When we say the word "Risk" it always come in mind a Negative thoughts, but does the Risk are always negative ?
As we know Risk results can be positive or negative, can you please give an examples where a Risk Results affected a project you work on in a negative way?
When I think about one of the projects that I worked on and risk, I immediately think about a building project where there were so many moving parts- the greatest "risk" was not opening on time, and on time means on the date when the mayor was available to be there. Some risks that we encountered were with IT roll out, the security of the building, the keys for the building, and then there were a multitude of construction "risks" - some risks that I made the team aware of, and that upper management didn't listen to me about were my concerns on how the building would be used once it was open. There were too many blind spots and too many angles that the security cameras weren't seeing at the time. Outside, there were landscaping rocks that were an attractive nuisance and I knew the rocks would be inviting for kids to pick up and throw. I actually walked the building alone and made a categorized list of risk elements: interior security, exterior security, construction, etc. and submitted to the capital projects team lead. I was told that of all the building projects that the library had done, mine was the closest to complete at opening.
However, even though I was blown off about the landscaping rocks prior to opening, once the building opened, the rocks had to be addressed because the neighborhood kids threw the rocks at each other, at the building, etc. it was a hot mess and a big headache.
No matter what the project, it is imperative to plan for risk and, in my experience, it works out better when the risk is mitigated on the front end. Not only does it mitigate harm, in working to abate/minimize risk, you keep your credibility with stakeholders in tack.
In general, risk management refers to a process that helps organizations to avert disasters or to make strategies for mitigating or reducing any possible problems that already exist. Having risk management plans in the organization helps to run a business effectively. Some of the negative drawbacks of having potential risks or having improper risk management are mentioned below:
- Unrealized benefits: when the risks aren’t solved in the organization, they ultimately spoil project benefits. If the project risk management won’t work effectively, each supplementary task adds both cost and time to the organization’s project which will have an effect on how rapidly their benefits can be delivered.
- Late-running project: unexpected risks within the organization can drastically slow down the project because it consumes more time to understand them, examine them, and make proper management strategies to observe, act on and track them. If the organization takes more time to activate risk management strategies than expected will lead to both delays or even pushing out other tasks on the project schedule.
- Project failure: if the risk management team is unable to manage risk adequately will result in the failure of a project. The overall deliverables of the project cannot be completed or reached which ultimately results in wasting both time and money invested in the project.
If the risk isn’t controlled or managed properly in the organization will even lead to the exposure of both customers and business data, legal liabilities, injured employees, and lost business theft.
Risks are normally considered to have a negative connotation due to the fact that it is always referred to as the possible hazards there are within a project or an action. Most companies will assess a lot of the risks related to their product and see if it will outweigh the potential benefits. Even with all the medications, a sheet is given to state all the side effects so that customer know the potential risk that comes with the medication if taken yet not everyone will experience those side effects. The customer will then determine if the potential benefits of the medication is more reasonable than the possible side effects they could undergo. There is always the thought of how will someone be rewarded after taking this risk. I believe clinical studies are a good example of this because the patients going into the study have an understanding that the treatment has a possibility of either it working 100% or not working at all. Yet this patients are willing to take the risk of getting this experimental treatment in hopes that they are able to either be cured or at least have their condition lessened.
The risk management assessment is a positive contribution to the company and the project that we are working on. Although risks are associated with a negative connotation, it is a fundamental factor that needs to be considered so improvement can exist. As risks need to be handled a whole team needs to analyze and evaluate them. This week, we have learned about how to manage risks, and in order to do so, four strategies have been introduced Avoidance, mitigation, acceptance, and transference. It is challenging to control all the potential risks, but analyzing them ahead of time can save the project from failure.
Risks are defined as unexpected events or hazards that might occur throughout a project. As mentioned in previous posts, the word “risk” has a negative connotation to it, but a risk is not always negative and undesirable. For example, a positive risk can be a potential software update that may improve and facilitate project techniques. I have experienced both negative and positive risks in projects. For my senior capstone project, our team designed a full-size pediatric exoskeleton. Due to limited time and money, our team opted for using PVC pipes to model thigh, shank, and hip segments. We understood the risk that the PVC pipes may not be able to support the weight of the entire device, and certain segments may be susceptible to greater bending forces. We went along with the design, and unfortunately, a couple of days prior to our first demonstration, our hip segments began to bend severely, which affected the overall movement of our device. The realization of this risk required our team to redesign the hip segment, which luckily didn’t take up too much time, but was definitely a burden. On the other hand, a positive risk that we considered early on in our project was the possibility of being approved for a grant for funding, which we later achieved and it removed the financial burden from the entire project. I always discuss how to deal with negative risks. How should a project team deal with positive risks? Is there anything special that should be done?
