Quantative Methods For Public Management (Research Paper Sample)

Name Email Address PA 5031 Section 02 Course Date Introduction As a freelance project manager, it’s my work to apply knowledge, tools, skills, and techniques to project activities so that I may meet the project requirements. Project management thus entails initiating, planning, monitoring, controlling, executing and closing on particular project activities. It is able to draw knowledge from areas such as integration, cost, human resource, quality, time, procurement, communication, scope, stakeholder’s management and risk management. The area in which I was able to win another bid from is the area of risk management in a military unit. Risk management thus involves the process of identifying, controlling and assessing risks which arise from operational factors and making proper decision on balancing the cost of risk with benefits of the mission (Hopkin, 105). In every organization or institution there exist risks, which come along with the normal running activities of an organization or institution. These risks can greatly influence a particular organization or institution in a great way; it all depends on the way the project manager has prepared themselves appropriately in a particular project of the organization or institution. An organization or institution thus should invest appropriately in professional project managers, who will be able to deliver accordingly and result in making the risk an advantage and thus benefiting. Failure to properly plan and project the risks associated in a particular organization or institution project, may lead to the company spending a lot of money on the project and at the end the project may fall and thus lead to lose of resources. However this can be prevented and handled effectively through following the proper risk management procedures and methods. Risk analysis is a process that requires both internally and externally ongoing communication to inform decision making (Hopkin, 108). This paper thus in much further details discusses risk management in a military unit, the description of the method, its three strengths, its three weaknesses, the application of its method, its solution and conclusion. Description of Method It is effective in all military routines to make the management of risk to be a priority since it assists in been ready and prepared for whatever comes on your way. From all around different army operations develop frameworks for risk management and thus able to sustain their enemies appropriately. Risk management should be implemented in the mission planning, execution and preparation. Risks decisions should be made by the authorized chain of command, thus giving no time for unnecessary risks. Through proper risk management in the military unit it assists in conserving resources, lives and avoiding risk which are unnecessary (Hopkin, 109). Risk management also facilitates in the proper identifying great and effective control measures, in which there are no specific standards available. With proper and effective risk management, they are able to come up with alternatives for missions, which assist them in accomplishing the mission though in a different way form the way it was originally planned. Risk management doesn’t interfere with the normal running of activities or the commander’s flexibility and initiative in managing the military unit (Hopkin, 110). It also means that, even though risk management will be effectively adopted and implemented, it doesn’t mean that all the risks altogether are removed. Risk management, doesn’t advocate for law violation in military units and thus takes into consideration the law when implementing and executing risk management. In addition, risk management doesn’t lead into the removal of standard drills, techniques, tactics and procedures during its planning and implementation. Risk management is a process rather than a single event. It involves various steps which should be followed so as to mitigate a given risk. The steps involved in risk management process: To start with there is identification of the hazard (Hopkin, 110). Hazard can be a threat, a danger of anything that puts something in a danger or a risk of being lost. During hazard identification it is wise to look on the following considerations complexity and the difficulty of the task, Equipment’s on disposal, Weather and visibility, time allocated for preparation as well as execution among others. Secondly one has the assignment of assessing the hazard to determine risk. In this case one can be able to know the various sources of risks in a given organization let it be in production line or a service industry. Some of the most common sources of risks in a project management include the following: Lack of functional input in to the planning phase, poor control of design changes, impossible schedule commitments, collision of projects, lack of recognition of a certain activity by top management, team work scheduling, overstretching of organization’s resources and many others (Lam, 88). Step one and two go and in hank conflicts, natural disasters, unforeseen regulatory requirements, unrealistic planning as well as execution. They comprise the risk assessment process. Hazard identification individuals are supposed to choose the hazards that are to be encountered during the elimination process. In the second step they determine the direct effect of each hazard on that given operation. Under these two steps there is high possibility of enhanced situational awareness. In project management the awareness allow for adequate time to take protective measures. Note that during risk assessment the risk assessment matrix can be used to estimate the degree of severity as well as the probability of each hazard. The third step involves development of controls and making risk decisions. In this step the team is adequately prepared to start the process of assessing the different solutions to mar risk or take the correct preventive measure. These questions involve answers to various questions like: What is the best thing to undertake to reduce the likelihood of this risk? Or what should we do to manage the risk? Or should the risk occur? After coming up with detailed answers to those questions the management or the team will therefore be tasked to develop a contingency plan or measures to preventive the occurrence of the risk. The ideas identified to reduce the likelihood of a risk would therefore be converted to tasks (Hopkin, 113). A short contingency plan can be drafted from those tasks identified to manage the risk if it occurs. The whole process described in this paragraph details on how to implement controls. The final step involves supervision of the whole process as well as well evaluating the process. Team leaders evaluate the process and can also review the process for future concerns. Strengths and weaknesses According to Hegarty et al (65), risk management offers a good number of benefits for any organization leave alone the military industry. One of the strengths of risk management is that it ensures that resources are best employed for their full utilization. With a clear plan for risk handling then placing resources in any level of employment is not subject to jeopardy as it is certain that any risk that occurs will be mitigated. Risk management is therefore said to be useful for planning under uncertainty. Operational risk management provides tools as well as techniques that have fully been validated through a range of safety-critical industry. There are concepts such as the concept of hazards, of detection factor, of consequence and likelihood, exposure and that of mitigation which can all be applied to military domain. They are not only applicable at the operational level, in which leaders use them to analyze the hazards as a result of tasks during a combat mission but also can be applied to obtain a view of the risks associated with operations in peacekeeping as well as the hazards faced by off-duty personnel (Hegarty et al, 67). The same concepts can be applied in determining the risk to the personnel with privately operated vehicles and chances of terror attacks. It is therefore a clear indication that the wide applicability of these concepts translates to the strength of the risk management plan. It is also a role of the risk management plan to provide for a framework for acquisition and procurement policy. For many of the planners, it is better to consider the hazards that may arise during specific development programs than putting emphases on the hazards related to the operations. It is therefore easy to evaluate the project risk in terms of likelihood and consequences in case of a failure to attain the requirements for the service on time and at the appropriate cost. With the project management concepts it is also possible to analyze the threats as a result of certain political development and hence mitigation strategies are developed to address any possible threats which leads to establishment of the necessary political and help prepare for future challenges in an uncertain environment (Hegarty et al, 69). In Hegarty et al (70) arguments, it is however true that some experiences show the difficulty in using risk assessment techniques to reliably inform decision making. These are the weaknesses of the risk management plans. The process of determining levels of risk can easily be flawed. The process of determine risk sometimes may combine the service requirements for individuals and generally report the data which may mask some specific critical facts. Inadequacy in the management of the inventory is also a weakness in the risk management. It is also difficult to assess accurately the potential risk in chemical and biological attacks to the national defense. A simple implementation of the risk assessment technique as a framework for decision ...