborative governance,” and “Engaging foundations for emergency management” that the government can adopt them in the future, fight for public health emergency events.

Originality/value

The novel digital transformation-driven systematic circulation framework for public health risk response and governance was proposed. Meanwhile, an “Expected digital-enabled emergency management framework (EDEM model)” was also proposed to achieve a more effective empirical response for public health risk response and governance and contribute to studies about the government facing the COVID-19 pandemic effectively.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 123 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2007

Yuhua Qiao

Public risk management is a relatively new but important element of public management and public budgeting. As research in this area is limited, this study attempts to advance…

Abstract

Public risk management is a relatively new but important element of public management and public budgeting. As research in this area is limited, this study attempts to advance knowledge on two specific elements of public risk management based on a survey sent to the Public Risk Management Association (PRIMA) members in 2002. 1) How do public entities use various risk funding techniques (e.g., purchasing insurance, self-insurance, and intergovernmental risk pools)? 2) Have public entities implemented integrated risk management in their risk management practices? The survey found evidence that integrated risk management is emerging in public risk management practice. As this is an exploratory study, the author also identifies a series of questions for future research.

Details

Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, vol. 19 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1096-3367

Book part
Publication date: 4 April 2022

Peter C. Young

Understanding the context of any subject is crucial and this is certainly true of risk management in the public sector. Undoubtedly, what we face today is the highly…

Abstract

Understanding the context of any subject is crucial and this is certainly true of risk management in the public sector. Undoubtedly, what we face today is the highly path-dependent result of what has happened in the past. And, what happens today in a local government, for example, is very much influenced by the wider current situation that surrounds it. Further, it must be said that even the future can be part of the present context (climate change would be a stark example of this).

Described in this way, it seems a daunting challenge to understand past, present, and future – and, indeed, it verges on the impossible. The remaining chapters of this book revisit the context through the lens of the various components of risk management (assessment, analysis, forecasting, and more) and by looking at the present and future through the concepts and principles used by risk managers. Here, in Chapter Three, the issue of context is first considered by examining the relationship between past and present with specific reference to risk management as a management practice. Thus, the chapter does not specifically address how uncertainty is assessed, or how insurance is used, or even how a risk management programme operates – these are topics for later chapters. Rather, the history of risk management is presented as a narrative that seeks to explain how risk management has evolved into what it is today.

Finally, the chapter leads into the present by providing an overview of the current public environment in Europe. This allows the book to develop both a history of how risk management became what it is today, and to understand the key risks and uncertainties that define the current context. Chapter Four presents the administrative nature of today’s practices and offers some speculation about alternative ways of thinking about risk management practices now and in the future.

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2005

John Hood and Peter Young

Since the early 1990s there has been a growth in local authorities of risk management. However, despite a range of different strategies, initiatives and practices the issue of…

2480

Abstract

Purpose

Since the early 1990s there has been a growth in local authorities of risk management. However, despite a range of different strategies, initiatives and practices the issue of financing the risks to which authorities are exposed has remained problematic. The traditional dependence on the commercial insurance market has proved to be a flawed strategy. This paper aims to analyse an alternative risk financing strategy which has been successful in local authorities in other countries, that of risk pooling.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper analyses the rationale behind risk pools, investigates the legislative environment that appears to make these acceptable to central government and evaluates the likely benefits to local authorities of their adoption.

Findings

The paper finds that the perceived main legislative barrier to risk pools may no longer exist. Given that, there is a strategic, financial and operational case to be made for at least exploring the possibility of risk pooling. The experience from the USA would suggest that pools can have an important role to play in risk financing, and evidence now exists that a number of UK local authorities are actively pursuing pool formation.

Practical implications

The development of risk pools is likely to result in a significant reduction in the use of conventional insurance by local authorities. The evidence would suggest that this will be beneficial, but this is subject to the proviso that actuarial, financial and managerial practice within pools is rigorous.

Originality/value

This is an under‐researched area, with almost no extant UK‐relevant academic, or indeed practitioner, literature. The paper adds to the understanding of public sector risk management and financing for both academic and practitioner audiences.

Details

International Journal of Public Sector Management, vol. 18 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3558

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 9 November 2009

Alham Yusuf and Jonathan A. Batten

This case study examines the controversial practice by the Commonwealth of Australia during the period 1988–2002 of using currency swaps as part of its debt management strategy…

Abstract

This case study examines the controversial practice by the Commonwealth of Australia during the period 1988–2002 of using currency swaps as part of its debt management strategy. Although the strategy provided a positive return overall, the impact of currency swap usage created significant year-by-year variations in returns, which posed a risk to debt interest and financing requirements. This suggests that the risk limits imposed on this strategy were both inappropriate and insufficient. Nonetheless, these findings provide insights into how such a policy could best be implemented given recent proposals (OECD, 2007) for derivatives use by public debt managers.

