SRGE: Towards developing strong organisations

A review of Olaoye Rafiu Abiola’s book, Strategy, Risk, Governance and Ethics.

IN the world of management, there is the need to give extra attention to certain issues, and these will go a long way in determining if one will achieve success in one’s assignment. The issues, strategy, risk, governance, and ethics, are so important, even in other spheres of human existence that Olaoye Rafiu Abiola decided to write on them.

According to the author, the four major components of his book, Strategy, Risk, Governance and Ethics (SRGE), are captured in the title.

While tracing the concept of Strategy, the author says it is derived from the Greek word, Strategia, used in the military to mean all comprehensive plans and tactics deployed in distinguishing battles within and prosecuting those battles, leading to victory at the wars.

However, in the case of this book, the author is not using the word in the context of warfare, but of management.

According to the author’s definition, Strategy can be defined as the contemporal perspective to management which tends to analyse management activities and issues from the viewpoint of uniqueness and long-term effects to the achievement of an overall objective.

The author goes further to list the levels of Strategy, as well as the Vision and Mission of organisations.

For Risk, which is the second focus of the author, the word is defined as the chance exposure to the adverse consequences of uncertain future events. It further refers to the uncertain and unpredictability of a future event and a range of different possible outcomes of a current event, with the author explaining that Risk falls into two broad categories — pure and speculative risks.

However, one of the benefits of Risk is that it is used by individuals or organisations to envision the future, while preparing for any eventuality.

Another area of focus of the book is Governance, where the author highlights the core process of corporate governance. This aspect also takes critical look at the composition of a corporate entity, especially the make up of an organisation.

The final focus of the book is on Ethics, which the author describes as a branch of philosophy concerned with the study of what is good and right what for human beings. The author further lists three dimensions of Ethics to be personal ethics, business ethics and professional ethics, and these guides the individual in his day-to-day behaviour.

Although the book is majorly on management, public office holders can also use it in the management of their political duties.

The author, Olaoye, a seasoned business development strategist, consultant and chartered accountant, has written several other books majorly on management.