Project Risk & Quality Management

Organizations that undertake many projects have to be aware that risks can occur at any project phase. One of the vital knowledge that the Project Risk and Quality Management course offers is the strategic process or risk management that such organizations can follow. The first process is establishing the context. It is a stage that many organizations could overlook. However, it is vital because it gives the project manager a chance to establish how the risks occur (Edwards et al., 2020). Additionally, establishing the whole project’s context is crucial as the projects’ roles and significance are identified. Organizations have first to know the context in which the project is founded to identify the risks involved.

The second stage, which is identifying the risks, focuses on knowing the risks. Organizations can do this by using a team-based approach to consider different perceptions. Thirdly, the identified risks are analyzed to measure each risk’s significance for better allocation of funds. This stage is essentially done to adequate financing of each risk according to its relevance. The fourth stage evaluates the risks to assess which risk is likely to have a greater magnitude of severity or benefits. Organizations can perform this stage to determine the threats and opportunities of the risks. The next step is to respond to the risks. An organization is supposed to offer treatment options. The risks are responded to following the ranking identified in the evaluation stage. After that, the risks are then monitored to assess whether the treatments worked or not. Lastly, capturing project risk knowledge is a crucial stage where an organization needs to analyze lessons learned for a better risk management process in the future.

Even though an organization masters the whole process of risk management, one of the most critical factors for the process’s success is communication. The project stakeholders cannot complete a project if they are not sharing information (Demeritt & Nobert, 2014). Communicating the risk means sharing information, knowledge, suggestions, opinions, advice, and warnings. Due to this, there are several communication theories that project stakeholders can apply. The first theory is mechanistic communication theory, which relates to the message’s direction, the channel to use, the decoding devices, the sender, and the receiver. It is vital as communication entirely depends on such factors.

The second theory is the psychological theory of communication, which considers the project stakeholders’ perceptions and emotions about the risk. They should be able to communicate their perceptions of the project. Thirdly, technological theory helps the stakeholders to embrace the delivery system, transmission, and reception. Next is the sociological theory of communication that allows the parties involved in the touch to accept the messages they share. They become social with each other’s point of view. The last theory is the transactional perspective, where the stakeholders look at the benefit of the communication and the importance of feedback. Feedback is the most vital part of communication as it completes transmission and confirms that information has been shared (Hall et al., 2019). 

Project Risk and Quality Management courses are broad, and there are many things to capture. However, understanding the process of managing risks is the most critical section of the course as its ultimate goal is to help organizations manage risks while undertaking projects. Therefore, organizations must master the process and use effective communication for the success of the project.

References

Demeritt, D., & Nobert, S. (2014). Models of best practice in flood risk communication and management. Environmental Hazards, 13(4), 313-328. https://doi.org/10.1080/17477891.2014.924897

Edwards, P., Vaz Serra, P., & Edwards, M. (2020). Managing project risks. John Wiley & Sons.

Hall, C., Peleva, E., Vithlani, R., Shah, S., Bashyam, M., & Ramadas, M. et al. (2019). FEEDBACK: a novel approach for providing feedback. The Clinical Teacher, 17(1), 76-80. https://doi.org/10.1111/tct.13026