Decision Making / 2 / 2.6

2.6 BREAKDOWN IN MANAGEMENT OF RISKS

Before the Black Hawk helicopter crash occurred, there was a breakdown in the understanding of complexity involved, failure to learn, and a breakdown in risk management. The primary interest is on breakdowns linked to:

• misunderstandings of risks, their likelihood and consequences;
• a lack of appreciation of mechanisms and systemic structures, feedback and delay, that underlie dynamic complexity, and contribute to generation of risk; and
• systems-of-process, systems-of-meaning, and systems-of-knowledge-power (Flood, 1999) issues which militate against effective risk management.

The role of risk management in the management of wicked problems is discussed further in subsequent chapters.