As the world is chaotic (Djavanshir and Khorramshahgol, 2006) it is impossible to always predict the future accurately. Teller at al (2012) describes project management as balancing the “iron triangle”, where changes to any one of the planned costs, quality or scope will change the other elements. Risk management allows contingency to be put into project plans, (APM, 2012) minimising negative effects and maximising the benefits of uncertainty. This, in theory, is how project risk management aids in ensuring successful project delivery. The Association for Project Managment (APM) defines a project risk management in the following statement: “All projects, programmes and portfolios are inherently risky because they are unique, constrained, …show more content…
Improvements are often possible, even when a project is to cost, quality and scope. (Shahu et al, 2012) This would be hard to prove, as repeated experimentation is rare due to the difficulty in creating exactly the same environment more than once. So a large-scale study would be needed. Until such a study has taken place, it is safe to assume that if project risk management brings benefits to projects, it would bring extra benefits to successful projects. (Shahu et al, 2012) This would be by being able to exploit and mitigate risks, issues and opportunities early, as well as increasing the accuracy of predictions which assist decision making. Even in these chaotic business environments, portfolios can still be managed effectively. In aggregate, having more projects and risks make a business’s forecasts more likely to include the actual project costs, (Djavanshir and Khorramshahgol, 2006) although the range of possibilities given will be wider. Statistically, when more projects are in a business’s portfolio, this means that the projects balance each other out, making the investments safer, as it is highly unlikely for them all to fail. (Djavanshir and Khorramshahgol, 2006) This can also be seen at a more detailed level in project risk management during Monte Carlo analysis (MCA). A risk
Working to understand the risks a project may endure along with the cost associated is critical in every project management plan. Understanding potential risks based on the project type, resources needed, timeline and budget still leaves gaps that creates uncertainty for actually predicating the outcome of the project. There is not a true way to predict when and where a project risk will occur but designing a plan to properly address and manage those risks will increase confidence while eliminating the element of surprise.
The following short case will give you a good idea of how risks surface in business and project planning and what companies do about it. Consider that you are the Risk Manager as you look at this case, as it will be a good exercise for the time when you will be that Risk Manager!
After discovering the risks it may determine the risk tolerance. This is the level of tolerance that is about the risks that may occur (Heldman, 2011). Within a project refers to the level of risk tolerance that can be tolerated by putting in perspective the benefits that occur when taking that risk (Heldman, 2011). Project Manager depart a game of the budget as a contingency reserve. This is used so that in the event of any problems the project is not affected. It is a reserve that is intended to be used in case of emergencies, which can not be addressed through another type of risk (Heldman, 2011) management strategy. Manager can use several strategies to respond to the risks. Strategies to respond to negative risks are: acceptance, rejection, transfer, mitigation (Heldman, 2011). Acceptance is face the risk and accept the consequences of the risk already...Risks can have a positive impact, and for these the project manager uses
Risk mitigation would allow the project manager to know the project’s strengths and weaknesses then evaluate the threats facing the project. The project manager would implement different strategies such as lowering exposure to threats or improving strengths of the project to make sure that the variance in schedule and cost is not very high when there are risk event occurrences. A risk mitigation strategy ensures that the project manager, the implementing team, and the project’s stakeholders are on the same page in the project implementation job. It also gives the project team an opportunity to address risks in advance so resolving additional issues becomes easy when the issues occur later during the implementation of the project. Moreover, the risk management strategy would fine-tune the parameters used for measuring the results of the project (Kerzner,
Risks management is an important step during the process of a project. Failing to manage a risk may result in unforeseen event happening and a project’s failure. For example, with limited budget, an unforeseen event or an accident occurs in the middle of a project and this matter has not been considered and needs a big sum of expense, then the project may be stopped because of this unexpected event. We should know it is necessary to understand how to identify risks and assumptions based on the information. After identifying risks, it is important for project managers to set contingency plans to prevent and deal with these risks when they occur. Of course, several problems may happen during considering
Risk or threat is common and found in various fields of daily life and business. This concept of risk is found in various stages of development and execution of a project. Risks in a project can mean there is a chance that the project will result in total failure, increase of project costs, and an extension in project duration which means a great deal of setbacks for the company. The process of risk management is composed of identifying, assessing, mitigating, and managing the risks of the project. It
The term risk has been defined in so many ways by many scholars. The term ‘risk’ itself is very broad to interpret. However, risk is often defined as a threat and it usually brings negative impacts to a person or an organisation. Hansson (2005) claims that many attempts have been made to define risk in a single meaning and eliminate other definitions which are futile and a form of ‘linguistic imperialism’. Since there is no exact meaning of risk, people describe risk based on their own perceptions and purposes. Perminova et al. (2008) and the Association of Project Management (APM) define risk as an uncertain event and exclusively negative (APM, 2006). Ward and Chapman (2003) recommend that project risk management (PRM) is categorized as project uncertainty management. Nonetheless, the term ‘uncertainty’ again brings confusion as there is no single meaning that can successfully define it (Perminova et al., 2008). On the contrary, Kaplan and Garrick (1981) define risk according to public’s risk perception. There are three criteria suggested by the authors such as the failure of that particular event, its tendency as well as the impact of the failure. Although there have been countless struggles to picture risk in a proper way, it is best that the focus should be diverted to a more important issue which is how to manage risk instead of defining it as time may not be on our side.
