The evolution of corporate security

There is an old saying that in order to understand where we are going we have to understand our past and present. It is in the present that we forge our future by taking into consideration the experiences of the past.

by Héctor R. TorresPhD, MBA, CPP, CFE

A fraternal greeting from Puerto Rico to all colleagues and readers of this column! It is a pleasure to share again with you.  

In the previous edition, we did a brief review of the evolution of management based on the concepts expounded by Luther Gulick and Lyndall Urwick in their 1937 treatise on scientific management. This time we will talk about the evolution of corporate security as a managerial function of an organization.

The evolution of Corporate Security in organizations develops over time and due to a series of factors that propel it. According to Charles A. Sennewald in his 2003 book Effective Security Management , some of these factors include the rise of crime in society; the need to strengthen the functions of law enforcement agencies; the rise of laws and regulations in business and the specter of global terrorism. These factors became the catalytics for private or corporate security programs to be established to protect the assets of organizations as well as for compliance with laws and regulations.  

Times of security

Dr. Dennis R. Dalton in his book Rethinking Corporate Security in the Post 9/ 11 Era describes the evolution of corporate security in four distinct eras.

The first era, Dalton identifies as the "Age of the Green Shack," where the command center of the organization's security operations was located in a small shack located behind the main buildings. This era was characterized as a very elementary safety function in terms of depth and range. According to Dalton, this was also determined by the exclusive use of basic physical security techniques such as the use of gates, gates, security guards, lighting and alarms. The primary purpose of the security program was to manage passive measures to protect the physical facilities of the organization.  

The second era identified by Dalton is the "Age of Physical Security," where security departments were more integrated into the management processes of organizations. In this era, security programs were expanding to take on new physical security roles, such as responding to medical or fire emergencies, controlling vehicular traffic, employee escorts, and taking care of the organization's reception office.  

The third, the "Age of Corporate Security," is when security departments began to take on new roles while taking on the primary mission of protecting the organization's assets. During this era, security departments expanded their investigative capacity to conduct internal theft and fraud investigations. Executive protection and security systems engineering were also expanded in this era where corporate security began to be defined as an entity of the organization.   

Finally, Dalton describes the fourth era of the evolution of corporate security as the "Age of Asset Protection." This Era was characterized by the effort to protect all the assets of an organization, the tangible and the intangible. According to Dalton, this establishes a radical paradigm where all assets are protected rather than emphasizing the protection of only physical assets.

Dalton points out that this new approach has led security departments to collaborate with other business units of the organization on matters related to intellectual property, competitive intelligence, as well as other aspects of proprietary or confidential information. In addition, security departments in some organizations are being assigned the tasks of participating in the strategic planning and business development of the company. The purpose of this participation is the identification of the threats and risks of the markets where the organization operates.  

One need that arose from this evolution was that corporate security as a managerial function had to be aligned with the organization's strategic goals and objectives. Sherry Harowitz, editor of security management magazine, in her 2005 treatise The Very Model of a Modern CSO . (The Model of a Modern CSO), points out that as a result of this alignment, corporate security programs evolved into a separate and distinct managerial function within organizations. Additionally, in the last stages of its evolution, corporate security integrated loss prevention techniques with the traditional methodology of physical security, in order to protect its assets from countless threats.  

There is no doubt that corporate security has evolved tremendously in scope and depth since the "Age of the Green Shack"; however, it continues to be relegated to a secondary level in many organizations, limiting its contributions. The challenge then for many security managers is to develop their security programs in primary managerial roles that not only fulfill the mission of protecting organizational assets but also create added value.
        
In the next edition, we will discuss two important questions:
1) Should we become generalists or specialists in the field of industrial safety?
2) What factors contribute to the credibility of Industrial Safety practitioners? I invite you to continue to share your ideas and concerns of the world and security management.

A hug and see you next time!!