Project Management - Risk Management

There are some factors to consider when identifying risk in a project. A risk is known as some future happening that results in a change in the environment. It has associated with it a loss that can be estimated, a probability that the event will occur, which can be estimated, and a choice on the projects manager's part as to what to do, if anything, to mitigate the risk and reduce the loss that will occur.

During the project planning process, the risk assessment which is normally completed during the development of the Business Case is reviewed and updated by the project team. Risk assessment is formalized subjective assessment of the probability of project success. Risk assessment has an obvious impact on the management style, team structure, use of methodology, strategies for system development, and, most importantly, the business decision to approve the project.

Simply, the greater the risk of the project, the higher the probability that estimates, schedules, and planning will be incorrect and that the project will move "out of control". The risk of a project can be established by considering the following criteria;

Project Management - Risk Management

What are the risks? What is the probability of loss that results from them? How much are the losses likely to cost? What might the losses be if the worst happens? What are the alternatives? How can the losses be reduced or eliminated? Will the alternatives produce other risks?

The business decision is to assess how the expected loss compares to the cost of defraying all or some of the loss and then taking the appropriate action.

It is mandatory that, throughout the system development process and especially during project planning, the project manager consider these project risk criteria using a formal questionnaire and develop a risk mitigation list. If the project manager considers the combination of any of these factors is significant and contributes to the degree of risk of the project, he or she is encouraged to consider the following actions;

Take steps to limit the scope of the project to reduce its complexity Document the areas of complexity in the Project Plan and allow for additional time/resources Raise a formal Risk Memorandum that details the high-level factors, identifies their possible impact and actions/options available to reduce that impact or reduce the risk factor.

It is imperative that the management of project risk is seen as a proactive process. For example, prior to the commencement of the full development cycle, the project manager should negotiate with the Steering Committee, key stakeholders and sponsor to minimize the high-risk factors.

To increase the likelihood of project success, the project team must put in place a program that identifies risks and steps to mitigate that risk. The management and minimization of project risk is the responsibility of all involved parties in the project.

Project Management - Risk Management
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CER1projectmanagement has been involved with Project Management since 1996, and has completed many varied and complex projects for both small and large organisations.

http://www.cer1projectmanagement.com provide informative articles, templates and other resources on everything you'll ever need to know about Project Management.

Successful Management - 10 Simple People Skills

Getting the best from your people is vital if you are to make the best progress in your business or organization. Much comes from the way you interact personally and here are just ten key actions to take to build great, fulfilling and productive relationships...

This might be a bit of a no-brainer for you.

If you have any role at all in managing people, you need to ensure that you develop great people skills.

Successful Management - 10 Simple People Skills

By building rapport, you will develop ongoing, productive relationships with all of your people, which will give you an enormous return on the efforts you put in.

Here are ten things you can do, all of them easy, which will remarkably change the response you get from your people, the key asset you have in your business or organization:-

Just Have Conversations About anything! Talking to and more importantly, listening to your people regularly and informally is a great asset. It doesn't matter what it's about, Your understanding of them and their trust in you will magnify if you devote priority time to this each and every day. Listen & Show you are Listening Take the time to really listen to each of your people, rather than just tell. If you truly hear, they will respond. Hearing is more - it is about what you do with the stuff you've listened to. And by using your face, your body language, eye contact and what you say (see 3 below), you will go a long way to showing that you are listening closely. Ask Another Question Such a simple tactic. Ask secondary questions about what you've been told. Nothing, but nothing builds rapport and relationships like this. It shows that what they have been telling you is valuable, is interesting and builds their confidence. And you have been there to make that happen. Support Your people need you to help them along the way. With your support, they will flower and grow. Support is what they hear from you - it works both ways. Coach Don't get bogged down with technicalities. Coaching is about helping them see where they want to get to from where they are now. It's about exploring the possibilities - their possibilities, not yours and calling to action. Simple as that. Clear Expectations By ensuring that all your people know exactly what you expect of them, they will tune in to delivering it. Confusion over performance is demoralizing and saps energy. Take the time to be clear. Pay attention In any conversation with your people, take the time to give your full attention. Do your utmost to avoid being interrupted or distracted and truly value them for what they are saying to you - or the message you are giving them. Show an Interest in Them These are real people and if you delve a little, it will show up. Having a real interest in who they are, their hopes and fears, their passions and what's important to them makes a big, big difference to how they perceive you. Get to know the name of their dog, if their dog is their most prized possession! Follow Through During conversations you may offer actions that will be of value to them. Responses to what they have said to you. Make sure that you deliver these. Follow up and report back. Take actions you say you will. If you can't, tell them why. Remember Conversations When you have subsequent conversations, recall something that was said previously and bring it up. This is hugely rewarding for them and lets them know that they said something of value.

Great managers really understand their people and work out ways to get the best out of every one of them.

Maximizing value from the most valuable asset you have in your business.

Your people.

Successful Management - 10 Simple People Skills
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(c) 2008 Martin Haworth is the author of Super Successful Manager!, an easy to use, step-by-step weekly development program for managers of EVERY skill level. You can get a sample lesson for free at http://www.SuperSuccessfulManager.com

Risk Management in Business

In everything that we do there is always a certain amount of risk. An individual cannot achieve his goals without risking something. The same is true in business. No matter what the nature of the business there is always risk. We cannot totally eliminate risk in business but we can control it. This is what we term as risk management.

Risk management plays a crucial role in business and knowing how to calculate and handle these risks can keep your business safe and healthy. Having your own business can be a lot better and beneficial than being someone else's employee but it does carry some risks. Starting your own business does not assure you that your business will succeed, let alone grow. So how do you manage your risk? You can start by educating yourself about the business that you want to venture into. Having a clear understanding and knowledge of how to properly start the business and how to manage it properly is a good place to start. Next, you would want to assess your risk should you go into business. You have to identify the potential problems that you might encounter once your business is operational already. By doing so you will be able to prepare a contingency plan for it long before it happens. You'll need to identify the different government agencies and bureaus that are directly concerned with your business. You would also want to learn about business law, especially those which directly affect your business. The more you know about the laws concerning your venture the better off you will be. The more potential problems you identify and the more contingency plans you have the lower the risk.

How do you calculate risk? There's no specific formula for calculating risk in business. The same means does not assure you of the same outcome all the time. Every time you start a business even if you've had the same type of business before does not assure you that you will be facing the exact same problems as you did in your previous business. Every venture will present you a unique set of problems plus the problems you've encountered before. Calculating your risk is like an educated estimate. You try to identify your problems and you prepare your contingency plans; for every potential problem you identify you would like to have at least more than one solution. It's always better to have a plan B when plan A fails. Think of it as an emergency parachute when your main chute fails. Your potential problems will range from finances, to personnel, to marketing to operations and more. These are some of the factors that comprise your risk as you go into business.

