Twenty-eighth Report Adapting Institutions to Climate Change Cm ...

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participation. We recognise, however, that different approaches to business management will
be appropriate for different organisations; for example, a command and control approach may
suit the needs of some organisations but not others. 25 We return to the issue of ‘learning organisations’
at 4.113.
While the analogy with business methods is not exact, adaptation will require practical actions
which have similarities with business behaviour. How corporations manage information,
uncertainties and complexities, and how they create lasting expertise and adaptable attitudes
can provide valuable lessons for those seeking to manage adaptation. Similarly, the need for a
pervasive institutional focus on adaptation to climate change could be seen as equivalent to the
priority accorded by business to the customer.
Successful businesses also identify and nurture the core competencies they need for sustained
achievement of their objectives. The Commission believes that for organisations to adapt it will
be necessary to recognise, define and promote core competencies in climate change adaptation,
including the challenges and opportunities which adaptation presents. This implies a desire to
act in a way which reduces the risks of a changing climate to current and future stakeholders to
acceptable levels, and means focusing efforts on discovering what the range of possible changes
will be, and then responding effectively, efficiently and fairly. We return to this issue in Chapter 5.
The components shown in Figure 4-II are neither new nor exclusive to the adaptation debate.
They draw on the contemporary language and definitions of risk management, not least in that
the latter prioritises the appropriate framing and scoping of risks prior to their assessment and
evaluation, the implementation of actions to mitigate unacceptable risks and the monitoring of
effectiveness of actions.
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Chapter 4