How people decide to act on risk; an organisational behaviour perspective of risk assessment and decision making

The emergency management community of academics and practitioners have devoted considerable effort to the creation of processes that can be used to identify and manage the risks presented by natural and man-made disasters. Adopting a divergent multi-disciplinary approach this paper draws on organisational behaviour theory to suggest that the theoretical framework underpinning the most accepted processes have significant and potentially counterproductive weaknesses. A range of historical and recent events are reviewed through the lens of selected organisational behavioural theories to illustrate the human element that impacts on risk assessment and decision making. This analysis identifies the need for further research and proposes that the impact of subconscious perceptions and biases on existing risk assessment processes may be reduced by appropriate training.