Risk Management in Business

In general terms, the smaller the capital, the smaller the risk and the larger the capital, the higher the risk; your risk factor grows relative to your capitalization. On the other hand however, high risk ventures also mean high returns should the venture turn out well. It is essential that you conduct a proper feasibility study before you start project development. A feasibility study is a good way to assess your risk as well as find out if your idea is feasible. So you start with an idea, you conduct a feasibility study and then you assess your risk. Now that you've assessed your risk, you can start to manage it.

Risk Management in Business
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Risk Workshops

One of the most powerful tools available to the project manager is the collective knowledge of the project team. A project manager's success or failure on a project is determined, to some extent, by how well they use this tool. This is particularly true in the case of risk management. Sure there are other sources the project manager can turn to when searching for information on the risks their project faces. Information is available from professional associations, consultants, government organizations, historical databases, and risk management artifacts from previous projects. These are all valuable sources of information but they will not provide you with information specific to your project. Even if they could, they would not be able to provide you with information specific to your project, and your project team. The best source for that information is from the project team.

The team combines the knowledge they have of your project, its goals, objectives, schedule, tools, and technology which you provide with the knowledge and experience they have gained from projects they have worked on in the past. This combination is what enables them to identify the risks your project faces, their relative probability, and impact to the project if they should happen. They will also be able to identify the strategies that will be effective in your organization, for your project.

Brainstorming
Risk workshops rely on brainstorming techniques to make the collective team knowledge greater than the sum of its parts. To brainstorm effectively a team must be physically together, either in one room or several rooms, depending on the size of the team. This means that Risk Workshops need the team to be collocated to succeed. The only exception to this is when a project team consists of several sub-teams with different responsibilities and the sub-teams are collocated although each sub-team is situated in a different location.

Risk Workshops

This is not an article about brainstorming but you do have to understand the concept in order to run a Risk Workshop. We'll run through the basics here (sort of a quick Wikipedia rundown) and then tell you how to apply them to the Risk Workshop.

Brainstorming relies on group creativity to produce a large volume of ideas devoted to the solution of a problem. In order to generate a large volume of ideas and to ensure that the ideas generated benefit from group participation, the following ground rules need to be enforced:

Everyone must participate. The idea is to generate a large quantity of ideas so no possibility is missed. Every participant must contribute to meet this objective. The general purpose of quantity in brainstorming is to produce the best solution to the problem. We state the purpose a little differently for risks. We want to ensure that every possible risk our project faces is identified. Criticism must be withheld until a later stage. Criticism of ideas as they are articulated by session participants will inhibit the contribution of ideas. There will be those that will not be fazed by criticism of their ideas while others will be shamed into silence. Don't allow this to happen. "Outside the box" thinking should be encouraged. This means that the team must bring fresh perspectives on project risk into the room. Inhibitors such as "we've never had that happen to us before", or "that strategy wouldn't work in this organization" should be left at the door. Outside the box thinking is what will bring the team members' experience outside the organization to bear on the problem. Improve on the session outcome by combining and improving ideas. During brainstorming sessions you will hear one risk event described by several participants in different ways (usually about one per participant). These descriptions should be combined into one risk event description. Group discussion of mitigation strategies can combine several good strategies into one great one.

Preparation
Your first step will be to select the participants to the workshop. While it would be nice to have everyone in the organization contribute to your session, it would be very expensive and they probably wouldn't all fit in one room. Choose the participants carefully so that every aspect of the project is covered without overcrowding. You should have representatives for each project phase at the workshop and each skill set should be represented. Each of the key deliverables should also be represented. Analyze your project to determine how many unique deliverables you have. Where different skill sets are called upon to produce the deliverable, have at least one representative for each skill set involved. Where the same skill sets produce several deliverables, the deliverables can be represented by one team member per skill set.

Take into consideration the size of the room you choose to host the event. Participants should be made comfortable which means adequate seating, access to desks or tables, etc. Use more than one room and session to accommodate groups too large to fit comfortably into the available rooms. You can use a main room to kick the event off and then break the group up into sub-teams situated in smaller rooms if you wish. There is no one optimal group size for brainstorming. You will need to look at your project team and the available rooms to host your event and choose the group that is optimal for your project.

Schedule the session well in advance to allow the invitees time to juggle their schedules and make room for the workshop. Put the event right in participants' calendars where possible so there is no possibility of conflict. You should send a formal invitation to the participants which includes a description of the risk workshop, the objectives for the workshop, and what will take place. Workshop objectives will be:

A list of risk event descriptions. Risk events can either be threats to the project or opportunities for the project to exceed expectations. A prioritized list of risks based on the probability of the risk event happening and the impact to the project if it does happen. A list of mitigation strategies, at least one for each risk that exceeds the project risk threshold. I'll explain risk thresholds a little later in this article. One mitigation strategy might serve more than one risk so the number of strategies does not necessarily have to exceed the number of risks.

Participants should be educated about the project. The education should include a description of at least the major deliverables of the project, the key goals and objectives, key milestones, tools and techniques, assumptions, and constraints. The reason for doing this is twofold: to prepare the participants in advance and to improve production from those folks who will refuse to share an idea unless they have thoroughly analyzed it and are sure it will not be criticized. You can deliver this information in the meeting invitation or as an attachment to it.

There will be 3 distinct segments in your workshop:

Risk identification and grouping Risk evaluation or prioritization Risk mitigation strategy identification

You should plan on separating each of these segments with a break. You may even want to break the workshop up into 2 or even 3 sessions on as many different days, depending on the size and complexity of your project and the number of participants. Don't plan on working more than 1.5 - 2.0 hours without a break. If you are planning on having participants available for the day, plan refreshments for breaks and lunch. The more rested and refreshed your participants are, the more productive they will be. Include the timeline for each of the segments in your invitation. The invitation will not be in the form of a meeting agenda but should indicate the major segments and the time reserved for each.

You'll need some stationery supplies for your workshop. Provide the workshop with sticky notes to capture risk descriptions and mitigation strategy descriptions. Provide each participant with a pad of these. Participants will also need a felt tip pen for writing. You'll need a laptop with MS Excel to capture the information in your risk register. You'll also need a projector to present information to the team. The room should also have a whiteboard. I'll explain how these are to be used in my description of the workshop.

The risk register from a previous project, an industry checklist, or a list of risk events taken from a previous project's Lessons Learned can stimulate thinking on the team. Examine this material for relevance to your project. Only include this information if was derived from a similar project. A risk checklist for a construction project is of little use to a software development project and vice versa. Keep in mind that the objective is to stimulate thought and even when a risk event is not directly related to your project, it might stimulate a participant to think of one that is.

Finally, you will want to send out a meeting reminder especially if you sent the original invitation well in advance. Include all the information from the original invite in the reminder, or at least a link to that information just in case any participants ignored it the first time around.

