Synthesis of ERM Adaptation in Enhancing Transport Organisation’s Performance: The Case of Nigerian Transport Sector

Abstract

Businesses, government agencies (including transport departments) face an evolving landscape of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)related risks that can impact their success and survival. In order to effectively cope with greater and widespread uncertainty, organizations must manage risk efficiently. This is particularly relevant for organizations in the transport sector, especially, as the nature of their operations is by default challenged by a diverse set of hazards and risks. Accordingly, this research proposes the development of a sustainable Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework that is specific in nature for the transport sector in the Global South (GS). Sustainable transport has a key part to play in fostering inclusive growth and expanding access to essential services, it is a vital driver of economic and social development linking people to jobs, education, health care, etc. Given the current attention on sustainable development, it is essential to identify the status of the transport sector in GS and the challenges to the development of a sustainable transport system. Academic and practice literature in the public domain have noted very limited literature focusing on aspects such as Agency, Program and Project risk management for strategic alignment, asset management and performance measure in the transport sector. Aside, various organisational and institutional challenges (such as poor policy and regulatory framework, understanding of the benefits and challenges of implementing ERM, Consideration of Transport Organisations (Internal and External) Context, Risk awareness culture, ERM alignment with key strategies and objectives, Coordination with different stakeholders; Lack of proper industry-specific guidance material; keeping up with the technology, budget constraints, lack of leadership commitment etc.) has been reported. It has also been established that Organizational resilience starts at the top with an Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) paradigm. However, despite several ERM frameworks developed, many organizations still face challenges in aligning ERM with their key strategies and objectives. This is because most of the existing frameworks lack implementation guidance and were often criticised for failing to consider the specificity of the organisations. Managing the complexity inherent in transport and logistics based on context has therefore, become a continuous test even for experienced managers. This research focuses on the phenomena of ERM paradigm and its alignment with the requirements of GS transport organisations. The research proposes to approach the complexity of the design of the proposed SERM framework through the conjoint application of Contingency and Institutional theories. The nature of this research problem is defined in terms of an organisational phenomenon and the aim and objectives of this research determine the adoption of the Interpretivism paradigm concerned with exploring reality as a social construction. A Case study (Nigeria's transport sector) strategies ...