Answer to Question #179211 in Management for Ngwane

Question

As we can see from the case study, ignoring risks can be detrimental to the delivery of a project. Discuss the benefits of project risk management and show how these benefits are relevant to the project in the case study above.

Answer 1

Benefits of Project Risk Management

Project risk management has become a fundamental leadership approach for ensuring the identification of any potential threats to achieving success and dealing with them before they disrupt a project. While for project managers risk management provides control planning for any outcome, it has extensive benefits that can change the decision-making process of the management team. These benefits are discussed below.

1.      Easier identification of problems – the practices of risk management provides managers with the ability to see areas in which the project needs attention before it becomes severe. Merging perfectly the processes of good risk management already in place gives an understanding context of the project performance and contributes to health checks, audits and peer reviews.

2.       Better decision-making – access to better quality and more useful data through the project management dashboard enables leaders to make effective decisions that are based more on the project’s reality.

3.      Sets success expectations – the knowledge that there is active management of risks set the project success expectations. With the agenda in place to deliver regardless of the known risks, everyone can work knowing that success is the only anticipated outcome thus transforming the mindset of the whole team.

4.      Enhances relationships – effective risk management promotes conversations by creating discussion points between key stakeholders and project teams. The discussion of challenges and potential conflict prompts risk responses thus creating a positive working relationship and willingness to work as a team.

Perhaps, these benefits are relevant to the project in the case study because the adoption of good risk management strategies will allow the managers to identify strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats in the project. The strategies will help in planning for unanticipated events and ensure readiness to respond when they arise. Also, identifying strengths and weaknesses will benefit the project managers to ensure the success by defining how the risks will be handles or mitigated thus becoming proactive and not reactive.