Facilitators
Professional facilitators, especially those with experience in conducting Risk Workshops, will greatly benefit your workshop. Check on the availability of a facilitator if your project budget can afford one. The first place to start is within your own organization. Does your PMO have a facilitator, or project manager with experience in facilitating these meetings? Does another group in your organization have one? Look outside the organization when it cannot offer one. You will have to fill the role of facilitator if you can't find one, or the project budget will not accommodate one.

The Workshop (Phase I)
You're going to use a model of the project for the participants to attach their sticky notes. The best form of model is a timeline which depicts the major project milestones on a timeline. The major deliverables should also be depicted. You can make the icon you use to represent the deliverable cover the entire build window or place it on the timeline where it is to be delivered. Using a room with a whiteboard will allow you to draw the graph directly. Use flip chart paper, draft paper or any other large paper form if your room lacks a whiteboard, and tack the paper up in the front of the room. Draw your project graph on the paper.

Introduce the workshop with an overview of the project, the key goals, objectives, deliverables, milestones, constraints, and assumptions. I know, this is the same information I told you to include on your invitation and reminder, but repeating this information at the beginning of the workshop will refresh everyone's memory. There will also be those who simply won't have read the information because of a disinclination or because they didn't have the time. Introduce the facilitator, if you are fortunate enough to have acquired one. They will go over the workshop format, goals and objectives. Describe the workshop, timelines, goals, and objectives to the team if you are serving as the facilitator. Don't forget the basics in your pre-oration. I mean things like the washroom locations, break times, coffee machines, etc., etc. Finish your introduction with the workshop rules. The rules should include:

No criticism of another's ideas Each participant must produce at least one risk event description Everyone should participate in discussions No outside interruptions Cell phones, iPhones, and Blackberries must be turned off, or set to vibrate

Now set the team to work. Have each team member write out a description of a risk event on the sticky note pad they have been provided. The more risk events they can describe, the better. Have them place the sticky note on the graph on the deliverable or milestone they are applicable to. This segment will be finished when no-one is placing sticky notes on the graph.

The next segment requires the participants to examine the risk event descriptions for duplicates. Where they believe a risk event description is the same as, or similar to, another description they should place the sticky notes on top of one another. Allow the participants to move the sticky notes where they believe they have been assigned to the wrong deliverable or milestone. Where a sticky is moved more than once, it is very likely that more than one milestone or deliverable is susceptible to the same risk event. Copy the original event description on another sticky and apply the sticky to both.

The exercise will also produce a fair degree of movement of sticky notes between groups. Watch for disagreements about which group a risk event belongs to. Excessive movement of the sticky will be one indicator of a disagreement. Take the participants involved aside and determine the cause of the disagreement. Disagreements can arise for a variety of reasons: different understandings of the risk event, different experience, different skill sets, etc. You (or the facilitator) are the arbiter. Make the call so as not to embarrass either participant. There are no right or wrong answers, simply the one you think is the best for the project. It is possible that the disagreement has arisen over two different risk events sharing the same description. Have one or the other of the participants write a new description and assign it to the competing group where this is the case.

This step is complete when all the discrepancies have been reconciled and the risk event descriptions grouped. The next step is to review the groups of sticky notes and determine which describe the same risk event. The best way to tackle this task is to break the team into groups and have each group take responsibility for a project phase, deliverable, or milestone. How you divide the work up will depend on the size of the team and the number of sticky notes. The objective should be to rationalize the sticky notes eliminating duplicates and creating a new risk event description to replace several descriptions of the same risk event. Make sure that in doing this step, no risk event is lost.

All the risk event descriptions should find their way into your risk register. This can be done in several ways. You can have the groups elect a spokesperson who articulates each risk event description to you (and the rest of the team) as you type it into the register. You can type in the risk event descriptions into your register while the team is having its break. You could provide each group with a copy of the register and have the group type it in. The advantage of having the groups articulate each risk event description to you is the tendency this will have to stimulate conversation - this is still a brainstorming session. The advantage of typing them in on your own is the reduction in the time the team spends in the workshop. Choose a strategy that best suits your circumstances.

The next segment deals with prioritizing the risks. The exercise requires the team to assign a score to each risk event based on the probability that the event will happen and the impact to the project if it does happen. Don't worry about quantifying the risk in terms of cost at this point. The objective of the exercise is to prioritize the risks against one another.

There are many different ways of doing this. I'll describe one that should work for any project. Post each risk event description on the graph in advance of this exercise; this is an ideal time for the team to take a break. The descriptions should be written out so that they are easily read. Next, choose a scoring system. Numeric systems are best for this exercise as they make comparisons easier than a high, medium, low system. 1 through 9 should be the only numbers used for probability as 0 means the event cannot happen and 10 means that it must happen. Have the team assign each risk a score, from 0 to 10 by writing their score on a sticky note which they will attach to the risk being scored. The score should be an average of the assigned scores. Check the scores to identify any 0s or 10s and get clarification on the reason for the score. Anything the team deems impossible (a 0) should be discarded. Anything the team deems a certainty (a 10) should be further analyzed to determine why the team views it as part of the plan.

The next step is to have the team perform the same exercise for impact on the project. Impact should be measured against one of the project's key objectives in the areas of budget, quality, schedule, and scope. Use the same method you used to measure probability scores.

Risk Tolerance Threshold
A key part of your risk management plan ought to be the establishment of a "risk threshold". The threshold is an indicator of the project sponsor's appetite for risk. Using the same scale used for measuring probability and impact in the workshop will make your task easier. The risk threshold is a PxI (probability times impact) score above which a risk should be mitigated and below which a risk will be accepted without mitigation.

The next workshop phase will require the team to devise mitigation strategies to manage the risks they identified in phase I so in the intervening time you need to compare the scored risks (PxI) against the project risk threshold and identify those which will be accepted. Accepted risks will not be analyzed by the team identifying mitigation strategies.

The Workshop (Phase II)
Now that you have your list of risks to be mitigated, it's time to put the team back to work. Preserve the whiteboard or graph paper you used in Phase I. This will be the bulletin board the team will post their mitigation strategies to. The objective is to identify the most effective mitigation strategies to deal with the risks to be managed. This is an exercise that will lend itself to dividing the team up into groups with a limited number of risks to analyze. The more time a group spends on each mitigation strategy, the more effective the strategy is likely to be. Try dividing the risks up into deliverables but make sure that each group contains a cross section of skill sets so that the chances for innovative thinking are increased.

Have the groups write their proposed mitigation strategies on different colored sticky note paper. You will probably want to use a larger size than for risk descriptions as the description of the strategy may be more complex than that of the risk event. When each group has posted at least one sticky note on each of their risks, have the groups examine their mitigation strategies against the risks outside their assigned risks. Where a strategy can be used to mitigate more than one risk, have the group copy the strategy onto additional sticky notes and post these to the risks.

