Risky business in a volatile world: How should HRM respond to the need for better risk thinking?

This paper aims to explore the nature of risk as the world becomes a more volatile place. Risk thinking is gaining a higher profile within human resource management, and this paper examines the responses being made and the characteristics of resilient and adaptive organizations.

This paper presents a categorization of risk using the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous metaphor to lay out the likely shape of imminent business risks and the concept of adaptation to show how responses can be effective.

Businesses will be forced to re-examine how they work in ways that will have an impact on customer expectations, product enhancement, collaborative innovation and organizational forms. Firms will need to understand corporate cultures and governance issues, as well as traditional talent management practices and processes.

This paper provides a wide-ranging examination of the nature of risks – internal, external, political, and societal – and points to the importance of human resource management strategists in addressing these issues and shaping policy.