SOWK 6911A

Social Service Planning, Program Development and Evaluation

Risk Management

The intellectual property rights of this PowerPoints and the presentation in the lecture belong to
Anne Chun Miao WONG, the course instructor. Sharing or reproduction in any form is prohibited
unless with her written permission.

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Recap: Social workers are performing emotional Labour
• Their work is to produce certain emotional outcomes in the service users.
• They need to be emotionally mature in managing their own emotions while
delivering the helping task.
• They need to observe specific rules in performing their work, such as the feeling
rules and display rules.

Their coping strategies include:

• Surface acting: Suppressing their authentic feeling and exhibiting the required
emotions. A potential predictor of burnout.
• Deep acting: Emotional display reflects authentic feeling which aligns with
occupational role.

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 Consolidating
How do you know that Ah So is performing emotional labour?
How would you describe Ah So’s coping strategies?

東區醫院護士阿蘇（化名）
每日都提醒自己做醫護人員
要「將心比己」， 「特別係
你做耐咗，你個齒輪可能磨
蝕咗」，要不斷提醒自己對
病人和對家屬都要「畀個心
出嚟做」。
5 Oct 2024 retrieved from [Link]
news/%E3%80%90%E7%96%AB%E5%A2%83%E6%99%82%E5%88%BB%E3%80%91%E9%86%AB%E8%AD%B7%E5%8A%A9%E5%AE%B6%E4%BA%BA%E8%A6%
8B%E6%9C%80%E5%BE%8C%E4%B8%80%E9%9D%A2-%E7%9B%BC%E6%B8%9B%E7%94%9F%E8%80%85%E9%81%BA-2/
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【疫境時刻】醫護助家人見最後一面 盼減生者遺憾 妻伴榻握手 彌留
翁償願

八旬確診老翁在醫院彌留之際，同樣染疫的妻子握緊他的手，在他耳
邊輕聲絮語，老翁心跳突然加快，身體顫動，像是聽到妻子聲音，盡
最後努力給她一些反應。「冇人知道嗰一刻係佢哋嘅最後一次對話。」
妻子離開病房，老翁脈搏急跌、離世，成為本港新冠肺炎第四名死者。
「我哋盡咗最大本分去畀佢哋見面，我都希望喺佢（妻子）人生入面
少一啲遺憾，好難話冇，但少一啲。」有份照顧老翁的東區醫院護士
阿蘇（化名）說，病人臨終時，除了要照顧病人，亦要照顧家人感受。

5 Oct 2024 retrieved from [Link]

news/%E3%80%90%E7%96%AB%E5%A2%83%E6%99%82%E5%88%BB%E3%80%91%E9%86%AB%E8%AD%B7%E5%8A%A9%E5%AE%B6%E4%BA%BA%E8%A6
%8B%E6%9C%80%E5%BE%8C%E4%B8%80%E9%9D%A2-%E7%9B%BC%E6%B8%9B%E7%94%9F%E8%80%85%E9%81%BA-2/

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在dirty team工作，除了面對生離死別，亦要面對無形的病毒。
東區醫院早期因「邊爐群組」及「佛堂群組」，隔離病房早已
「收爆」。早前每天仍有數十個懷疑個案入院，阿蘇每天都要
為疑似個案抽深喉樣本化驗，屬高風險程序，「試過一日抽咗
幾個，一瞓醒就發覺，嘩，幾個入面，幾個都中」。雖然有足
夠保護裝備，但仍然感到壓力，「即刻（想起）第一樣嘢就係
倒數，倒數自己14日，幾時開始有徵狀走出來」。為免自己感
染，除口罩、洗手等過程亦盡量「做慢啲、做足啲」。

5 Oct 2024 retrieved from [Link]

news/%E3%80%90%E7%96%AB%E5%A2%83%E6%99%82%E5%88%BB%E3%80%91%E9%86%AB%E8%AD%B7%E5%8A%A9%E5%AE%B6%E4%BA%BA%E8%A6%8
B%E6%9C%80%E5%BE%8C%E4%B8%80%E9%9D%A2-%E7%9B%BC%E6%B8%9B%E7%94%9F%E8%80%85%E9%81%BA-2/

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 學會轉告噩耗技巧 照顧家人感受
從事醫護工作多年，阿蘇早習得多種技巧，除了要懂得
「預判病人幾時走」，安排家屬在病人仍有微弱呼吸時
見最後一面，亦要學懂如何有技巧地告訴家屬噩耗。
「有時病人無晒心跳，唔代表佢哋無晒知覺，因為聽覺
係最後（消失），我會鼓勵佢哋照講嘢。」阿蘇回想，
實習第一天在醫院第一項任務就是為遺體「打包」，令
他明白愈厭惡的工作愈有意義。病人臨終時的尊嚴、家
人的感受，全看他的技巧，「真係要畀個心出嚟做」。
5 Oct 2024 retrieved from [Link]
news/%E3%80%90%E7%96%AB%E5%A2%83%E6%99%82%E5%88%BB%E3%80%91%E9%86%AB%E8%AD%B7%E5%8A%A9%E5%AE%B6%E4%BA%BA%E8%A6
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Risk Management

Taylor, B. J. (2021). Risk-managing decision-making: A psycho-social

rationality model. The British Journal of Social Work, 51(7), 2819-
2838.

• Highlight social workers are ‘working with risk’ and ‘making decisions’
• Point out the limitation of risk conceptualization using statistical
calculation.
• Propose psycho-social rationality models of decision making by using
the concepts of potential harm and possible benefit (positive and
negative risks) in choosing between options.

