A Relational Construction of Organizational Risk: Normalizing Versus Problematizing Through Risk Work on Concerns Versus Measures

TOPAL Ç., Gephart R. P.

Journal of Management Inquiry, cilt.34, sa.1, ss.78-102, 2025 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 34 Sayı: 1
  • Basım Tarihi: 2025
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1177/10564926241232319
  • Dergi Adı: Journal of Management Inquiry
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, ABI/INFORM, Business Source Elite, Business Source Premier
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.78-102
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: concern, measure, normalizing, problematizing, risk construction, risk consultation, risk work
  • Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This study examines a public hearing, in which a company normalizes a high-risk project while a group of residents and landowners problematize it through three types of relational risk work including the construction of concerns versus measures, consultations on concerns and measures, and company approach in addressing concerns with measures. They construct risk meanings in a relational context where they respond to the normalizing and problematizing attempts of one another. Accordingly, this study has two main contributions. First, it identifies three types of risk work used by public and business stakeholders to relationally construct and normalize/problematize risk and risk management and thus analyzes the tension between normalizing and problematizing as an issue of interdependence. Second, it brings forward the opposition between concerns and measures as an important topic for risk research and emphasizes the critical role of risk consultations with cooperative approaches in addressing this opposition.