Review the strategies as they are being posted to ensure your understanding. Get clarification where you are unsure of actions to be taken or who will be responsible for the actions. Ask the group to identify triggers where the strategy is a contingency plan.

Describe the next steps at the conclusion of your workshop. Stakeholders who make a contribution to the project will be curious to know how their contribution will be used and deserve to know that their time will not be wasted.

Next Steps
Now that you've gotten a base of possible risk events and mitigation strategies, you'll need a place to store the information so that it can be accessed and used to manage project risks. This will be a spreadsheet, or workbook containing several spreadsheets, unless your organization has invested in a database or other risk management software application. Make sure that all the information produced at the workshop is captured, even those risks which will not be mitigated.

You will need to assess the cost of the mitigation strategies and determine whether they fit within the budget assigned to risk management, or the overall project budget. Each mitigation strategy should be accompanied by a mini business case which answers the question "does the value of the risk reduction realized by the mitigation strategy exceed the cost of implementing that strategy?" Mitigation strategies that have a good business case should get implemented, those that don't may not.

Strategies that get implemented will be captured in the WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) as the work is identified and broken down. This will require the risk to be tracked in 2 places, the MS Project file and the Risk Register. Risks should be reviewed periodically to ensure that mitigation strategies are still effective, to identify new risks, and to identify obsolete risks.

Wrap-up
The Risk Workshop should also serve as a team building exercise. To this end, make sure that team members are all introduced to one another and that the group enjoys the exercise. You may want to engage an HR representative in the workshop to handle the team building aspects. Although this is not primarily a team building exercise, don't overlook the opportunity to build the team.

You are ultimately responsible for managing risks to your project so that it delivers on its promises. Using the collective knowledge of your team should provide you with a solid base of information about risks. You should not overlook risks that the team cannot see because they do not have your overall view of the project. Add your own risks to the risk register. You may be able to do this as a participant in the workshop if you are lucky enough to have engaged a facilitator.

There are 2 significant risk scores: the PxI score before mitigation and the PxI score after mitigation. The PxI score post mitigation should be under the project's risk threshold. Measure these scores periodically to determine if the strategy is still effective. Changing conditions around the project will affect risk scores, both initial and residual, so you should constantly monitor the risks in your register.

You should run your workshop at the conclusion of the planning phase. At this point enough is known about the project work to identify risks, yet the bulk of the budget is still to be spent. You can repeat these workshops as often as you like during the course of the project, just keep in mind that the workshops cost money and may impact on your teams ability to deliver their work to schedule.

Risk Workshops certainly aren't for every project. For one thing, the brain storming approach lends itself to projects where team members are collocated so if you lead a project where resources are distributed over the globe you probably shouldn't consider the workshop. The key objectives of the workshop are to identify risks the project faces (or opportunities you should take advantage of) and to identify effective mitigation strategies for managing them. If you already have this information because your project is similar to ones done by your organization in the past and you have a wealth of historical information, or the information is available from another source such as a trade organization, government, or society then don't waste the teams valuable time going over old ground. If you think your project can benefit from a Risk Workshop you will probably identify all the significant risks to the project and have some fun along the way.

Risk Workshops
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Monavie Reveal Product Review - Is RVL Healthy Weight Loss Solution A Weight Management System?

In this article we are going to go behind the scenes and find out how the quest for Monavie Reveal got started. You are going to learn what motivated the company to pick weight loss as their next product line that will create more wealth for their distributors and set the company apart from any other company in the world.

Find out what the buzz is all about and what makes this different from the myriad of weight loss programs already he market. Is there really a healthy way to lose weight and keep it off? Does Monavie really have the answer the world has been waiting for? Is RVL healthy weight loss solution a weight management system?

Dr. Bernie Landis, President of the Scientific Advisory Board for Monavie was instrumental in creating the new weight management solution system, Reveal. The whole idea was to create the most innovative and effective system that ever has been brought to the marketplace to help the millions of obese people who are struggling to lose weight and/or eat healthier.

Monavie Reveal Product Review - Is RVL Healthy Weight Loss Solution A Weight Management System?

This will create another explosive wave for Monavie distributors. If you have a community already in place, you get an instant pay raise whenever a new product comes out, because most distributors are going to order the new product, as well as the ones they already order, because they love them and they work.

The company sent out a survey and asked what would be the distributors' preferences for a new product line. Survey says weight loss! Did you know over 77% of Americans are considered obese? That is a huge market share for Monavie distributors to go after.

How did the quest for Reveal get started?

The Monavie scientists scoured the earth in search of the best ingredients. They actually looked at every food, every food ingredient, concentrate, botanicals, and every compound that they thought could possibly play an important role in weight loss.

The goal was to create a system of products that will indeed provide the greatest amount of nutrients with the fewest amount of calories. Sounds like a winner to me. Even people who are not interested in losing weight are going to benefit by drinking this delicious shake or by eating a snack bar.

Instead of drinking sodium-laden canned food or processed lunch meats for lunch, you can treat yourself to a nutritious, delicious shake and/or snack bar. Why drink a can of Ensure, when you can drink something that is actually healthy for you and will taste great?

The System Has Three Components:

A Canister of Delicious Shake Mix

Convenient, Easy to use, mix with water, milk, throw some fruit in for variations

A Delicious Nutritious Snack Bar

A fruity, chewy bar with yogurt coating

A Dietary Supplement

Concentrated to provide greatest nutrient density

Ultra-concentration of the foods that were found to be the most beneficial in achieving and maintaining healthy weight long-term

Basically out of all the studies already done, they have confirmed long-term benefits from a healthy diet have been based on getting the greatest nutrient density with the least amount of calories associated with the products. With this system your body will be getting nutrients that it is not normally getting in your daily diet. There are more nutrients per calorie than any other food or product in the marketplace.

Monavie is in the business of making waves. This weight management system is going to put them in major competition with the big boys who already have a share of the weight loss market. Step aside, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, and Nutrisystem! There is a new kid on the block.

They have even designed a personal weight management website where you can track your daily food intake, exercise, weight, and measurements. Everyone wants to have the benefit of good health. Not only is this going to taste great, it is good for you also.

You are going to have tastier meal replacements which will cost less than a fast food dinner, not to mention the over-priced diet food laden with sodium, chemicals and preservatives. Some of the bags of food are even lined with aluminum and taste like aluminum when you are eating them, or if you are smart, before throwing them away like we did.

So next time you decide to pull up to a drive-in window, keep your hard-earned money in your pocket and drive away. Instead of saying supersize, drink your shake mix and have a snack bar and you will feel better about yourself and you will not supersize your hips.

This weight management system will work if you eat properly and get some exercise. You should also get plenty of sleep, because your body rebuilds itself while you sleep.

