MSG Team's other articles

11542 The Rise of E-Sports

Competitions such as the FIFA World Cup and Olympics are some of the biggest sporting events in terms of revenue. However, these events are based on physical sports such as football and athletics that are played in the real world. However, the world seems to be changing rapidly. Just like there are global competitions in […]

11349 Sourcing Strategies and Procurement Processes

Not long ago, purchase function was seen to be a desk job, monotonous paper work, dull and passive and more of an administrative function. The purchase managements were the fall guys whose only aim was to keep feeding shop floor and avoiding stock out situation. Today the situation has changed totally. Procurement function is considered […]

11452 Supply Chain Network Design & Contributing Factors

Designing Supply Chain Network for each industry or business involves arriving at a satisfactory design framework taking into all elements like product, market, process, technology, costs, external environment and factors and their impact besides evaluating alternate scenarios suiting your specific business requirements. No two supply chain designs can be the same. The network design will […]

9508 Growth and Evolution of Organizations

It is very interesting to study how Organizations and Businesses grow, evolve, change, mature and also decline over a period of time. Organizations are very similar to living entities that respond, react and evolve in relation to the external and internal environment that surrounds them. The survival and growth is entirely dependent upon the continuous […]

11225 Selecting 3PL Service Partner

When an Organization chooses to outsource its inventory management services, the project success hinges on choosing the right partner because the stakes in a warehouse management projects are very high. Besides the impact on the other functions like manufacturing or markets, the third party service provider is the custodian of your inventory which meaning your […]

Search with tags

  • No tags available.

What is Risk ?

Having the best people execute the plan does not guarantee success. There are a host of external factors which may play a role in determining the outcome regarding whether a project has been successful or not. These are called Project risks. The formal definition of a risk is an event or occurrence that may negatively impact the project.

Risks can be mitigated and even prevented. However this requires a good amount of understanding of the risks and advance planning. It is for this reason that DMAIC methodology in Six Sigma has risk assessment as an inbuilt step. You cannot ignore it if you truly follow the DMAIC philosophy.

To better understand risks, it is essential that we understand that risks fall into categories. The major categories of risk are as follows:

  • Stakeholder Risk: Stakeholders are people who have any kind of vested interest in the performance of the project. Common examples of stakeholders are as regulators, customers, suppliers, managers, customers etc. Stakeholder risk arises from the fact that stakeholders may not have the inclination or the capabilities required to execute the project.

  • Regulatory Risk: An organization faces several kinds of regulations. It faces rules from the local and state government where they operate. It faces rules of the national government where it operates. It also faces rules of international trade bodies. To add to all this there are internal regulations which have been put into place for better internal governance and avoiding fraud. The Six Sigma team has to ensure that the project does not adversely affect the compliance towards these risks in any way whatsoever.

  • Technology Risk: Many times the solution proposed by the project requires implementation of a new technology. However the organization may not be in a position to acquire these technologies due to financial or operational constraints. This poses obvious risks to the project as it can adversely affect the implementation of the proposed solution.

  • External Risk: The execution of a project requires help and support from several outside vendors as well. The dependence on these vendors poses obvious risk to the execution of the project. These vendors lie outside the direct control of any organization. The organization may have very little ways to predict issues arising from external sources.

  • Execution Risk: The project also faces risk of not receiving continued support from the organization. This is because the organization may discover better use of their resources in the additional time. It is also likely that the project may be poorly scoped causing it to spill over leading to wastage of resources prompting the management to abandon the project.

An experienced six sigma team will usually give the risk assessment part to its most capable member. The better prepared the risk assessment plans, the better chance the organization has of successfully implementing that project.

Article Written by

MSG Team

An insightful writer passionate about sharing expertise, trends, and tips, dedicated to inspiring and informing readers through engaging and thoughtful content.

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Articles

Step 1: Collect and Review Primary Information

MSG Team

Step 4: Develop a Business Case for your Project

MSG Team

Project Charter – Meaning, Importance and its Elements

MSG Team