Risk Profile, Its Benefits to Risk Management - Essay Example

? Project Management Review Project Management Review Change Control Management, functions Change Control Management refers to the process of management requesting, reviewing, approving, carrying out and controlling changes to a project’s deliverables. The Change Control Management is usually applied when the first part of the deliverable is completed and approved by the management (‘Why, what, how’). The important functions include providing guiding principles for formulating the change requests for the project. It also functions as a tool in evaluating the presented change requests of the project. Further, the Change Control Management also serves the function of managing and implementing the changes approved by the management. 2. Risk Profile, its benefits to risk management A risk profile is a sequence of questions addressing the normal areas of the project where uncertainty prevails. Going through the list of probable risks and by making use of the experience from the past, the management can reduce the risk and increase the success rates. It eases the risk management since adopting previous approaches that were successful is less risky than formulating new management strategies. 3. Functional conflict, why encouraged Functional conflict means the disagreements of interests, ides or main concerns between the groups, individuals, or organizations. Or the deviations of decisions in the non-fulfillment of the requirements of a job course, or process. Functional conflicts arise when the minimum to reasonable levels of conflicts develop the effectiveness of the team. Such conflict is considered to be constructive as it develops the quality of assessments, motivates creativeness and novelty, and cheers up the inquisitiveness and interest among the team members. It can be used as a tool to create an environment which airs the problems and releases the tension, and also promotes a stage for self-evaluation and modification. The functional conflicts usually arise if: the formal objectives are overlapped, the role-descriptions are overlapped, the contractual bond is ambiguous, the assigned tasks are simultaneous, and if there exists any hidden intentions. Functional conflict can become an advantage to the firm. The project manager can encourage functional conflicts and can use them as antidotes for group thinking. The functional conflict questions the status quo of the project and so there arises the need for creating new idea, promoting assessment of team goals and tasks, increasing the profitability to which the team would respond to alter. Project managers and team leaders should carefully build conflicts into decision-making process. So they can surface and solve the important problems and also reconsider the decisions. 4. Four major steps in facilitating the group decision-making process The project manager plays the central role in leading the teams’ decision making process. The project manager is not asked to make decision himself, but to create an atmosphere for the entire team to discuss and to reach a final possible solution in consensus ad idem. This does not bring a conclusion that each one of the group holds the solution hundred percent; instead it means that the entire group is agreeing up on the best decision under a situation. As Gray, Larson & Desai (2010, p. 360) note, there are four major steps that facilitate the group decision making process. I. Problem identification: - When meeting with issues, the project manager should be careful not to define the problems in terms of choices (e.g., whether to concentrate on X or Y?). Instead, he should detect the original issues to which these alternatives are probable remedies. This process will enable the team members to formulate alternatives rather than just selecting among them. The important point of problem identification is to focus on the gap between the present state of the project and the desired sate of the project. II. Generating alternatives: - When there is a general understanding of the nature of the issue, the next process is to generate alternative solutions for the issue. To create a credible decision process, a list of alternatives should be generated with clear evaluation criteria based on the interest and vision of the team. While introducing alternative, two evaluation styles may be used; the objective hierarchy and the strategy table. The objective hierarchy facilitates the team for graphical communication of the significance and tradeoffs and also the effects of fiscal values on the alternatives. In the same way, the team can assess the policies and strategies in a more categorized method and options that are displayed in an easy mode while using the strategy table on dealing with compound and multiple alternatives. III. Selecting the suitable alternative: - Once the alternatives have been decided, they must be laid under evaluation and the right one should be picked up from among them. It is not an easy task to find out the correct alternative that affords to the desired credibility which can be obtained only through a proper channel of evaluating process. There are tools that help the team in evaluating the alternatives; (i) the decision matrices which helps the team to sort the ideas on each alternative in terms of the criterion specified by the team, (ii) the precedence through cost-benefit analyses that facilitates the comparison and contrasting of the outcomes and benefits of each alternative (Gray, et al). IV. Taking the Action: - The success and credibility of any decision-making process can be found out by analyzing the effective implementation of the plan. An implementation plan links the team from a planning stage to an implementation stage, and connects each task towards the objective. These four steps facilitate an effective and collaborative decision-making process by detecting the barriers and resolving the issues and managing the team. The important functions of these steps include fostering the teamwork, using facts to enhance credibility of the project, and managing risks and conflicts. 5. Mitigating a risk and Contingency Planning – Differences Mitigating risk means taking an action either to ‘reduce the likelihood of the happening of a risk’ (an undesired event) or ‘to reduce the risk’s impact on the project’, and sometimes both (Risk and benefit management, 2010). On the other hand, contingency planning refers to the formulation and development of a response if the risk occurs. Mitigating a risk is a preventive action while contingency planning is of a reactive action. Formulating the mitigation strategies enables the project manager with a back up plan to be used if the risk occurs. It means the team is ready and is not bothered about the problem when the team thought was a risk has become a real issue faced by the project. Contingency planning is the creation of frameworks to be implemented by the project team when facing the adverse situation to reduce the impacts of the failure on the project’s growth and on its functions. 6.1 Trysting Tree Golf Club In the case of constructing the elevated tee box on the adjacent hillside, I would consult others, especially experts from the golf game before making any final decision. As the project is on the alterations of a sports’ field, there are some rules and regulations to be followed while completing the project. Regarding the new tee box, which is proposed to create in an elevated position on the adjacent hillside will bring the situation into increasing the distance to the 13th hole from 125-yard to 170 yards. This is an issue which is to be discussed with the professionals in this field. As wrong calculations of the distance to the pit will bring an utter confusion in playing the game, sufficient care must be taken to fix the problem. I also need to consult with the board of directors regarding making a change in the tee box. It is at the option of the board of directors to decide whether the distance must be increased on considering how the members of the club would react to the change. 6.2 Casino Night on campus On our charity campaign we had short listed our choices to two charitable organizations and finally came up with selecting the “Chunk of Coal House” to support with our contribution. As we could garner a net profit of $3,500 I was about to write a check to director of the organization when I heard that the organization has terminated its operations. So, I decide to contribute the money to the “St. Mary’s Soup Kitchen”, the second name we had on our list. I could take the decision of my own because there was not any necessary to consult with the other members as we had short listed the organizations to just two. When one of them was not applicable then the choice left is naturally to select the other one. There are not any chances of conflicts as all had agreed together in selecting these two organizations. 6.3 Product development project In such a situation, as I am the leader of the product development project I should consult the members of my team before making a recommendation. I should call a meeting for my project team and ask the opinion of each member of the team and should reach a consensus as each one of my team plays an important role in the process of developing the particular third-generation product. So I should arrive at a final decision which everyone can agree on. So I should present a recommendation to the top management only once the entire team has agreed on the recommendation. References Gray, C. F., Larson, E. W & Desai, G. V. (2010). Project Management: The Managerial Process. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Risk and benefit management: A balanced approach. (June 2010). Bridge Ideas. Retrieved from http://kkbiersdorff.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/risk-and-benefit-management-a-balanced-approach/ Why, what, how?: Scope & change control. (n.d). Epm Book.com. Retrieved from http://www.epmbook.com/scope.htm Read More