I would also recommend drinking one of their healthy functional beverages twice a day to get the equivalent of 13 fruit servings in antioxidants:

Active - for joint support and mobility

Pulse - has resveratrol and aids in weight loss. Plant sterols may lower your cholesterol.

(M)Mun - designed to support your immune system

When you are working out drink EMV energy drink Or EMV lite, with half the calories. It will give you sustained healthy energy without a crash and burn and the jitters which are nasty side effects from the popular energy stimulants on the market.

When you are ready to get started, take a photo of yourself and put it on the fridge. Also cut out some pictures of bodies or swimsuits that you like and put them on the fridge as well. When you feel like cheating, look at the pics and decide which one you are going to look like.

Then when you lose weight, you will have a picture to show people. Seeing is believing and if you are losing weight and feeling great, you are going to be able to get some customers as well. If you love the product, sign up as a distributor and make some money helping others lose weight as well.

Monavie Reveal Product Review - Is RVL Healthy Weight Loss Solution A Weight Management System?
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Next, after reading about the Monavie Weight Loss Solution System, you can get more information on Monavie products or find out how you can become a preferred customer or a distributor, by visiting http://www.AvoidtheTrainwrecks.com. For information on a leadership development system, please visit http://www.GetOnTeam.com

Pam Eppinette has over 30 years of business, sales and marketing experience and is a successful internet business owner, wellness and weight management consultant and TEAM leadership, life and business coach. Pam believes success is possible for those who want work from home with the right mentor and proven training system.

Asparagus and Kidney Stones

Asparagus and kidney stones seem to be a subject that is up in the air. Asparagus has been noted as beneficial to kidney stones and it has also been noted as being something to avoid if you have kidney stones. This controversy seems mainly due to the simple fact that there is more than one kind of kidney stones. It seems that if you have a certain type of kidney stone that you will want to go out of your way to avoid asparagus, as it will only worsen your condition. If you eat asparagus with the wrong type of kidney stones you may be setting yourself up for a surgical procedure when it could have been avoided. This is the most important detail when approaching the subject of asparagus and kidney stones.

The types of stones that can be dealt with using asparagus are known as uric acid stones. These stones form in urine that is simply too acidic. So, if you are prone to these sorts of stones you will want to steer clear of foods like spinach, rhubarb, sorrel, beet greens, chocolate, and even green tea. All of these foods are rich in oxalic acid which leads to the formation of uric acid stones. If you do happen to eat any of these foods, avoid eating these with foods that are high in calcium simultaneously.

If you do find that you have developed this type of kidney stone, this is the time to utilize the asparagus. At this time, other good foods to ingest are cherries, strawberries, apples and apple juice. These foods will help bring your urine to a more acceptable and less troublesome alkaline level. There is no particular recipe for preparing the asparagus when ingesting it for relief of this health problem. It can be eaten raw or prepared a number of ways. The only way of preparing this food that should be avoided is by steaming. Steaming is bad for any vegetable, as it steams the nutrients and other important dietary compounds right out of the vegetable.

Asparagus and Kidney Stones

Now, on the other hand, if you are being affected by stones that were formed by eating too many alkaline types of food, avoid asparagus! In this scenario, asparagus will irritate and worsen the problem rather than be of any help. Any foods like asparagus, cucumber, radish, tomato, spinach, rhubarb, or any other vegetables with strong aromas are a bad idea on this end of the spectrum.

If you are unsure about which stones you suffer from, save yourself some trouble and get to the doctor. Home remedies are great as long as you know exactly what you are dealing with. However, if you are being affected by kidney stones for the first time, you will want to get yourself tested to pin point the problem. It is much better to be safe than sorry in this situation. When you run the risk of potentially making your symptoms and condition worse, proceed with extreme caution for your own safety.

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What is Organizational Innovation?

Defining Innovation

Organizational innovation refers to new ways work can be organized, and accomplished within an organization to encourage and promote competitive advantage. It encompasses how organizations, and individuals specifically, manage work processes in such areas as customer relationships, employee performance and retention, and knowledge management.

At the core of organizational innovation is the need to improve or change a product, process or service. All innovation revolves around change - but not all change is innovative. Organizational innovation encourages individuals to think independently and creatively in applying personal knowledge to organizational challenges. Therefore, organizational innovation requires a culture of innovation that supports new ideas, processes and generally new ways of "doing business".

What is Organizational Innovation?

The Benefit of an Innovative Organization

In promoting a culture of innovation organizations should foster:

- Cross functional team building while discouraging silo building

- Independent, creative thinking to see things from a new perspective and putting oneself outside of the parameters of a job function

- Risk taking by employees while lessening the status quo

The value and importance of knowledge and learning within organizational innovation is crucial. If innovation is about change, new ideas, and looking outside of oneself to understand ones environment, then continuous learning is a requirement of organizational innovation success.

The value of learning and knowledge can only be realized once put into practice. If new organizational knowledge doesn't result in change, either in processes, business outcomes, or increased customers or revenues, then its value hasn't been translated into success.

The road to organizational innovation lies in the ability to impart new knowledge to company employees and in the application of that knowledge. Knowledge should be used for new ways of thinking, and as a stepping stone to creativity and toward change and innovation.

Steps to Innovation

To determine how supportive your current environment is in fostering innovation read the frequently asked questions and answers below, about how to build an organizational culture that encourages innovation.

1) Is a climate of innovation supported by senior management?

a. That means, that such activities as risk taking and small ad hoc work groups that brainstorm and talk through ideas need to be promoted, supported and encouraged in the organization.

2) Do managers routinely identify and bring together those individuals more oriented toward innovation those willing to think new ideas and act on them?

a. Identifying new thinkers and individuals oriented toward change helps to ensure an outlet for innovation by supporting these individuals and giving them and like-minded colleagues the time and opportunity to think creatively. This is tantamount to becoming an innovative organization.

3) Is there a process in place monitoring innovation teams and identifying what has and hasn't worked as a result of them?

a. Maintaining and monitoring innovation is important. This requires checks and balances that identifies how innovation is developed and managed and processes that capture what did or didn't work. In order to be able to continue to innovate in a changing environment, continually monitoring the internal and external environment to determine what supports or hinders innovation is key.

4) How can an organization be strategic and focused on it goals yet build and develop an innovative culture?

a. The value of a strategic focus remains important to a company's success. In fact, clear direction and understanding of a company's mission can help fuel innovation - by knowing where in the organization innovation and creativity would provide the most value. An innovative organizational culture creates a balance between strategic focus, and the value of new ideas and processes in reaching them.

5) Is there a single most important variable or ingredient that fuels an organization toward an innovative culture?

a. Similar to other successes of an organization, what drives innovation are the people of the organization. First, management must set the expectation of innovation and creativity and then "doing business" is about how to improve processes, products and customer relationships on a day-to-day basis. This mindset itself will create an ongoing culture of innovation.