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Hamilton, G. (2016). Program Risk management. In Levin, G. (ed.).
Program management: A life cycle approach (pp. 259-276). New
York, NY: Auerbach Publications.

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What is risk?
• Primary risk - Risk is any uncertain event which if occurs may
positively or negatively impact your program’s success criteria.
• Positive risks are referred to as opportunities, while negative risks are
referred to as threats.
• Risk tolerance (often referred to as risk appetite) is the level of risk
that an organization or stakeholder is prepared to accept, before
action is deemed necessary to reduce it.

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Risk management
• Risk management processes and activities:
• identify program risk
• assess program risks
• develop risk response plans
• monitor and control program risks

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 Risk management: Prediction-based approach

General risk response

Accept • Both positive and negative risk
• “Risk retention”, aware of the risk and accept the risk consequence,
e.g., accept the risk of bad weather affecting outdoor event, we
may have a contingency plan to move the event indoors or
reschedule it.

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 Risk management: Prediction-based approach
Risk response to positive risk (opportunity)
Enhance • Identifying and maximizing key drivers to increase the probability and/or impact
of the opportunity.
• By adding additional resources to achieve greater benefits from the activity.
• E.g., If you have a new program/project idea, you may enhance it by discussions
in formal and informal meetings, developing Theory of Change, applying for
funding….
Exploit • Deliberate effort made in to remove the uncertainty of the risk.
• By assigning the best resources to the program.
• e.g., if your funding proposal is likely to be accepted, you may exploit it by
offering a competitive budget, delivering a high-quality proposal by better
formulating your Theory of Change to negotiate more favorable terms and
conditions with the funder
Share • Takes steps to divide the responsibility and benefit with a third party. e.g. joint
venture, inter-agency collaboration
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 Risk management: Prediction-based approach
Risk response to negative risk
Avoid • Remove problem and activity.
• Elimination of hazards, activities and exposures, e.g., eliminate
out- door activities to avoid the consequence of extreme weather
Mitigate • Reduce probability or impact of the risk.
• Requiring certified resources perform critical activities.
• e.g., Fire drills in social service center
Transfer Assigns the risk to another party by buying insurance, outsourcing,
contracting, and

[Link]

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After risk response
• Residual risk – remaining risk after a risk response has been
implemented

• Secondary risk – a new risk resulting from the implementation of a

risk response

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Critic
• The prediction-based approach framed risk management from a
rational comprehensive perspective, that risk management is a
rational, linear process of identification, analysis, evaluation and
treatment within a defined organizational context (Tywoniak &
Bredillet, 2017)
• Assumptions – risk is “known”, and there is adequate information
in a deterministic environment
• However, in reality, the decision-makers often face complexity of
the “unknown” – emergent issues, ambiguous cause-effect
relationship

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Alternatives
• Entrepreneurship approach and commitment to resilience approach
• Addressing the uncertainty and complexity in managing the
“unknown” risk

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Alternative: Entrepreneurship approach
• Entrepreneurs define the level of affordable loss, set a given
level of risk for their ventures. If risk is affordable, then
• seek to discover a path to success by acting in a creative
fashion, e.g., by design thinking
• iteratively explores uncertainty and ambiguity to tackle
the challenges of ignorance
• embrace calculated risk-taking as a positive factor in the
success of new venture projects
• focusing on what can be controlled or influenced, rather
than trying to predict with precision
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Alternative approach: Commitment to resilience approach

Turner, N. & Kutsch, E. (2015). Project Resilience: Moving beyond

traditional risk management. PM World Journal, Vol. IV, Issue XI.
Retrieved from [Link]
moving-beyond-traditional-risk-management/

• There are undoubtedly many roads to a state of resilience. To be truly

resilient, in order to prepare one’s project for the unknown, there is
nothing more flexible than the human mind (Turner & Kutsch, 2015)

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Alternative approaches: Commitment to resilience approach

• Risk and uncertainty can emerge at any time, in any form,

from any source.
• The project team needs to be prepared to deal with
whatever might happen, thus it is important to invest in the
team’s capabilities to detect, contain and learn from errors
• E.g., leader equips and allows team members to have some
control over their work, to have freedom to express flexibility
and creativity and to be trusted (Turner & Kutsch, 2015)
• This is consistent with the participatory management value
framework of this course

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Consolidating:

What is the up-to-date pressing matter(s) to be considered for risk

management?

What risk response strategy can be applied?

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Consolidating:
Identify the risk response strategy
[Link]

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Consolidating: [Link]

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Recap and Consolidating: Identify the service
planning models
• What is the pain point of retired and healthy elderly?
• How do they define the situation?
• What is the possible innovative solution?

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Consolidating: [Link]

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 Consolidating
• Identify the risk response strategy

[Link]
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 Consolidating
• Identify the risk response strategy

[Link]
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References:
Hamilton, G. (2016). Program Risk management. In Levin, G. (ed.). Program management: A life cycle approach (pp.
259-276). New York, NY: Auerbach Publications.

Taylor, B. J. (2021). Risk-managing decision-making: A psycho-social rationality model. The British Journal of Social
Work, 51(7), 2819-2838.
Turner, N. & Kutsch, E. (2015. Project Resilience: Moving beyond traditional risk management. PM World Journal,
Vol. IV, Issue XI. Retrieved from [Link]
management/

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