The Risk in Risk Management: Financial Organizations & the Problem of Conformity

This book posits that banks, by conforming to the actions and standards of other banks, actually run high risks. It presents a framework that uses four packages of constructs and organizational logic to understand conformity and deviance within investment banks and other large organizations. Featuring eight case studies of massive risk mismanagement, it walks the reader through the four conceptual perspectives on risk that might explain why and how economic rationality was overridden by social forces. By understanding conformity and deviance, groups within organizations will be better equipped to manage risk and go against the tides of conformity to their advantage.