Project Management : Risk Management

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.

risks and determine the likelihood and consequence of that risk occurring during the project. The

Indeed, Project Risk Management includes the processes of conducting risk management planning, identification, analysis, response planning, and controlling risk on a project. (PMBOK Guide - Fifth Edition, 2013).

Risk refers to any potential problems that would threaten the likelihood of success for or any project. These potential problems might prevent a project from achieving some or all of its objectives by increasing time and cost. Risk factors can even

It impacts the timeline, milestones, and schedule of the project. That in turn will also impacts the budget of the project.

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

During an engineering project life cycle, the common risk management process (risk identification, risk impact assessment, risk prioritization analysis, risk tracking, and risk mitigation planning implementation) meet the required protocols for early and continuous risk identification. The first step, risk identification, brainstorms potential risks that may develop during the engineering system to include environmental or human hazards. The second step, risk impact assessment, clarifies and details the damage of the risk. The third step, risk prioritization analysis, creates a hierarchy of the risks and determines which risk needs to be addressed first then so on. The follow-on steps have two different paths, one path is risk tracking and the other is risk mitigation

Cooper, D.F., Grey, S., Raymond, G, & Walker, P. (2005). Project risk management guidelines. Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.

Defined by Coopers textbook, risk is the exposure to the consequences of uncertainty and has two elements: the likelihood of something happening that has an impact on the project objectives, and the positive or negative consequences of something impacting the project objectives (Cooper, Grey, Raymond, & Walker, 2005)

Project Risk Management – identifies potential risks (good and bad) that can affect the objectives of the project.

Purpose of this document is intended to address risks of the projects. Scope of this document is to manage project risks and opportunities during the entire project life cycle. Life cycle of the project is from project inception to completion of project. Project manager along with the team, project sponsor jointly develop a risk that enables us to identify, assess, quantify, prepare a response to, monitor, and control risks of the project.

The completion of any project depends on the execution of various parameters mostly set at the beginning of the project. In order to complete the project to satisfactory levels, the project must be completed within the stipulated timelines, fall within the approximate budget and be of the required quality standards. However, most of the projects are affected by adverse changes and unforeseen events that occur during the execution period. Research shows that the magnitude of change is dependent on the size of the project, with large projects experiencing more uncertainties due to several factors including; planning and design complexity, interest groups having deferring opinions, resource availability, Economic and political climate and statutory regulations, which may necessitate change of plan. Most of the uncertainties are known to occur in the concept phase and if not intervened, they may affect the entire project. The burden falls on the management of such risk as some managers choose to ignore the uncertainties since they call for additional costs. Other inherent risks may go unnoticed and therefore remain unsolved,

There are typically four major steps involved in project risk management, which when followed well are helpful in managing the risks effectively in the business organization. They are risk identification, risk quantification, risk response, and risk monitoring and control (Cervone 257). The benefits of project risk management can be massive. A manager can bring about the gain of a lot of money in the handling of the various unexpected events. Project managers endeavor to reduce the impact of project threats and seize the opportunities that come about. Risk management requires that managers be proactive in assessing their projects and have contingency plans in place rather than be reactive and wait for the risk to happen to handle it then. This essay will thus elucidate on all the steps of effective project risk management to reduce the happening of an unexpected event and the respective magnitude of its impact.

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.