Critical Success Factors : 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.

Identifying these factors helps to find out the strengths and capitalize them and eliminate the weaknesses and try

Regardless of the type of project being initiated, planned and implemented, building a culture of risk management is indispensable for the successful completion of the project.

Key Success Factors – these are the characteristics derived from the above factors, which any business must have in order to be successful in the SPECIFIC industry being considered – examples:

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

Hillson, D & Simon, P. (2007). _Practical Project Risk Management: The ATOM Methodology_, Vienna, VA: Management Concepts, Inc.

Risk management is an ongoing process that must continue through the life of a project. It includes processes for risk management planning, identification, analysis, monitoring, and control. These processes need to be reviewed throughout the project’s lifecycle as new risks arise throughout the implementation of the project. It is the objective of risk management to decrease the probability and impact of events adverse to the project. On the other hand, any event that could have a positive impact should be exploited.

So many factors contribute to success of any business. Having customers and producing quality goods and check and balances are some factors that contributes to the success of a business. In the book The Blue Sweater the author, Novogratz writes about how she helped some group of women she met in Rwanda with their bakery business and how it became successful. Attracting customers, making quality food and accountability were some of the tools Novogratz used in helping the bakery to be successful.

Risk management framework is decided based on the organization rules and requirements and also the project. Risk management is primary requirement to fulfill the needs of the project and reduce the vulnerabilities in various aspects

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

Risk allocation is performed as part of the development of the project structure, which takes into account the distribution of responsibilities and risks during the planning, construction, financing and operating phases (Corner, 2006). The aim is to identify an efficient and effective structure that optimises the costs of the project and ensures that the risk occurrences do not damage the project (Delmon, 2009). According to Grimsey and Lewis (2007) risk allocation has two elements: optimal risk management and value for money. The first implies that the

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.

One well accepted description of risk management is the following: risk management is a systematic approach to setting the best course of action under uncertainty by identifying, assessing, understanding, acting on and communicating risk issues. In order to apply risk management effectively, it is vital that a risk management culture be developed. The risk management culture supports the overall vision, mission and objectives of an organization. Limits and boundaries are established and communicated concerning what are acceptable risk practices and outcomes. Since risk management is directed at uncertainty related to future events and outcomes, it is

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.