Verified Document

Project Manager, What Is Your Opinion About Essay

¶ … project manager, what is your opinion about risk-Taking? It is impossible to characterize risks as 'good' or 'bad.' The question is if the risks of the project are outweighed by the potential gains the project may offer. "Taking big risks can be beneficial to a firm that is able to accept them because it enables opportunity. For this reason, risk must be defined as including the probability of both good and bad outcomes" (Kwak & LaPlace 2005: 691). Risk-taking is an essential component of business, given that the future is always unknown. Yet the project manager must do all he or she can plan for likely future scenarios to mitigate unnecessary risks and ensure that the risks that are undertaken are likely to benefit the organization, improve its fortunes, and cause minimal harms.

It is vital that risk-taking does not become a 'cover up' for sloppy planning. Allowing a project to go over-budget and over-time is not an example of a positive risk, given that nothing is gained: rather, this is an example of mismanagement. In contrast, using a new form of technology to complete the project or a new technique might be a risk but could yield potential savings for the company. The ability to know when to take risks is often...

"Risk is not tangible or visible, therefore, managers' risk perceptions in a particular project varies by risk characteristics and project's internal and external environment" (Kwak & LaPlace 2005: 691).
Q2. Do you think the degree to which a project can take risks depends upon the project environment and organisational culture?

Although some people try to calculate risk and its likelihood in a scientific fashion, in truth, the willingness to take risks is often a character trait more than it is exact calculation. Furthermore, the organizational culture must be supportive of risk-taking and encourage project managers to 'think outside the box' rather than to follow tried, tested, and formulaic approaches. One way that an organization can support risk-taking is allowing managers to fail -- by not penalizing managers who take positive, justified risks, managers will be more likely to be experimental, versus an organization which takes punitive action against such employees.

There are also certain intangible elements which can give rise to a more risk-taking profile for…

Sources used in this document:
Bibliography

Kwak, Y.H. & LaPlace, K.S. 2004. Examining risk tolerance in project-driven organization.

Technovation, 25 (2005) 691 -- 695. Available:

http://home.gwu.edu/~kwak/Risk_Tolerance.pdf
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Project Manager for an Engineering Firm: Job
Words: 1263 Length: 4 Document Type: Essay

Project Manager for an Engineering Firm: Job Description As a project manager for an engineering firm, I am under no illusion whatsoever that my job will be an easy one. This is more so the case given the project intensive nature of engineering industries. In an attempt to enhance my understanding of my prospective job position, I come up with a detailed job description for the aforementioned position. Job Description Roles and Responsibilities Project

Project Manager Politics and Project
Words: 1049 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

There is a delicate balance there between natural leadership abilities and office politics, and the employee who crosses it often finds himself or herself ostracized from the group because of the idea that he or she tried to 'take over' the group. In truth, though, that take over had to come from somewhere if the project was to be completed on time and correctly. A project can be completed without

Project Manager, the Most Important
Words: 2192 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

Following the discussion presented in the paragraphs here above, we may conclude that, as a risk factor, a decision made by the customer that would imply modifying the initial requirements of the projects would have direct implications in terms of time, resources and scope used on the project, mainly due to the need to relocate and rethink the original plan of the project, increasing time and human resource initially spent

IT Project Manager Information Technology Is a
Words: 580 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

IT Project Manager Information Technology is a very wide area that needs technical expertise and up-to-date knowledge on the latest innovations and developments. Technology is very dynamic and the technology developers are unveiling more user friendly systems on a daily basis making Information Technology Industry very competitive. Through the use of Technology, information sharing has become an easy task as news on the latest technological advancements is shared with the rest

Advice for a Project Manager Moving to India
Words: 1084 Length: 4 Document Type: Project

COVID and Project Management in IndiaAs the world continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, countries are implementing a variety of protocols and measures to try and contain the spread of the virus. In India, this has included a nationwide lockdown, as well as a number of restrictions on movement and social interaction. For project managers in India, these measures have presented a unique set of challenges. In some cases,

Project Management of Provision Healthcare
Words: 1032 Length: 3 Document Type: Term Paper

The scope is also made flexible to adapt to any incoming changes that may impact the company in near future. A single line for management of communication must be established, Dual management lines make communications more difficult to manage. When team members receive conflicting instructions from project and functional managers, time and effort are wasted clarifying the communication. The team might be unable to react fast enough to meet changing project

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now