Security Expert and Safety Engineer since 2009, Jérôme Emler has worked for the nuclear energy, passenger transport and banking industries in recent years. As head of department, he is currently responsible for the information technology, security and safety management of his financial institution.
He defended his Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) in September 2023 on the topic of “Hochzuverlässigkeit in der Unternehmenssicherheit” under the supervision of Prof Thierry Burger-Helmchen, University of Strasbourg.
Thesis Direction
Pr Thierry Burger-Helmchen
Thesis Title
High reliability in corporate security : a qualitative study of participation and phenomena in the security management of high reliability organisations
Abstract
Malicious attacks on enterprises and unexpected threats have been shown to occur in many variants today, in physical and digital forms (Mack et al., 2016; PwC, 2022). High reliability organisations (HROs) are highly experienced in managing these attacks and unexpected threats and know how to defend against them, deal with them and also learn from mistakes (Weick und Sutcliffe, 2016).
In this regard, scholars currently look largely at the core areas of an organization’s production (Cantu et al., 2020), but less so at peripheral areas such as corporate security, which has responsibility for defending against malicious attacks (Cabric, 2015). It therefore remains an open question whether within an HRO, corporate security, as a peripheral area, is actually as highly reliable as the core operational area.
Within the scope of a qualitative study, with two sections, under questioning of 24 security experts from most diverse HRO, versatile insights could be received. The interviews were conducted on a professional level, in analog and digital form, comprised a total of over 26 hours of interview material, and in some cases provided profound and very honest insights, which was also justified by the promised anonymity of the participants. In the process, a maturity model and a semi-structured interview guide were used to examine the extent to which the corporate protection of an HRO can participate in the high reliability attributed to it, in production (Agwu et al., 2019).
In addition, other aspects were analyzed, which gave the overall study a second perspective, captured under the name of phenomena. From the overall view of the studies, it appears that corporate security can indeed participate from high reliability. To this end, a large number of phenomena were recorded, which in aggregate revealed two groups of factors. So-called disruptive factors prevent corporate security from developing into high reliability, whereas the facilitating factors promote development and also have a positive influence on disruptions.
From the consideration of all the results, a model was developed that integrates the maturity model of high reliability and the model of accident prevention (Mathis, 2016; Agwu et al., 2019). This new model was given the name of security loop cycle, because at the end of the diagram, a recurrent periodic examination of the promoting and disturbing factors is necessary to maintain an achieved high reliability in the long term. Many aspects of the existing literature could be confirmed, including the assumption of the emergence of a security culture when the HRO elements are particularly high (Cantu et al., 2020).
At the end of the analyses, it can be recommended to the management to deal with and push the HRO development of corporate security. Utilizing the security loop cycle, applying the 5S model, and considering the disruptive and support factors can, as things stand, lead to corporate security evolving towards high reliability. By taking this step, the company can protect itself with a view to current and future unexpected malicious threats and quickly and specifically preserve the organization’s assets in the long term, even without the presence of empirical data.