6) notes that uncertainty and change are usually involved in projects. The reason for using projects as a work approach is often the ability coping with uncertainty, related to novel factors within the processes or context of the company or the goals that need to be reached. Kuura et al. (2014, p. 518) note that projects are connected to innovation and have always been used to create or deal with change, even though not all projects and SMEs are entrepreneurial. Projects have been promoted as a powerful, widely usable vehicle for integrating diverse functions, enabling the efficient, timely and effective accomplishment of goals, by using flexible, independent and knowledgeable people in temporary teams (Lindgren & Packendorff, 2011, p. 52). Projects are used to cope with risks and it has been stated that if a company does not fail in any projects, it is not taking enough business risks (Cooke-Davies in Morris & Pinto, 2007, p. 227). Maylor (2010, p. 6) also adds that projects are usually also social constructs with parts that are integrated within the project to create a system of
Project Risk Management – identifies potential risks (good and bad) that can affect the objectives of the project.
In order to perform project risk management effectively, the organization or the department must know the meaning of the risk clearly. With regards to a project, the management must focus on the potential effects on the objectives of the project, for example, cost and time (Loosemore, Raftery and Reilly, 2006). Risk is a vulnerability that really matters; it can influence the objectives of the project
In addition to reading the course notes, I also looked at what APMBOK (Association for Project Management, Body of Knowledge 2009, 6th Edition, UK) said about this critical area of Project Management. Additionally, I researched what my Company does to maximize their effectiveness in this area by studying their attitude towards Risk Management throughout the complete life-cycle of a project, and finally I drew from my own knowledge and experiences in this critical area.
The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), stated that project risk is an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has positive or negative effects on at least one project objective, such as time, cost, scope, or quality (PMI 2004). PRM includes the processes concerned with conducting risk management (RM) planning, identification, analysis, responses, and monitoring and control on a project; most of these processes are updated throughout a project. According to the PMBOK RM has been designated as one of the nine PM knowledge areas (the other eight being integration, scope, time, cost, quality, human resources, communications, and procurement management). Consequently, RM is considered as an important activity of the PM process. Mining projects are subject to high risk because of their size, complexity and high cost. Unfortunately, very little research related to a particularly mining project risks have been conducted up to date. Most of the research related to mining project risks studied oil and petroleum well development projects. Del Cano and de la Cruz (2002) noted that RM becomes an integral part of project management and plays such an important role that its application goes beyond the traditional scope which normally center on the construction phase. Williams (1995) stated in his paper titled “A classified bibliography of recent research relating to project risk
Many project mangers, when first introduced to risk management, feel that there is something “macho” about undertaking high risk projects “without a net” and that formal risk management is a sign of weakness. Secretly, I guess that we all identify somewhat with Indiana Jones as he plunges from disaster to disaster just surviving by good luck and sheer guts. The good news is that if you
This research is high standard but however comprehensive. This research will support project managers to decide whether they have all the elements of a risk management and an asset management system in place. This could be the matter even if the term risk management and asset management is not identified within the project. This research can be applied to review whether the project elements are combined and the interfaces between them optimised. Risk management successfully installed in the project offers the chance to gain a clear understanding of the goals, duties and contents of the service and the feasibility of the project. It provides an information basis for the quantitative data, sorted according to size, for the purpose of supporting decisions, such as e.g. the choice between costs and implementing goods or the comparison between several possible options. For this, however, it is necessary that a high quality of the status of information is always available in order to make determinations on the basis of useable and comprehensive information. Risk management can therefore only be implemented and enforced effectively if communication channels in the enterprise are created, which guarantee the direction of the information to the places concerned in each case. Through the risk management used, the overall risk of the project is broken down
The point that Kippenberger (2000) is making in his article titled ‘there’s no such thing as risk free project’ is that almost everything we do in a project involves a risk of some kind – by so saying, it is therefore essential that we are prepared or able to deal with risks. Most literature puts emphasis on the negative connotation that the word ‘risk’ carries. For instance, Chapman and Ward (2003) provide the meaning of risk as: hazard, chance of bad consequences, loss, and exposure to chance of injury or loss. Galway (2004) defines risk as an event which is uncertain and has negative impact, and similarly, Martin (2008: 38) defines risk as the ‘chance of something occurring that has an adverse effect on the project’. This negativity highlights the fact that problems can occur or things can go wrong and it is therefore important to have a systematic approach to managing them. Therefore in project management, risk management is necessary to increase the chances of the proposed project succeeding.