What is Organizational Innovation?
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With 20 years experience as a business and learning needs analyst, Ruth offers a strategic business approach to learning. Ruth's knowledge of adult learning methodologies, and strong analytical skills, ensures she quickly understands the "big picture" of how business goals align to learning.

Importance of Supply Chain Management in Modern Businesses

Supply Chain Management (SCM) as defined by Tom McGuffog is "Maximising added value and reducing total cost across the entire trading process through focusing on speed and certainty of response to the market." Due to globalization and ICT, SCM has become a tool for companies to compete effectively either at a local level or at a global scale. SCM has become a necessity especially for manufacturing industry when it comes to deliver products at a competitive cost and at a higher quality than their competitors. Here are some of the reason SCM has become important to today's manufacturing industry:-

Competitive Edge through Core Competencies

Today's business climate has rapidly changed and has become more competitive as ever in nature. Businesses now not only need to operate at a lower cost to compete, it must also develop its own core competencies to distinguish itself from competitors and stand out in the market. In creating the competitive edge, companies need to divert its resources to focus on what they do best and outsource the process and task that is not important to the overall objective of the company. SCM has allowed company to rethink their entire operation and restructure it so that they can focus on its core competencies and outsource processes that are not within the core competencies of the company. Due to the current competitive market, it is the only way for a company to survive. The strategy on applying SCM will not only impact their market positioning but also strategic decision on choosing the right partners, resources and manpower. By focusing on core competencies also will allow the company to create niches and specialization of core areas. As stated in the Blue Ocean Strategy outlined by Chan Kim, in order to create a niche for competitive advantage, companies must look at the big picture of the whole process, and figuring out which process can be reduce, eliminate, raise and create.

Importance of Supply Chain Management in Modern Businesses

As an example stated by Chan Kim, the Japanese automotive industries capitalise on its resources to build small and efficient cars. The Japanese automotive industries gain competitive edge by utilising their supply chain to maximise their core competencies and position itself in a niche market. The strategy works and now Toyota Motor Corporation, a Japanese company, is considered to be the number one auto car maker in the world beating Ford and General Motors of the United States.

Value Advantage

SCM has allowed business nowadays to not just have productivity advantage alone but also on value advantage. As Martin Christopher in his book, Logistics and Supply Chain Management: Strategies for Reducing Cost and Improving Service' states, 'Productivity advantage gives a lower cost profile and the value advantage gives the product or offering a differential 'plus' over competitive offerings.' Through maximizing added value and also reduce the cost in the same time, more innovation can be added to the product and process. Mass manufacturing offers productivity advantage but through effective supply chain management, mass customization can be achieved. With mass customization, customers are given the value advantage through flexible manufacturing and customized adaptation. Product life cycles also can be improved through effective use of SCM. Value advantage also changes the norm of traditional offerings that is 'one-size-fits-all.' Through SCM, the more accepted offerings by the industry to the consumers would be a variety of products catered to different market segments and customers preferences.

As an example, the Toyota Production System practiced in Toyota, evaluates its supply chain and determines what is value added activities and what is not value added activities. Non added value activities are considered to be 'Muda' or waste and therefore must be eliminated. Such non added value activities are overproduction, waiting, unnecessary transport, over processing, excess inventory, unnecessary movement, defects and unused employee creativity. The steps taken to eliminate waste are through Kaizen, Kanban, Just-in-time and also push-pull production to meet actual customer's demands. The Toyota Production System revolutionise the Supply Chain Management towards becoming a leaner supply chain system that is more agile and flexible towards meeting the end users demands.

Importance of Supply Chain Management in Modern Businesses
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Razamith Sovereign is undergoing his Masters in Engineering Business Management in University of Warwick, United Kingdom. A General Manager in a technology company, he provide useful advice through his articles that have been found very useful in managing his daily operation of the company. To find more information on Supply Chain Management please visit http://supplylogistic.blogspot.com

Risk Management Within an Organisation

Introduction

This manual is written to advise on an approach to managing risk, with regards to procedures to follow in conducting risk analyses and treatment.

Background of my Organisation

Risk Management Within an Organisation

I will focus my attention on the management of risks for my company in general. My company is involved in the trading of steel products, mainly for construction purposes, as well as the sales and purchases of agricultural products such as beans, maize and rice. With regards to these products, letters of credit (LCs) have to be initiated regularly for such products to be sold overseas. As part of the accounting and finance function, my responsibilities are not only in the proper accounting treatment of such transactions, but also as part of the team involved in a new trade financing project to ensure the smooth flow of these transactions from the opening of LCs, the financing as well as the delivery of these products. Such a flow will involve the cooperation of both the operations and the accounting and finance departments.

Purpose of Risk Management

Business risk relates to exposure to certain events that will have a negative impact on the strategies and objectives of the company. Hence business risk is due to two factors: the probability of an event occurring as well as the seriousness of the consequences (Bowden, Lane and Martin, 2001). There are several risks that are more specific to my organization, and are shown as follows:

1. Strategic risk, such as poor marketing strategy and poor acquisition strategy, as a result of poor planning (Bowden et. al, 2001). Poor marketing and acquisition of different grades of steel and agricultural products can prove the downfall of the organization.

2. Financial risk, such as lack of credit assessment and poor receivables and inventory management, as a result of poor financial control (Bowden et. al, 2001). Inadequate credit assessment of potential trade and other debtors as well as low debtors' turnover can be a poor reflection of the company's strategy and objectives.

3. Operational risk, such as poor practices and routine actions, as a result of poor human actions (Bowden et. al, 2001). Non-conformity to the organization's safe practices or even willful actions by employees can create potential operational and financial losses to the company.

4. Technical risk, such as equipment and infrastructure breakdown and fire destruction, as a result of failure of physical assets (Bowden et. al, 2001). Such risks can be prevalent in my organization if appropriate actions are not taken to prevent these technicalities. Unfortunately, many organizations tend to focus too much on the performance and cost dimensions of technical risk and manage them too heavily (Smith and Reinertsen, year unknown).

5. Market risk, such as inadequate market research, which is the risk of not meeting the needs of the market, assuming that the specification has been satisfied (Smith and Reinertsen, year unknown). This risk may be more important compared to others, however it is less manageable due to the risk being less objective and quantifiable compared to say technical risk

As a result of such risks mentioned above, coupled with the advancement in technology and competitive pressures, risk management has taken a more important role in the existence of businesses today (Bowden et. al, 2001). Risk management relates to the logical and systematic way of establishing context, identifying risks, analyzing risks, evaluating risks and lastly, treating risks. This approach also involves communicating and consulting the findings as well as monitoring and reviewing the treatment of risks. This approach to managing risks is known as the AS 4360 method (Bowden et. al, 2001).

