Task -

Key: 

RMPO - Risk Management Policy Owner

POL - Primary Operational Leader

You are the chief operating officer (COO) for the Non-Profit organization, Helping Hands (HH).  HH employs 25 people full-time and has an eight member board of directors. There are 3 executives of the company, including the CEO, CFO, and COO (you). The organization typically raises between $3 - $5 million dollars annually and then distributes money to communities hit by natural disasters for the communities to hire doctors to provide medical assistance to the community after the emergency response teams are finished with their work. It is entirely financially dependent on individual and corporate donors that give as a result of requests for funds and advertisement. 

Each of the following departments: Information Technology, which is led by Jack Rogers; Finance and Fund Raising, which is led by Carrie Bell; and Human Resources, which is led by Howard Stein, report to you. At your annual Risk Management meeting with your staff, each area director reported to you on their biggest priority risk. You now have to report that to the organization's BOD. The first priority risks are already in the chart, you now need to give them a Risk Factor Score according to the formula below. 

Some key information you need to know for this task:

- The computer software used by HH is seriously outdated and has minimal security systems in place to protect against stolen information. 

- The company keeps credit cards numbers, amounts donated, and mailing addresses of everyone who has ever donated to the organization in a company database. 

- The company has no business interruption insurance policy to cover them in the event of unexpected interruptions. 

- Employees are not required to sign mandatory arbitration clauses as a condition of employment. 

- The company has been sued three times in the past five years for Title VII violations.  Each of these violations had to do with allegations of discriminatory hiring and firing practices in the Finance Department.  The company settled two of the claims to the tune of $50,000 each, and won the other after protracted litigation that cost them $15,000 in attorney's fees.  There has been no change in leadership or management in the Finance Department in 10 years, and no Title VII trainings done by HR in 10 years. 

- The company is extremely reliant on their charismatic CEO, Kirk Russell, for fundraising.  Kirk is very well-known in big money circles. He was responsible for bringing in over 50% of HH's donations during FY 2016.  He is the face of the organization, appearing in all of their commercials and advertisements. If he were gone or was embroiled in a scandal, it would jeopardize the existence of the organization. There have been rumors circulating for years that Kirk may have some addiction issues including but not limited to alcohol, drugs, and gambling.

You should use the facts in the hypo and what you have learned so far about Risk Management to come up with risk factor scores for all three first priority risks.  You will need to justify one of these scores in your memo to the BOD.  The memo should explain why you have selected the risk factor score. Be sure to address the factual components which led you to the scoring you selected.   Also, provide clear guidance on what you are suggesting the organization do to manage the risk you selected, keeping in mind the lessons from class about categories of risk and tools for managing risk.  Be sure to identify which category each risk falls into and what type of tool you are suggesting.     

Note:  Your suggestions should reflect the number you have assigned to the activity.  For example, if you have given a Risk Factor score of "6", it would not be sensible to suggest moving forward with no specific and serious risk management plan in place.  If you are suggesting to continue on with some risk management in place, be sure to identify what exactly you are suggesting.  Again, you are giving a risk factor score to all 3 items above, but only including one in your memo/analysis to BOD.  The memo for Task should not exceed 1000 words. 

The adopted risk formula:

Risk Factor = (frequency/2) + severity

Frequency and Severity are rated on the following scale:

Frequency (likelihood of occurring)

1 - low: <10% chance of occurring in 2 years

2 - medium: >10% but <25% chance of occurring in 2 years

3 - high: >25% but <50% chance of occurring in 2 years

4 - very high: >50% chance of occurring in 2 years or already occurring

Severity (potential impact)

1 - minor: unlikely to have permanent or significant effect on organization's reputation or achievement of its strategic objectives

2 - moderate: will have significant impact on organization but can be managed without major impact

3 - serious: will have significant effect on organization and require major effort to manage and resolve occurrence, as well as its ramifications

4 - very serious: will threaten existence of organization if not resolved.

Attachment:- Assignment Files.rar