Despite many years of development, risk management remains problematic for the majority of organizations. This book helps you understand the human aspects of risk management and to manage proactively the influence of human behaviour on the risk process. It is suitable for those involved in implementing risk management.

Contents: Foreword; Preface; Part One The Problem: Risk management status quo - efficient but not effective?; The importance of human factors in risk management. Part Two Understanding Risk Attitudes: General principles of risk attitudes; Individual risk attitudes and heuristics; Group risk attitudes and heuristics. Part Three Understanding Emotional Literacy: Emotion - definition and relevance; Emotional literacy for individuals; Emotional literacy for groups. Part Four Implementation Issues: Applying emotional literacy to risk attitudes; Final thoughts and the way ahead; Appendix: Emotional Intelligence/Literacy tools; Bibliography and further reading; Index.

Reviews of the Second Edition: 'As a way to approach business, the book is well worth a read by managers; whether they seek to manage change in their organization, be a leader getting more from staff, set goals or simply avoid failure. In a couple of words, the keys seem to be optimism and self-awareness.' Professional Security 'It is a serious study of how people handle risk in different scenarios and provides a genuine insight into how people behave in risk situations.' Managing Risk ' Managers looking to move to higher levels of risk management maturity in their organisations will find much insight and guidance in this innovative book.' UKexcellence. Reviews of the First Edition: 'This book provides a pivotal insight into the complexities of human behaviour, psychological influences and subconscious preferences that determine how people initially respond to significant uncertainty. It opens the door to a facet of risk management that is not well understood, namely risk attitudes. It helps us determine whether it is appropriate, and creates a road map to change risk attitude if it is both necessary and desirable.' Carl Anthony West, Operations Auditor, British Waterways 'Organizations and project leaders seeking to dramatically improve the effectiveness of their risk management process will want to incorporate this book's information into their daily activities...' Craig D. Peterson, PMP, President, Project Management Institute, Risk Management Specific Interest Group 'The work will repay the intellectual engagement required of the reader with a shift of paradigm towards people-centred risk management that focuses on preferred or innate "risk attitude" rather than lower level risk management process and tasks.' Pierre Anson-Tsang, Benefits Realisation Consultant, and Mike Buck, Senior Project Manager, PricewaterhouseCoopers 'For many managers, risk management is about choosing the right technique to analyse the risks in the corporate risk register - it is seen as a standardised procedure for avoiding things going wrong. David Hillson has pioneered an approach to risk management that is as much about seeking opportunities as avoiding mistakes. Now he and Ruth Murray-Webster turn to the cultural and psychological aspects of risk management to great effect. They persuasively argue that a mature risk attitude is a vital part of the effective management of risk in business, which can be achieved through the development of high levels of emotional literacy in risk managers and their teams. The argument is extensively supported by clear diagrams and vignettes that aid understanding of important concepts. Managers looking to move to higher levels of risk management maturity in their organisations will, therefore, find much insight and guidance in this innovative book.' Professor Graham M. Winch, Centre for Research in the Management of Projects, Manchester University, UK 'This book has prompted me to think more deeply as a change director about what I am trying to achieve with my overall risk approach, specifically whether and how to tackle environmental factors, and understand better the behaviours that create them.' Jon Bassett, Director of Implementation, AXA Life UK 'Anyone involved in implementing risk management will benefit from this book, including risk practitioners, senior managers and directors responsible for corporate governance, project managers and their teams...also essential reading for HR professionals.' Educational Book Review 'This concise and very readable book looks at the question of risk from a refreshingly different viewpoint...absolutely essential reading for anyone tasked with the management of risk or interested in the various and complex issues surrounding the subject.' Quality World, September 2005 '...aims to help the reader understand the human aspects of risk management and mange the influence of human behaviour on the risk process. And after looking at issues such as emotional intelligence/literacy and its relationship to risk attitude, the authors suggest that readers might be in a good position to apply the guidance to their personal lives too.' Supply Management, June 2006 'This is an outstanding and inspiring book for all who are initially interested, or deeply involved, in the study and practice of risk understanding and effective management. It is hard to put down and easy to re-read and discover further questions and answers.' - The RoSPA Occupational Safety & Health Journal