Organisational culture risk assessment
Issue
Prevailing
organisational culture
Threat/problem
Risk
L/M/H
‘Risk’ as a concept is always
seen as being negative; never
positive.
Current culture discourages
openness over reporting
perceived risks.
Evidence of a blame culture
within the organisation.
Fear of risk means that
managers are not pro-active in
looking for emerging threats.
Inability to mobilise quickly
enough to deal with new
threats and vulnerabilities.
Tendency to ignore employee
generated risks can lead to
legal liability and reputation
damage.
High
Proposed control measures
Note. Depending on HR’s current standing within
the organisation, the following may need to
follow successful implementation of page 1 of
the HR risk assessment.
 HR to make presentations to the board.
These must focus on the need for a culture
change to one that sees risk as an
opportunity for the organisation.
 Staff should be actively encouraged to report
concerns.
 Presentation content should reinforce HR as
a ‘go-to’ function by showing how a more
positive view of risk can:
o introduce more innovative working
practices;
o be used as a learning opportunity
within the organisation;
o potentially cut costs; and
o engage staff by allowing them to
become part of the solution.
 Build risk identification and management
into job descriptions and forward objectives
where appropriate.
 Introduce change ambassadors and
workforce briefings to begin the process of
embedding a new culture.
Done by
whom
Deadline
Done
Y/N
Issue
Responsibilities for
employee risk not
defined
Threat/problem
A lack of board level ownership
of the issue is a governance
problem.
Risk
L/M/H
Proposed control measures

High

Lack of diversity at
board level
Threat of mandatory quotas
being introduced to get more
women on boards.
Problems with reward Current reward schemes still
structure
incentivise risk taking
behaviour.
Operation of reward structures
not transparent enough.
International culture

Board is currently too ‘male,
pale and stale’ which puts it at
risk of a ‘groupthink’ mentality.
Failure to acknowledge that
views on risk will vary between
different countries leads to
time-wasting conflict and
misunderstandings.
Medium






The board must decide which department
will assume overall responsibility for
employee risk. This should be HR.
For this to work in practice, the HR director
must have sufficient authority at board level
in order to bring about necessary changes.
Introduce a formal mentoring programme
that includes suitable female employees and
those from ethnic minority backgrounds
that display leadership qualities.
As part of this process, work with the board
to define the criteria for entry to such a
programme.
Review the competencies required and how
they can feed into the existing appraisal and
forward planning process.
Review employee reward schemes to better
align them with organisational objectives.
Keep our reward structure under continual
review to ensure it rewards the right
behaviours and objectives.
Explain in the staff handbook how our
revised reward structure will work as well as
the behaviours that will be rewarded.
Use Geert Hofstede’s website on national
culture for background information on how
well risk is perceived and tolerated by
different nationalities (http://geerthofstede.com/countries.html).
Done by
whom
Deadline
Done
Y/N