The Application of Two Flood Risk Management Initiatives in Germany, Austria, and Europe

STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT IN RISK MANAGEMENTBy (Name)Name of CourseTutorCity and StateDate
Introduction
In each of the business organizations, there is the need for effective risk and opportunity management. As an organization, it is always wise to communicate with all the stakeholders about the significance of risk management in an organization. Poor communication with the stakeholders about your risk management strategies in an organization can cost, the success of your organization, but proper consultations in an organization can lead to greater benefits to the organization. As a part of the research, I will incorporate the involvement of stakeholders in the management of risk and the outcomes that can be associated with the strategy. The case study that has been chosen for the study is the case of the EU Flood Risk Management Directive that was issued and aimed at the active involvement of the parties that were interested in coming up with the appropriate risk management plans that would make sure that there is an approach of risk management that calls for decision making that is more governance-related. The paper will also address the application of two flood risk management initiatives in three countries that is Germany, Austria and Europe. The initiatives are procedural efficiency and the role of informal participation. Lastly, there will be also other suggestions drawn from the seminars and the course material that will be offered as a strategy for improving flood risk management in the countries.
Flood Risk Management in Austria, Germany, and Austria
The EU Flood Risk Management Directive requires that all the relevant authorities should be involved actively in coming up with the risk management plans for floods that will increase the efficiency and the acceptance and final implementation of the plans CITATION UNI05 \l 1033 (UNISDR, 2005). Risk governance can be described as the entire process during which any information associated with risk is gathered, analyzed, communicated and then the management will come up with proper decisions to help in the management of the risk. As such, risk governance is more institutional and in most of the cases, it is based on resilience. In their report of 2005, the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) defines resilience as the extent to which a social system of an organization or group can position and organize itself in such a way that it increases its capacity in learning from the various disasters that have occurred in the past so that they can have proper and improved risk reduction measures (UNISDR 2004).
The risk management strategy was adopted and put to practice in the three countries, Germany, Austria and Italy, and it was aimed at improving the resilience of a particular region through the inclusion of all the factors, rules, conventions, mechanisms and process associated with the collection, analysis, and communication of risk management decisions. Poor management of risks reduces the capability of the communities to the resiliency and adaptation of the strategies. A stakeholder focused process, not only refers to consulting the stakeholders, but also the members of the public such as the ones who are affected by the floods in this case. As such the word stakeholder has a wide understanding. In risk management of floods affecting a particular area, the term can also be used to refer to the organizations such as the environmental organizations and even human rights organizationsCITATION OEC14 \p 67 \l 1033 (OECD, 2014, p. 67).
In the stakeholder management theory, it provides the definition of an organization as a complex relationship that consists of a number of stakeholders who are networked. The performance or the competitiveness of an organization will depend on the way in which the organization manages and nurtures relationships to achieve the objectives of the organization CITATION Ann161 \l 1033 (Annegret, et al., 2016). In the instance of risk management, the benefits that are associated with consulting the stakeholders are numerous and some of them include increased levels of trust with the stakeholders and the stakeholders having the ability to contribute to making decisions that will affect their future and a greater or a collective responsibility in the management of risks. For instance, the stakeholder paradigm forms its basis on the concept that people are influenced by the cultural and social networks that they have among their communities. People can perceive risk differently from the assessments that are made by the managers who are involved in the risk management. It is also pointed out that there is no way in which the managers of a risk can interpret a risk management strategy without putting into consideration the human values, network, and emotions CITATION Loo10 \l 1033 (Loosemore & Phua, 2010).
Risk Management Approaches used in the case studies
Participation and information can give good decisions to reach an agreement over a number of open questions and as well help to implement decisions that are based on the private and the public actors in the matter. If it occurs that no agreement is made, then the participants will arrive at a better understanding of values and interests which are involved in the risk management strategy CITATION Ort11 \l 1033 (Ortwin, 2011). There are also other problems such as the existence of distrust in the authorities, the existence of difficulties in arriving at a decision, lack of an understanding, lack of transparency, problems with the acceptance or practicality of the measures. Some of the approaches will not be applicable to the other social system due to variations in cultural backgrounds and differences in risk perception. As part of addressing the problem, the EU has made a legislation such that it does necessarily the member countries to implement some methods since they can fail due to unacceptance from the members of the public as a result of the differences in cultural backgrounds of the countries.
The second approach to a successful risk management is opening the process to the informal participants CITATION Fle12 \l 1033 (Fleischhauer, et al., 2012). However, one should first put in place the formal participation, such as the legal status of the landowners affected by the floods. Formal participation should be incorporated with informal participation to ensure that there is an improved and an acceptable flood risk management process that follows all the required measures. It's also wise that public participation activities are included if the members who are involved are many or the people who are interested in the topic are many CITATION Loo05 \l 1033 (Loosemore, 2005). It is also recommended if the topic that is being discussed is controversial in a certain way and if the implementation of programs or strategies requires the cooperation of the people who are affected or interested. In some cases, if you are aiming at a large acceptability and if the results of the high-quality care are characterized by a degree of uncertainty.
The level of participation for the members of the public can vary during the entire process. However, one of the core factors that should be incorporated in each of the participating processes is the ability of the members to have free access to the information about the risk management initiative CITATION Fle12 \l 1033 (Fleischhauer, et al., 2012). As such, it calls for the different ways of on informing the members of the strategy. There are simple activities such as a website or poster that cannot be defined as participation activities. Participation means that it should be a two-way thing. Activities such as the website and flyers are one-way and as such, they do not qualify as real participation activities. The results that will be obtained from the voluntary participation will depend on the appropriateness of the method that has been agreed upon by the members to get the desired results. In other cases, the results can be formulated in a way that they are legally binding through a mediation contract or through a city council decision as long as it helps to support or it meets the needs of most of the affected people.
Results Obtained and Discussion
The above two strategies were put into use in three different case studies that are it was put into use in Germany, Italy, and Austria. In Germany, it was applied in a mid-European hilly land, district that was susceptible to numerous winter floods in River Wupper. In Austr...