Details

Credit, Currency, or Derivatives: Instruments of Global Financial Stability Or crisis?
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-601-4

Article
Publication date: 13 February 2023

Eve Bourgeois, Pierre-Luc Baril, Julie-Maude Normandin and Marie-Christine Therrien

This paper aims to provide scholars with a deep understanding of the field through the identification of strengths and weaknesses in the literature and support decision-makers in…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to provide scholars with a deep understanding of the field through the identification of strengths and weaknesses in the literature and support decision-makers in the development of new practices in local risk management based on scientific data. The specific question in this review asks: what are the drivers and barriers to local risk management?

Design/methodology/approach

This paper provides an overview of the scientific literature produce over the past 20 years of the divers and barriers to local risk management. This paper presents a scoping review of peer-reviewed articles published between 2000 and 2019 inclusively in the fields of public policy and public administration.

Findings

This paper makes three main observations regarding the state of the literature. First, this paper finds that scholars mainly focus on single risk and certain regions of the world. Second, there is multiple approached used by the literature to study risk management at the local level. Third, little attention is given to the political context in which local risk management takes place.

Originality/value

This paper is a complete literature review of more than 500 peer-reviewed articles published in academic journals regarding risk prevention policies over the past two decades. This paper analyzed the main findings of the current literature to provide a general view of the scholarship and improve the collective understanding of risk management at the local level by providing future research avenues.

Details

International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1759-5908

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 August 2008

Patrick X.W. Zou, Shouqing Wang and Dongping Fang

The purpose of this paper is to develop a life cycle risk management framework for public private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects that lead to the realization of value…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a life cycle risk management framework for public private partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects that lead to the realization of value for money and balance of interests between different partners including the public and end users.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper draws on extensive theoretical research and literature reviews, coupled with case study methodologies. A comprehensive review of current literature in the field was first carried out. Then three PPP infrastructure projects, two from Australia and one from China, are studied to scrutinize reasons leading to their dilemma and articulate the valuable lessons learnt in relation to risk analysis and mitigation.

Findings

The paper found that properly assessing risks (financial, government's political and public's acceptance/rejection risks), ensuring value for money and protecting the public (and end users') interests are essential in PPP infrastructure projects and this can only be achieved through optimal risk identification, assessment, allocation and management from a life cycle perspective and balanced interests between the Government/public and private partners as well as product end users.

Research limitations/implications

The paper was limited to proposing the framework; therefore the next step should be testing the framework.

Practical implications

The framework proposed in this paper should be practical and useful for professionals in managing the risks associated with the procurement of PPP infrastructure projects.

Originality/value

The PPP method has been increasingly used to procure large‐scale infrastructures such as freeways, railways, tunnels and bridges worldwide. While there have been many successful PPP projects, unsuccessful cases abound and studying them can help people better manage the risks in future PPP infrastructure projects. To ensure the success of PPP infrastructure projects, it is important for all partners to manage the risks from a project life cycle perspective, in which risks are identified and assessed in the earliest possible project stage and are allocated to the parties who are in the best position to control them. Furthermore, it is also important to continuous monitor the risks and develop proactive risk respond strategies throughout the project life cycle. To this end, this paper provides a life‐cycle risk management framework for PPP infrastructure projects.

Details

Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction, vol. 13 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1366-4387

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 April 2015

Sergio O. Saldana-Zorrilla

– The purpose of this paper is to provide a set of policy suggestions for integrating risk management and increasing risk reduction measures and planning.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a set of policy suggestions for integrating risk management and increasing risk reduction measures and planning.

Design/methodology/approach

It bases on a brief description of the disaster risk management programs in Mexico, a review of their recent available assessments as well as it makes a brief economic analysis of their performance to conclude with some policy suggestions.

Findings

Despite its novel design, the still low penetration of governmental instruments for disaster risk reduction in Mexico has led to high society’s reliance on post-disaster measures. It has encouraged moral risk among potential victims. Even when crop insurance has increased coverage over the past decade, disaster prevention instruments are still underused. Accessing to prevention funding requires project proposals from national and sub-national governments based on concrete risk assessments. However, the prevailing lack of institutional capacity to elaborate proposals from sub-national governments seems to explain it at a large extent. The paper provides a set of suggestions on this regard.

Originality/value

There is no recent integral assessment of disaster risk in Mexico. Although there is a recent OECD review of the National Civil Protection System, its analysis leaves out the catastrophic agricultural insurance, critical part of comprehensive risk management of a country. On the other hand, there are recent evaluations of programs public for disaster risk management, but these consist of only individual program evaluations, lacking integrative and comparative analysis. Thus, this paper provides a comprehensive view of government risk management and concludes with a series of policy recommendations.

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