An Exploration of Enterprise Risk Management Maturity Factors Within Transportation Organizations

Crawford, McCullough David

Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation

An Exploration of Enterprise Risk Management Maturity Factors Within Transportation Organizations Public Deposited

Analytics

Citations

Citeable URL: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/vd66w0271

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to identify and characterize the factors that distinguish a mature risk management organization in transportation. Understanding these factors will lay the groundwork for a system of measurement, or maturity model, for risk management practices in departments of transportation (DOT) at the enterprise level.At the enterprise level, transportation agencies in the United States can benefit from the ability to define and self-assess the status of their risk management processes. An appropriate and an effective degree of enterprise risk management will provide these organizations with the data necessary to support the decision-making process while improving strategic planning and performance measurement. The majority of DOTs do not have formal risk management processes at the enterprise level. What must DOTs have or do to develop a risk management process? This research specifically asks: What are the factors that define mature enterprise risk management within a transportation organization? This research begins with a literature review that encompasses multiple industries and fields of study that have published findings on risk management. The factors addressed in these publications are combined and organized in a database with definitions, examples, and information on their origin. After compiling the factors, they are assessed for their applicability to the needs of a transportation organization at the enterprise level. This is performed in two steps: The first step is a questionnaire asking 72 industry practitioners to rate each of the factors in terms of its importance to risk management within transportation organizations. The second step is a workshop with a smaller group of eight industry experts used to further clarify and sharpen the results of the questionnaire.The final product of this research is a list of factors that are important to risk management in a variety of industries that practice risk management, as well as a selection of those factors which are particularly important to enterprise risk management within transportation organizations. This list will form the basis of a maturity model from which transportation organizations can measure their risk management maturity.

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