Risk Management Models for Use by the Project Manager

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

When the manager of project carried out its work plan should take into consideration the possible risks that may occur within the project. The risk is the possibility that occurs a problem within a project and that may cause some change within the same (Heldman, 2011). It should be noted that not all risks are bad since they can be potential opportunities to make some changes that will improve the overall status of the project. In the same way a risk not taken into account in time can create one problem in the project and can completely change the final performance of the project. The project manager can take several elements to identify the risks. Some elements and documents that can be used to identify risks are: search internal risks of the project, such as resources

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

It is used as a means of input to the risk management plan processes (Heldman, 2005). It usually helps the project managers and the project team to recognize the components of a project that are at risk or certain risks that are unique to a specific area of the project than compared to a risk that is commonly found throughout the project. There also various qualitative analysis that can be used to in identifying and analyzing risk in a project. The method of qualitative risk analysis involves the assignment of a numeric value to the scales. This risk analysis is normally used for projects that are larger and that risks have a greater and more significant impact (Heldman, 2005). There are various software tools and methods that can be used, an example would be the use of Monte Carlo analysis for calculating values for projects that are large and difficult. There are various values that are assigned to the magnitude or intensity of the risk, for example, High-.80, Medimum-.50, Low-.10; these are used to rate and prioritize the risks (Heldman, 2005). A risk registry is also an essential documentation that can be used analyze the quantitative aspect related to risk and threats that are found throughout the project. The Risk Breakdown Structure is created to identify the various risks categories in the project so that they can be in the prioritized response plan (Heldman,

Good risk assessment requires an elaborate plan. A risk management plan is a project management type that helps ensure that an organization reaches desired goals in a given project (Gibson, 2010). Like every plan, caution should be taken to make sure that goals of the assessment are achievable given the best accommodation of time and cost. This calls for organization to have a risk scope. Risk scope simply identifies the boundaries of a given risk assessment. This is

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

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

Advancing from level 2 to level 3 requires using a risk register. 'The Risk Register is a tool to assist Project Managers in identifying likely sources of risk and the impact they may have on achieving objective. ' (Government office from the North West,2008). The first step is a brainstorm session to identify risk that may affect the project. It is important that the risks are clearly defined so that the risk is understood clearly and can be tackled. Secondly, consequence and probability of risks need to be rated (e.g. 1-5) and define each rating by their impact or likelihood. Finally, multiply the ratings of consequence and impact, rank the risks from highest severity to lowest severity. (Government office from the North West,2008). Every risks should be assigned to a risk owner which is responsible for managing the risk, a risk response to minimise both the likelihood and impact of the risk and a target completion date for the mitigation. Regular risk reviews need to be done because risks might emerge or become no longer relevant constantly. However, the impact

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

This assignment is included in the 2014 session of the Risk Management module of the MSc in Project Management course at University of Aberdeen. The main purpose of the assignment is to demonstrate my understanding of the issues involved in Risk Management and how they are applied in my current Project environment. The assignment is split in to two questions as detailed below.

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,

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.