What does a good risk professional look like? An exploratory study of the relevant attributes, competences, skills, and characteristics.

Details

Supervisors

Decaux, Loïc

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences de gestion, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

The purpose of this master's thesis is to understand the necessary skill set of a successful risk manager. Additionally, a competencies profile shall be created that can give guidance on which characteristics and attributes to consider when looking for personal and professional development regarding the field of risk management. The research objective is achieved using collected job offers data and cross-referencing techniques which allowed a comparative examination of the obtained figures, facilitating the development of the nomenclature. The data was retrieved from job offers in Belgium and its neighboring countries. Ten distinct necessary skills for the position of risk manager were found: communication, analytical skills, teamwork, IT, building relations, Rigor, Initiative, Motivation, Planification & Organisation, and Synthesis skills. The thesis adds to the theory on risk professionals’ characteristics as the gap could be bridged between the role of risk professionals and the skills needed to perform this role. The practical contribution is found in the newly created database and classification. Limitations are due to jobs offers meeting the specific criteria narrowing the available information, potentially impacting the study's sample size and the accuracy of findings. Future work should verify the results of the study with a larger sample size and could be carried not only on risk managers but on all levels of the hierarchy of the risk management program. Comparison between different continents such as Europe vs The United States could also offer a broader image of the skill set required for the job.