Afxentiadis, Despena

d.e.afxentiadis@lse.ac.uk

(2010)

An Investigation of the Capacity to Assess and Manage Secure IS in Organisations of an Inherently Risky, Multi-Cultural and Temporary Nature: the case of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games

In the contemporary global environment of a 'risk society', organisations and information systems (IS) not only exist in an inherently risky economic, socio-political and ecological environment, but also face challenges of a diverse, multi-cultural, fast-evolving and temporary world.

As such, it is no longer adequate that organisations and societies are merely examined and described, but rather they need to be 'justified'. The proposed research is an attempt to 'justify' the sense- and decision-making processes involved in the risk assessment (RA) and risk management (RM) of an IS that has been implemented and used within an institutionally and culturally diverse and temporary environment.

This research intends to investigate the dynamics of institutionally diverse risk perceptions and the reasons behind a particular 'regime of truth'; and explore and justify the 'subjugated risk rationalities', and the ways in which organisations can 'construct' the sense of safety in an inherently risky environment.

The researcher approaches the proposed question with the ontological assumption that rationality is historically rooted in institutional life and culture, and with an interest in uncovering the reasons behind conflicting 'instrumental' and 'substantive' rationalities.

As such the epistemological orientation of the proposed research is that of an interpretive, longitudinal study that seeks the historical reasoning behind certain perceptions and decisions. The methodological approach suggested is that of contextualism, which is considered particularly relevant is a study of diversity such as this. The case study under examination is that of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games IS and of the organisations (local, national, international and disembedded) involved in determining the IS risk assessment and risk management processes.

The suggested research aims to emphasise the need for cross-contextual studies in the IS and risk fields, support a multiple-rationality ontological approach, and contribute to the inadequately explored risk management field of multi-organisational, temporary IS.

Supervisor: Professor James Backhouse, PhD

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