Risks in the Public Organization (Essay Sample)

Risks in the Public Organization Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Date of Submission Risks in the Public Organization The public sector has adopted the new public management concept which has revolutionized the approach of the public sector organizations towards risk management. The public sector has introduced market rules of management and operation methods originating from business organizations. The public sector is now largely manifested in the growing importance of risk management. Public sector activities which include education, health care services, and environmental services continue to face huge amounts of risks that need to be identified, analyzed, evaluated, monitored, and controlled. This paper aims to identify the main risks facing the public sector together with the barriers faced in dealing with them and also discuss the benefits of risk management in the public sector. First, the cyber threats in the public sector continue to increase in intensity and complexity. The public sector experienced over one million different ransomware attacks over the last year showing the intensity of the cyber liability. It is estimated that there are over 60,000 different variants of ransomware which increases the complexity of the cyber threat in the public sector. There are numerous types of cyber liability that increase the intensity of the risk. The main cyber incidents include data breach which is the unintentional disclosure of personal identification information (Quigley & Roy, 2011). This information spreads from the theft or loss of printed or digital information. Unauthorized disclosure of personal identifying information can be used to commit crimes such as medical, tax, and financial fraud. Secondly, the public sector faces the risk of increased health risk for first responders. The increased health risk of first responders threatens to increase the cost of covering treatment for first responders such as firefighters and police who respond to traumatic events. This job exposes the first responders to monumental psychological damage (Pietrantoni & Prati, 2009). As a result, the public sector suffers substantial loss in catering for the pharmaceutical and medical costs of these injuries. Third, the public sector faces a huge political risk in the sense that decisions cannot be made in isolation of the broader political economy with its state of operation. The decision-making process within the public sector organization is politically influenced and they must also consider the willingness of the public to tolerate or accept risks (Giambona et al., 2017). Barriers to Risk Management Organizations in the public sector face numerous barriers when handling cyber threats. Public organizations face reputational damage risk and budget constraints when handling cyber threats. If a cyber threat such as a breach is suspected, the organization needs to hire a high-priced legal firm to conduct forensics and analyze the cyber threat. Such huge expenditures in the public sector require the approval of the board which exposes the suspicion of the breach to the media. The public organization may face the risk of reputational damage even when the breach did not occur. Moreover, the high expenditure may face the barrier of budget constraints given that it is common for public organizations to sustain budget cuts regularly. The health risk of first responders is a major concern across all states in the United States. Dealing with the risk of the rising health concern for first responders is faced with numerous challenges including lack of dedicated federal funding mechanism, lack of communication capabilities, weather impact on deployment and mobilization of resources, and political and cultural landscape. The political landscape is important in determining where disaster preparedness and protection of the first responders fit in the overall political agenda. Budget constraints also affect the handling of health risks of first responders across the states(Pietrantoni & Prati, 2009). Public organizations face different challenges when handling political risk. Decisions in the public sector cannot be done in isolation of the political economy within the state. The biggest challenge is the ever-escalating political polarization in the United States today. The Democrats and Republicans are more divided along ideological lines than any other point in the last two decades. It is also most seen as if the incoming president has an obligation of destroying the legacy of the previous president. Therefore, the political instability and division make it challenging to deal with political risk ...