Question

You return to your office from a productive but lengthy status meeting with Marco Padula and Frank Gosselin to find several priority messages in your voicemail, including one from Samantha Reagan, the State Commerce Department Major Projects Oversight officer.

"Hi, it's Samantha Reagan from the state Commerce Department. Listen, I called because I've been talking with Frank Gosselin, who was telling me about your so-called risk ranking. Please help me understand how issues with the exterior face materials—a near certainty—could be ranked so low, when the entrance bridge design, which your own team says is less than half the likelihood, is ranked as one of the highest. How does this type of a mistake happen?

I doubt the hospital can afford a cost overrun and I know they have other contracts riding on the successful completion of this project. Risk is important to this project, and we cannot afford to handle risks in such a haphazard manner. Call me and explain as soon as possible, thanks."

You think about the message and ponder the alternative ways to respond. After looking again at the risk management plan, the risk register and the two particular risks she has raised, you jot down some notes.

Make and Support Your Choice

After considering Samantha’s inquiry about your risk rankings you decide to start out the call with one of these statements:

1. "Thanks for catching our error—we're really fortunate that you reviewed the risk register. I've made the proper adjustments. Would you like to become part of the risk response planning team?"

2. "It's a good question. Here's the reasoning: risk is not based only on likelihood—it's also a matter of impact. By paying attention to only one aspect of a threat, we rob ourselves of a more thorough and well-accepted way to measure the true 'score' of an individual threat."

3. "I appreciate your call, but this is really not your area of expertise. The team did what it is supposed to do, and we have our ways of ranking risks. You need to trust our project team's expertise, and I would further appreciate it if you left us to do our work and you do yours. I don't mean to sound harsh, but I respect my team's judgment."

What to Submit

Starting with one of the three statements above, write a transcript of about 250 to 300 words for your phone call with Samantha. Your transcript should be the opening statement chosen from above and then expand on it by addressing some of the key considerations in developing the Risk Register.

Answer 1

In this context, Samantha sent a voice call to an Oversight Officer, he told that we have to take Risk Management into consideration. He asked how issues with the exterior face materials. He also mentioned Risk Ranking. He has been asking how the mistake has happened. He mentioned that Risk Management is not done properly & he is anxious about it.

Then the other person thanked Samantha for considering risk rankings. Risk ranking is an approach used where a number of different inputs are used in an exposure assessment (i.e., different food groups) and the risk ranking can be used to assess which one has the highest associated risk. The other person also asked to join the planning team. The other person said"I appreciate your call, but this is really not your area of expertise. The team did what it is supposed to do, and we have our ways of ranking risks. You need to trust our project team's expertise, and I would further appreciate it if you left us to do our work and you do yours. I don't mean to sound harsh, but I respect my team's judgment."He was not trying to be harsh but was telling about the situation and how they have been managing risks.

Risk Management

Risk Management is about things going wrong and what operations can do to stop things going wrong. In this context, Samantha is worried about the things going wrong and he is expressing with the oversight officer. It is important because there is always a chance that things might go wrong. But recognizing that things will sometimes go wrong is not the same as ignoring, or accepting it as inevitable. General Operations Manager tries that things do not go wrong.

There are four types of risks, namely operational risk, financial risk, environmental risk, and reputational risk.

What does a risk register do? Key Considerations

• 1. Identify
• 2. Describe
• 3. Impact
• 4. Respond
• 5. Prioritize
• 6. Ownership
• 7. Notes