| The overall question of this research was: Does risk management make a difference? That is, do organizations that employ formal risk management practices outperform those that do not? Data collected from 175 web-survey respondents and 12 selective telephone interviewees from the Project Management Institute Risk Management Specific Interest Group answered this question in the affirmative.; The research was: exploratory, due to little project risk management survey data; descriptive, as it mapped current project risk management practices used by risk-sensitive project professionals; and, cross-sectional as the sample frame represented a wide range of risk management application areas—e.g., insurance, financial, operational, environmental, and occupational. The research goals were to: (1) Explore the scope of risk consideration in organization project operations; (2) Describe the project risk practices in organizations executing projects; (3) Assess the dynamics of current project risk management in organizations; (4) Learn the frequency of various risk management practices in projects; (5) Determine the impact of risk management practices on reported project management results; and, (6) Update reported project success rates.; The main findings of this research are: (1) A positive statistical correlation between reported senior management support for project risk management practices, actual practices and reported positive project management results within the traditional triple constraint. (2) A majority of the survey respondents report a formal organization-wide or work unit-based policy for project risk management. (3) Project risk management, adequate resource allocation and staff training for it, lag behind its visibility in organization policymaking and expressed concern. (4) Use of quantitative risk management tools is low. (5) Reported use of project team risk identification sessions is almost universal. (6) Risk practices maybe subsumed into general project control activities and not identified as risk practices per se. (7) Respondents may equate project management success with perceived customer satisfaction. (8) If risk sensitive project professionals report a gap between actual risk management practice and expressed official support, the state of project risk management beyond this community is probably only worse. Necessitating development of practical guidelines on how and when to implement project risk management practices.; Finally, future research should focus on how the role of senior management risk utility can be reflected in organization practices that forgive unsuccessful risk-taking. |
