Most enterprises will pursue and strive for an effective business model which maximises the possibility of achieving the organisation’s objectives. The enterprise may have a range of objectives which are not automatically limited to financial and business goals, such as in the areas of social responsibility and sustainability. Operational risk concerns being conscious of to what extent operational choices and related operational risks may arise on the road to achieving all of these goals.
There are many definitions of operational risk. In these guidelines the four dimensions of protection of physical assets, people, organisation and technology form the basis of the definition of operational risk, because it has been shown that the root cause of operational risk events are often connected to these dimensions.
These conditions can either result in an upside or downside effect and contribute to increasing or reducing the probability of an organisation achieving its overall objectives.
