Introduction to Applying Systems Thinking to Operational Risk Management

Please note that the event’s time and date are according to BST!

Organisations have to design, implement and operate many systems to achieve their strategic objectives. The systems may operate across multiple business processes and departments within the organisation. Increasingly, the systems of organisations are also extending to external parties such as vendors, business partners and regulators. Traditionally, operational risk management has focussed on management of risks at business unit level, process level or asset level. While the traditional approach works effectively when all aspects of risk such as causes, impacts and controls reside in a single part of an organisation, it does not work effectively when key aspects of risks reside in different departments across the organisation or are external to the organisation. Many of the key operational risks organisations face today are influenced by factors across multiple departments within the organisation and increasingly by factors outside the organisation. To effectively understand and manage such risks organisations need to consider alternative approaches such as systems thinking.

In this webinar, Patrick McConnell will share practical ideas and examples on how to apply foundational systems thinking concepts for management of operational risks. Some of the key topics he will cover include: –

Understanding a system and its key components

• Positive and negative feedback loops
• Defining causal loops
• Consideration of delays between cause and effects
• Linear vs. Non-Linear Effects
• Using systems thinking for identifying and understanding risks
• Using systems thinking for defining effective controls

The above topics will be illustrated with operational risk examples so practitioners attending this session can easily apply the concepts covered within their own organisations.

Patrick McConnell is currently an Honorary Fellow at the Macquarie Unversity Applied Finance Centre in Australia. He has almost 30 years of experience as a manager, consultant and academic in applying Information Technology to global financial markets. He has worked with board and senior level management of large international financial institutions to develop strategies for applying IT to their expanding businesses and with all levels of operational management to deliver business change.

This session will be hosted by Manoj Kulwal who is the Chief Risk Officer at RiskSpotlight and Director for Marketing at the IOR. He has 18 years of professional experience covering operational risk management, enterprise risk management, strategic performance management and business intelligence.