Risk Management

Step 1: Definition of Context

This relates to the establishment of context in terms of strategic, organizational and risk management (Bowden et. al, 2001). The strategic context is concerned with the relationship between the organization and its parameters in terms of financial, operational, competitive and social context (Bowden et. al, 2001). In the case of my organization, we are concerned with our financial objectives (i.e. sales turnover of US million with a profit margin of at least 12% annually), products with high quality and good customer satisfaction, as well as good market position (one of the top suppliers of steel in the regional construction industry). The strategic context also requires the organization to identify the stakeholders, which includes the owners, employees, customers, suppliers as well as the local community (Bowden et. al, 2001). In addition to that, my organization will have to be accountable to our shareholders and the media as well, since we are a local listed company.

The organizational context will be concerned with wider goals, objectives and strategies of the company as a whole (Bowden et. al, 2001). In this context, we have to establish and implement sufficient key performance indicators (KPIs) and critical success factors (CSFs) that are suitable to the different aspects of the business. There are a couple of KPIs that are commonly used in my organization:

1. Revenue and profit targets: These are mentioned above.
2. Customer satisfaction: Surveys are sent quarterly to our suppliers and customers to ensure at least 90% customer overall satisfaction.
3. Stocks update and on-time deliveries of goods: Sufficient stocks are maintained and retrieved from suppliers and deliveries have to be made on time to customers at least 98% of all sales orders.
4. Timely submission of monthly accounting and sales records to head office: The deadline of submission of such reports is usually the 5th of each month, which has to be strictly adhered to.

On a wider basis, such KPIs are also linked to CSFs in my organization, which includes the following:

1. Maintaining a healthy position in our markets: This is mentioned above.
2. Supportive top management open to marketing and financing ideas: The directors and senior management have a fortnightly meeting with lower management on possible ideas and brainstorming on ideas and possible financing from banks on certain products.
3. Sufficient funds and resources in place: Funds have to be in place for LCs, which are converted to trust receipts, which have to be settled within certain tenure, coupled with adequate manpower and technologies for proper functioning of the organization.

With these KPIs and CSFs in mind, the various activities of the can be further segregated into smaller teams and activities to provide a more logical flow for better analysis (Bowden et. al, 2001). In my organization, the sales teams are broken up into smaller groups in charge of various products for steel and agricultural aspects. This is also done likewise for the finance department, which has smaller teams in charge of receivables, payables and other administrative functions.

Step 2: Identification of Risks

This process aims to identify all events, which might affect the organization as a whole. In such a scenario, there is a need to identify all causes and potential situations (Bowden et. al, 2001). After which, we will proceed to link the risks, both threats and opportunities, with key criteria that will have a direct impact on the organization (Bowden et. al, 2001). There is also a requirement to approach these risks with proactive and reactive responses (Bowden et. al, 2001). There are several tools that can help with identifying risks, namely brainstorming, checklists and judgements based on experience.

In my organization, there are several tools used to identify risks. For the finance department, there is a quarterly checklist used on different risks involved, which can include the amount of tax incurred and tax credits agreed with the tax authorities, the amount of receivables and stock updates and how efficient their respective turnovers are. Provisions for such items are also raised based on prior experience. For the marketing and operations department, weekly meetings are conducted whereby brainstorming and systems analysis are used to identify possible risks with regards to competition, changes in prices and tastes of customers as well as the safe-guarding of stocks at our premises. It is further recommended that a product plan with a product manager be put in place, with rankings are given to the priority of such risks and the inputs, processes and outputs should be investigated in greater depth (Bowden et. al, 2001).

It is mentioned that a test market will be useful if there is a high degree of uncertainty about the eventual sales of the new product as the launch date approaches (Cooper, year unknown). My organization is currently looking at possible new sales of liquor and diesel for its overseas markets. However, these possible sales are not considered new products in the existing markets. With speed and the competitive environment being important facts, a test market may not be applicable in our scenario (Cooper, year unknown).

In addition to the launch of possible new products, there are several pitfalls in considerations for my organization:

1. Lack of market orientation. These are possible risks considering insufficient market analysis and not understanding customer needs and wants.
2. Poor quality of execution. With regards to my organization, the grades or quality of the flammable new products might be filled with deficiencies, hence not meeting customers' needs.
3. Moving too quickly. A too hasty approach to launch these products might render too many mistakes in the process and compromise the quality and timing of the promotional activities (Cooper, year unknown).

Step 3: Risk Analysis

This step involves the estimation of the likelihood and consequence of possible risk events. These are often evaluated using the current controls in place (Bowden et. al, 2001). Such controls are needed to ensure effective operations, reliable reporting systems and proper compliance with rules and regulations (Bowden et. al, 2001). In my organization, controls in place will include past records, market analysis given by traders from different countries, published literature in the form of accounting and marketing magazines and internal and external auditors' reports.

There are several techniques that are used to establish likelihood and consequence, namely structured interviews, multi-disciplinary groups of experts, assessments using questionnaires and computer modelling (Bowden et. al, 2001).

The decision tree technique can also be used whereby the expected net present value (NPV) of cash flows associated with each individual outcome is shown (Vlahos, 2001). This technique is useful for the following reasons:

1. It improves our understanding of each outcome and makes assumptions more forthcoming.
2. It is useful for documenting and communicating thoughts on uncertainty and also helps generate alternatives for better value enhancement.
3. Managers can monitor each stage of the project and make appropriate analysis with regards to decisions made at each point
4. The outputs in terms of expected NPVs generated can be used as potential inputs for projects selection (Vlahos, 2001).

This technique is highly recommended for my organization in two ways:

1. This can be used in decisions made by the marketing department in terms of which products to obtain for potential markets.
2. The finance department will also find it useful in terms of the different ways of financing (i.e. direct cash financing, using LCs or trust receipts) in consideration for the building of the trade finance project.

There are two types of risk analysis, mainly qualitative and quantitative (Bowden et. al, 2001).

Qualitative Technique

A qualitative method makes use of words or descriptive scale and comes in the form of a ranking structure, alternating between Rare and Almost Certain. Such a method is concerned with raking likelihoods and consequences (Bowden et. al, 2001). With regards to construction projects, which can be applicable to my organization, the consequences can range from insignificant (whereby there is no injuries and minimum financial loss), moderate (injuries with medical help required and moderate financial loss) to catastrophic (death with significant financial loss). Such a qualitative table with various likelihood and risk levels matrix can be useful in the following scenarios:

1. Initial screening guide to identify possible risks for further analysis.
2. Where the level of risk does not justify the time and effort required for more analysis.
3. Insufficient numerical data, which renders a quantitative analysis useless.

For the qualitative analysis, the management and staff with regards to the risk events at different levels must work through the risk-ranking matrix. Each likelihood and consequence criteria should be considered in order to put events in the appropriate category (Bowden et. al, 2001).

