CMI Unit 708 Strategic Risk Management (L/617/6868) Assignment Brief 2026

CMI Unit 708 Assignment Brief

Assignment Aim

The aim of this unit is for leaders to develop an in-depth understanding of strategic risk management. Leaders will critically appraise strategic risk within an organisational context. They will assess strategies for risk management and the leadership skills to lead risk initiatives successfully. Ultimately, leaders will be given the opportunity to develop a framework to deliver a risk strategy in an organisational context.

Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria

LO1 – Understand strategies for managing risk

Assessment criteria

1.1 Critically appraise strategic risk within an organisational context

1.2 Critically assess strategies for managing risk in an organisational context

Indicative content 

1.1 Risk:

Scope of risk: Reputational. Technological (development, disruption, functionality, cyber security). Financial (for example, interest rates, foreign exchange rates, funds and credit, counterparty risk). Political. Policy.

Process. Engineering. Design. Partnerships. Collaborations. Human resource risk. Infrastructure.

Communications. Supply chain. Crisis management planning and mitigation. Disasters and events. Public health risk. Cultural barriers (Strauss and Corbin, 1998; Hillson, 1997).

• Current and emerging factors which influence risk: Changing organisational structures, governance, processes and procedures. New policy development and implantation. Changing legal and regulatory requirements (for example, ISO Standards, health and safety standards). Corporate Social Responsibility and sustainability. Short-term and long-term resource availability (for example, people and assets). Changes in business continuity (for example, business strategy). Changes to the external environment. Market change. Competition. New opportunities and challenges. New learning and development requirements. Changing stakeholder expectations and influence.
• Organisational contexts: Purpose, governance (for example, public, private, third sector). Legal status of the organisation. Organisational structure (for example, authority versus autonomy). Current processes, policies, procedures. Organisational culture. Type (operational, local, international, global, SME’s, project/programme based, departmental and strategic business unit). Levels of organisational maturity (Carnegie Mellon Maturity Index ‘CMMI’, 1990). External environment. Stakeholder influence, needs and expectations (for example, pressure, lobby groups). Role of Regulatory bodies.

1.2 Strategies for managing risk: Risk register management process (for example, risk prioritisation, escalation, mitigation, avoidance, risk transfer). Use of insurance policies. Continuity, contingency planning.

Crisis Management Plan. Disaster recovery. Risk prevention and monitoring. Shadowing competitor risks. Identifying barriers and constraints. Approaches to problem solving. Messy Wicked Problems (Ackoff, Rittel and Webber, 1990). Tame Problems (Rittel and Webber, 2000). Systematic Boundary Critique (Ulrich, 1996, 2000). Multi Perspectives Analysis (Lindstone, 1993). Dealing with open and closed systems.

LO2 – Know how to develop risk management strategies

Assessment criteria

2.1 Critically appraise the leadership skills for strategic risk management

2.2 Propose a Risk Management Framework to deliver strategic objectives

Indicative content

2.1 Leadership skills: Application of Competency Frameworks and Codes of Practice. Future managerial competences (for example, Managing complexity. Use of information technology. Remote management. Dealing with and managing ambiguity. Environment scanning and identifying weak signals (Morgan, 2013)).  Attitudes to risk judgement (Baxter, 1990). Value-driven Leadership (Gentile, 2014). Leading with integrity (Blanchard, 2011). Ethical Leadership (Mendonca and Kanungo, 2007). Entrepreneurial Leadership (Roebuck, 2014). Authentic Leadership (Goffee and Jones, 2011). Transformational Leadership (Bass and Riggio, 2006). Stakeholder management (Kahneman, 2011). Interpretation of data and information (which may be incomplete, corrupted, lacks currency).

2.2 Risk Management Framework: Identification of strategic risk. Relationship to strategic objectives (for example, Scenario Planning (Ringland, 1990). Governance (for example, roles, responsibilities, accountabilities (RAEW/RACI). Compliance with legal and regulatory frameworks and standards (for example, Basel II, Sarbanes Oxley, Health and Safety Act, 1974. GDPR, 2018. International and national  standards (for example, ISO)). Strategies to measure, manage, monitor and report risk. Tools and techniques (for example, RAID logs, Gantt Charts, KPIs). Risk assessment, registers and mitigation. Decision-making models (for example, Ethical decision making. The rational model (Simon, 1979)). The model of bounded rationality (Simon, 1979). The incrementalist view (Lindblom, 1959). The organisational procedures view (The political view, March, 1988).

Answer

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