Most businesses today prioritize security as a top concern due to the growing crime rate and several socioeconomic, cultural, and political challenges. Security management has become increasingly important in today’s world for sustaining and gaining competitiveness (Lee, Han and Yoo, 2017). It is feasible to reduce the effects of unexpected occurrences while avoiding dangers and risks by implementing well-adapted security policies. Security management is, therefore, an integral component of every organization’s overall endeavor to maintain the safety of its operations and thus its workforce.
The security management team within companies’ structure
The fact that it is very time-consuming to manage system security is a significant factor. Given other crucial responsibilities, policymakers and other senior administrators might be unable to dedicate this time. Therefore, a high need for security personnel exists in the industry. A company’s Security Department’s organizational structure might vary considerably within a similar business sector. Ultimately, in order to accommodate the dynamic nature of the majority of private sector activities, the network must be fluid or highly modifiable. The hierarchy of a typical organization’s security department is shown in Figure 1.
The security director leads the administration of the security organization. Setting the proper tone, directing in the appropriate directions, coming up with solutions, and fostering the development of subordinates are all part of providing leadership. The growth of IT over the past decades has also created a position for security managers to assure digital data safety. The security director often answers to a senior management figure. The director’s place in the Security Department is one of leadership rather than strategic decisions (Sennewald and Baillie, 2020). On the other hand, there is a security supervisor. It is the supervisor’s responsibility to motivate others to complete assignments. The security manager closely associates with those supervisors on the secondary level of control, which compromises the organizational integrity. The ultimate duty of supervision is performance. At the operation level, job performance and execution are crucial. The productivity of people under the supervisor is affected by how well they do their jobs. To effectively execute the security role in any firm, an organizational structure is a necessary management tool to arrange activities and people in an efficient, purposeful, and accountable system.
Security’s role in the organization
The defender or guardian position played by the security department in every business is by far its most apparent function. These functions include preserving the company’s assets, personnel, reputation, and inventory, among other things. According to the National Cyber Security Agency (2020), around 4,194 security incidents against governmental and private organizations were documented in 2020. These facts show how serious the threat is to organizations and how important it is to implement security measures. In other words, all items and individuals on the corporate property are under the protection of the Security Department. This defensive position serves the company, demonstrating the service-oriented nature of the Security Department’s mission. The number of crimes and significant inconveniences averted is a better indicator of the usefulness of such a service. For instance, preventing a payroll hold-up, a substantial burglary, or a consequential loss of goods, machinery, data, or documentation reflects how well the security function is doing its guardian duties.
Security services
Security is mainly involved in general protective tasks such as authorization, shipment protection, site security, criminal conduct investigation, assessments, and rule enforcement. Numerous connected services may and should be offered by the team as well. Such services include executive protection, bodyguard support, special inspections, and emergency aid. Additionally, security personnel should take a proactive role in providing educational services, raising awareness among new and experienced employees and managers whose duties imply loss prevention (McCrie, 2017). The department looks for opportunities to broaden its engagement whenever possible.
Security’s contribution to the company’s profit
Security’s contribution to profits is another essential aspect when looking at the department as a crucial and integral part of an organization. Protection increases business or corporate earnings by minimizing or eliminating losses that may be avoided, especially those brought on by criminal activity. Any industry, for instance, experiences a fixed percentage of yearly inventory loss. If the security division can cut inventory shrinkage by even a tiny percentage via its initiatives and programs, earnings would rise significantly compared to the company’s losses (Sennewald and Baillie, 2020). Hiring a security management team is the best option for the vast majority of enterprises worldwide. Due to the inability to lower other costs, such as raw materials, human resources, and fixed expenses, company executives cannot find comparable possibilities elsewhere. Because losses are so significant, protection specialists managing corporate and divisional security groups are responsible for reducing them.
Security management’s efficiency
An organization will go from an unorganized and unmanaged state to one where its data operations are efficient and continually improved as it advances to the next level. A unique maturity model is created to track the efficacy of implemented security measures. The idea behind a maturity model, which is a tiered framework where specific security characteristics are monitored, is that businesses improve their security management as they go up the maturity model from the base level to a more advanced level (Zammani, Razali and Singh, 2021). In this context, “maturity” refers to the security of the programs and procedures. Five different maturity levels are defined under a capabilities security maturity model. Each level denotes some degree of security process optimization inside an organization. Moreover, the majority of organizations routinely conduct yearly financial audits of some kind. Security audits are crucial to the operation of any computing environment. Every policy that affects or is affected by a security system should be examined as part of a comprehensive security audit. Additionally, each method of enforcing such regulations should be carefully examined.
Since the dawn of the twentieth century, security management has changed. In order to stay ahead of the numerous possible risks, managers in today’s world must continually adapt. Security management is undoubtedly a strategic competence that enables businesses to recognize opportunities and achieve a competitive edge. Because so many violations still occur, this research area remains vibrant and dynamic (Zammani, Razali and Singh, 2021). It has been made clear how crucial it is to spread security measures throughout an organization and how challenging it might be to do so.
Reference List
Lee, H., Han, C. and Yoo, T., 2017. The application of mistake-proofing to organizational security management. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 30(9-10), pp.1151-1166.
McCrie, R., 2017. Private security services regulations in the United States today. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, pp.1-18.
National Cyber Security Agency., 2020. Cyber Security Incident Statistics.
Sennewald, C. and Baillie, C., 2020. Effective security management. Butterworth-Heinemann.
Zammani, M., Razali, R. and Singh, D., 2021. Organizational Information Security Management Maturity Model. International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, 12(9).