Synonyms
Definition
Risk and organization refers to the threats, hazards, and dangers that institutions and organizations face.
Introduction
Risk and uncertainty are two important concepts that address the threats and opportunities of human projects in modern social life. The concept of risk originally referred to an opportunity for gain or for loss resulting from a human project and was often associated with financial ventures, gambling, and other gain-seeking activities. In late modernity, the term has come to refer principally to the threat of danger, harm, or damage resulting from human activities. The original meaning of risk referred to the ability of technical experts to rationally calculate the probability or likelihood of favorable or unfavorable outcomes of a phenomenon. In late modernity, the meaning has shifted and now refers to risks that cannot be known, that is, to unquantifiable uncertainties.
This entry provides an...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Beck U (1992) Risk society: towards a new modernity. Sage, Thousand Oaks
Bowman E, Kunreuther H (1988) Post-Bhopal behavior at a chemical company. J Manag Stud 25(4):387–402
Clarke L (1999) Mission improbable: using fantasy documents to tame disaster. University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Douglas M, Wildavsky A (1982) Risk and culture. University of California Press, Berkeley
Feldman SP (2004) The Culture of objectivity: quantification, uncertainty, and the evaluation of risk at NASA. Hum Relat 57(6):691–718
Foucault M (1980) Two lectures. In: Gordon C (ed) Power/knowledge: selected interviews and other writings. The Harvester Press, New York, pp 1972–1977
Foucault M (1990) The history of sexuality, vol 1, An introduction. Vintage Books, New York
Gephart RP (1984) Making sense of organizationally based environmental disasters. J Manag 10(2):205–225
Gephart RP (1993) The textual approach: risk and blame in disaster sensemaking. Acad Manage J 38(6):1465–1514
Gephart RP (2007) Crisis sensemaking and the public inquiry. In: Pearson C, Roux-Dufort C, Clair J (eds) International handbook of organizational crisis management. Sage, Thousand Oaks, pp 123–160
Gephart RP, Van Maanen J, Oberlechner T (2009) Organizations and risk in late modernity. Organ Stud 30(02 & 03):141–155
Hannan MT, Freeman J (1977) The population ecology of organizations. Am J Sociol 82(5):929–964
Lupton D (1999) Risk. Routledge, New York
Perrow C (1999) normal accidents: living with high-risk technologies, rev edn. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Shrivastava P (1995) Ecocentric management for a risk society. Acad Manage Rev 20(1):118–137
Turner BA (1976) The organizational and interorganizational development of disasters. Adm Sci Q 21:378–397
Vaughan D (1990) Autonomy, interdependence, and social control: NASA and the space shuttle challenger. Adm Sci Q 35:225–257
Vaughan D (1999) The dark side of organizations: mistake, misconduct, and disaster. Annu Rev Sociol 25:271–305
Weick K (2001) Making sense of the organization. Blackwell, Oxford, UK
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this entry
Cite this entry
Gephart, R.P., Topal, C. (2016). Risk and Organizations. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_137-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_137-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences