Risk assessments at the Royal Netherlands Air Force: an explorative study

Abstract

In this paper, differences in the assessment of mission risks and mission benefits between operators and members of the management level in the transport helicopter branch of the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) are studied. Results were obtained from a risk analysis that was conducted in accordance with RNLAF procedures. The analysis suggests that the two organizational levels have a coherent perception on risks despite their hierarchical position. Perceived measures of control – controllability – seem to induce the inclusion or the exclusion of what is appeared to be a risk. The analysis also suggests that risk management tools may obscure these perceptual differences. Risk management tools may therefore not be sufficient to attain safe operations. In discussions and future studies on risk management and on hierarchical differences in risk perception, this is something to take well notice of. Also, managers and others involved in risk management need to recognize the implications of using risk management instruments that are based on simplified models of risk. This research adds to the risk management theory because it connects multi-dimensional risk theory with actual organizational risk management practice.

Keywords:

• risk
• risk management
• local rationality
• military
• mission benefits

Notes

1. Interpretative framing: the mental mechanisms in social interaction that help participants define how others’ actions and words should be understood, make sense of a situation they find themselves in, to find and interpret specifics that, to them, seem central to understanding the situation, and to communicate this interpretation to others. (Bateson, [1954] 1972 as cited in Ekman 2009).

2. In this case, parallel testing with t-tests showed similar results.

3. As has been pointed out earlier in this paper, the cut-off level of two-thirds was chosen arbitrarily since no standard was found in the literature.