Assessing Behaviours is the key to understanding the future

Author: Rob Peddle [HPO/HPA]
Created: 08:40 06-04-2009
Updated: 11:11 15-06-2010

There is a body of evidence and academic research out there that shows why understanding behaviour is key to understanding risk and what is likely to happen in the future. Behaviours can easily be seen and experienced by people, can be unambiguously described and hence can be consistently measured. They therefore do not require any interpretation by an auditor to say what they are.

However, analyzing these behaviours once identified and what they mean for risk to what drives business performance is the tricky bit. This is why the use of technology is essential, especially as behavioural evidence is best captured from many people affected by what is being assessed.

As an example, attached is one piece of academic research on why behaviours are key - the full document plus a one page synopsis is attached.