Interaction Between Skill and Risk Spaces in Operational Risk

OBJECTIVES/SCOPE The paper discusses the interaction between the competence and experience requirements of functions and the risk spaces that the functions exist in. It goes on to examine this in the managerial and executive levels as well. METHODS PROCEDURES, PROCESS The Skill Paper (SPE-199446) discusses the interaction between the competence and experience and how that delivers the skill to perform tasks successfully. The Risk Space paper (SPE-199401) defines and explores a method for understanding the multidimensionality of the risks to which operations are exposed. This paper combines the multidimensionality with the skill dimensions to develop understanding about how the interactions can be understood and managed. RESULTS, OBSERVATIONS, CONCLUSIONS The paper shows how different variables and dimensions create different requirements for tasks and positions. These requirements are typically not understood and documented in the formal task requirements for positions. This lack of understanding enables failures in the management of risk to propagate through the safety system as the requirements are implicit rather than explicit. These implicit requirements are usually overlooked and dismissed during review and restructuring processes. The same process is used at the managerial and executive levels to highlight the different functional requirements for the management of organisational risk. The lack of explicit understanding of these requirements is then placed in the context of a number of larger organisational failures such as MC-252. The paper proposes a number of methods for developing better understanding of which dimensions are under skilled management. Please explain how this paper will present novel (new) or additive information to the existing body of literature that can be of benefit to a practicing engineer. The paper presents understanding methods and approaches to enable organisations to better resource the key risk decision-making positions. In addition, the approach helps create understanding of organisational weaknesses that can be managed or strengthened. This enables oversight and resourcing to be structured in an efficient manner. One of the trickier issues that organisations need to understand is that as they develop their systems, they also have to develop the skills and competencies or their managerial and supervisory staff. As the organisation moves from a reactive state to a proactive state and even a generative state, the key tasks and jobs that staff perform changes greatly. This paper looks to describe the different roles and skills that are required in a general sense, depending on the cultural level that they are at, and the risk spaces that they are managing. This development in job requirements is driven by the changes in structure as set out in SPE-220464 and also the variances in risk spaces and risk space that they are managing.