However, there are several disadvantages associated with this technique:

1. It may not be too accurate as events within the same category may have substantially different levels of risk.
2. There may not be a common basis for comparison of risk i.e. on dollar basis or number of deaths.
3. There is no clear justification with regards to the process of 'weighing' risks
4. There could be different interpretations with regards to the meaning of different consequences i.e. the word catastrophic can mean a great deal to some people, while others might take it more lightly.
5. It can be difficult to translate the findings from this technique to match that of a quantitative method (Bowden et. al, 2001).

With these pitfalls mentioned above in mind, I would think that it will be better to consider the qualitative technique as more of an initial screening exercise which should be used concurrently with the quantitative technique.

Quantitative Technique

This approach takes the product of likelihood and consequence, with the consequence expressed as an actual variable (Bowden et. al, 2001). Such a technique is more reliable as it relies on numerical values, with estimates of frequency being made in terms of event frequency (Bowden et. al, 2001).

There are several drivers of risks, namely, technology, people, systems, organizational factors and external factors (Bowden et. al, 2001). In my organization, some drivers of risk might include how updated my computer versions of accounting and sales systems, the competency and educational levels of the employees, the number of new ideas by lower management accepted by higher management and possibly the amount of pollution our products might cause to the environment.

The quantitative analysis is further broken down into likelihood and consequence criteria. For the likelihood criteria, it is expressed as a probability instead of frequency, thus ensuring that risks are compared on a similar basis (Bowden et. al, 2001). With similar small events likely to occur, the likelihood of them occurring can be considered as one event. With regards to my organization, examples of such similar events might include:

1. 20 deliveries which are not made on time (more than 30 minutes) to customers resulting in losses of ,000 each for transportation costs
2. 5 deliveries of wrong grades of products to customers resulting in losses of ,500 for transportation and bank charges.

For the consequence criteria, it can be considered in terms of an event leading to possible death or severe losses i.e. financial or reputation losses. In the case of the two examples for likelihood criteria given above, the related consequence criteria are as follows respectively:

1. Free deliveries made for the next trip.
2. Appropriate discounts given for these batches of products sold.

The consequence criteria can also be expressed quantitatively in terms of non-performance or failure to achieve certain KPIs, reflecting on the organisation's priorities in accepting varying degrees of risks. In my organisation's case, the free deliveries and discounts given could jeopardize not only the revenue and profit targets, but also in terms of customer satisfaction (which are important KPIs). As such the consequence criteria can be expressed as the mean or expected value (Bowden et. al, 2001). This is consistent with the Monte Carlo method, which can be used to obtain the distribution of the project or product value associated with trading operations (Vlahos, 2001).

Step 4: Risk Evaluation

Risk evaluation is concerned with identifying which risks must be treated and can be calculated using the product of likelihood and consequence (Bowden et. al, 2001). The risks can be compared with previously established criteria. Different softwares such as the Monte Carlo approach, the sensitivity analysis and the probability distribution can be used to show the effects of major risks for evaluation (Bowden et. al, 2001).

Step 5: Treating Risks

There are several methods of treating risks, namely avoidance, accepting, reduction and transfer of risks (Bowden et. al, 2001).

1. Avoiding risks. In my organization, avoiding such risks would involve possibly not importing highly flammable products such as liquor or diesel (which are part of the consideration for new products) as part of sales and speculating in foreign exchange fluctuations.
2. Accepting risks. Certain risks may be unavoidable. In my organisation's case, we have huge sales transactions in Myanmar, which has just experience a major military and governmental coup. Hence sales in Myanmar may be volatile. These are potential risks, which are already factored in our business considerations.
3. Reducing risks. Currency fluctuations are imminent when trading with overseas counterparts for my organization. Hence LCs and hedging are done frequently in order to mitigate such risks for products purchased and sold to other countries.
4. Transfer risks. For my organization, this is done in terms of insurance coverage for stocks, which are housed in our premises.

Some other popular treatment of risks will include audit compliance programs, contractual obligations and conditions, preventive maintenance, quality assurance and contingency planning (Bowden et. al, 2001). Such treatments of risk are also maintained within my organization.

The different options for treatment of risks should be evaluated and risk treatment plans should be planned and prepared (Bowden et. al, 2001). Such a plan should consider detailed base implementations, risk assessment in terms of threats and opportunities in terms of priorities and recommended proactive and reactive contingency plans. (Bowden et. al, 2001).

The risk treatment schedule and action plan should include the following:

1. The different duties and responsibilities for implementation of plan. Preferably, the plan should involve a project leader and different members in charge of one aspect of the project reporting to the leader.
2. The resources to be utilized.
3. Work breakdown structure for the activities
4. Budget allocation
5. Schedule for implementation
6. Details of the mechanism and frequency for proper compliance to the treatment schedule (Bowden et. al, 2001).

Step 6: Communicating and Consulting

For this stage, stakeholders need to have a common understanding of the project or product situation. Consultation from stakeholders as well as experts is required for better opinions, with communication needed for better coordination (Bowden et. al, 2001).

Such an approach is required for several reasons:

1. To prove that the process is conducted in a systematic manner.
2. To provide records of risks and proper organizational records.
3. To provide relevant decision makers with a proper risk management and action plan for approval and implementation.
4. To provide accountability.
5. To facilitate further monitoring and review.
6. To provide audit trail.
7. To share information (Bowden et. al, 2001).

This report should include the following:

1. Executive summary
2. Scope of project
3. Methodology of study
4. Contextual issues of the project including the restraints
5. Success factors chosen
6. KPIs for each success factor chosen
7. Target and tolerance
8. Any assumptions
9. Top ten risks across all CSFs for the project or product plan
10. Vulnerabilities in phases of the project
11. Responsibilities for managing risks in phases
12. Primary and secondary drivers triggering each risk
13. Existing controls
14. Tables and figures (Bowden et. al, 2001)

Step 7: Monitoring and Reviewing

For the final step, there is a need to develop and apply mechanisms to ensure ongoing review of risks i.e. project leaders should provide a consistent update of the current situations (Bowden et. al, 2001). The effectiveness of the risk management process should be consistently monitored and reviewed (Bowden et. al, 2001).

Conclusion

Risk should be managed on an active basis. Risk management will involve identification of areas of high risks ahead of time, interpreted to the greatest degree possible, with the best technical or marketing talent allocated to the problem, have the problems solved as quickly as possible, and be provided with a contingency plan in case something cannot be resolved (Smith and Reinertsen, year unknown).

Reference List

Bowden, A., Lane, M. and Martin, J. (2001) Triple Bottom Line Risk Management. Wiley.

Cooper. (year unknown). New Products: Problems and Pitfalls. Pg 22-49.

Cooper. (year unknown). To test or Not to Test. Pg 123-129.

Smith, P. and Reinertsen, D. (year unknown). Managing Risk. Pg 207-21.

Vlahos, K. (2001). Tooling up for Risky Decisions. Pg 47-52.

Risk Management Within an Organisation
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