Bakker, K., Boonstra A, & Wortmann, H.(2009). Does risk management contribute to IT project success? A Meta analysis of empirical evidence. International Journal of Project Management, doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2009.07.002
Risks are all situations that cause disruptions in the plan and endanger timely delivery of project results agreed upon within budgetary limits, and they are not aleatoric, but rather epistemic in nature.
There are two distinguished approaches in risk management; the evaluation approach which aims at finding generic risks for future projects thus it has an indirect contribution to project success. It has also included top management, user participation and commitment, incorrect and incomplete or changing requirements to the list of risk factors: despite this development, its contributions are still unclear because knowledge of risks alone is not enough to contribute to project success. The management approach aims at finding specific risks for a current project thus contributing directly to its success, but it has not led to any conclusive evidence as risk management can only be effective in specific projects.
Traditionally project success was measured by time, budget and requirements criteria, but this school of thought is being challenged whereby risk management should also be considered in relation to a broader definition.
According to several authors, characteristics and behavior of project stakeholders is important in relation to risk management and project success. Agile and RUP are new methodologies for IT project management, which address issues of user participation, management and user buy-in more extensively as opposed to traditional project management methodologies.
In conclusion, project risks are likely to have more impact on success of IT projects as opposed to following steps in risk management process and meeting time and budgetary constraints and requirements. Technical and organizational risk factors have high influence. Evaluation approach, knowledge of risk and management approach do not have clear contribution to project success.
Bakker, K., Boonstra, A. & Wortmann, H. Risk Management Affecting IS/IT Project Success Through Communicative Action. Project Management Journal, vol. 42 (No.3),75-90. Retrieved from http://wileyonlinelibrary.com
Risk management limits the impact or prevents unexpected events from happening. Better communication, collaboration and creative thinking between stakeholders are seen as a social effect that influences project performance positively. This paper seeks to address how stakeholders perceive effects of risk management on project success. This was done through investigation of two Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation projects which contained a considerable amount of risk and uncertainty. The research was an exploratory case study using interview method of data collection. Information was collected between one to two months, and analysis was done using pattern matching.
Project success is the outcome of a personal, individual evaluation of project characteristics of each stakeholder which is social action and instrumental action. Social action can be strategic which is similar to instrumental action or communicative which is action of an individual actor to create a common understanding of the situation and seek collaboration with other actors.
According to research findings stakeholder satisfaction is seen as the most important success criterion, as opposed to traditional success criteria of time and money which score poorly in the above case studies. Evaluation and management approaches to risk management were also seen to contribute positively toward project success. Risk identification was seen to create awareness and a common view among stakeholders; risk analysis led to initiation of action and risk allocation enabled individuals to take responsibility of risks and these three strategies were therefore, deemed the most influential risk management activities.
In conclusion, risk management contributes to project success through influencing perceptions and actions of project stakeholders, which lead to more predictable situations. Project risk management is instrumental actions that help in solving rational problem. Communicative action is the extended instrumental view for managing risk.
Durkovic, O. & Rakovic, L. (2009). Risks in Information Systems Development Projects. Management information systems, 4(1),013-019.
Most of the activities that businesses carry are complex and certainty which results to risk increase to all human activities. Risk can be defined in many ways, but it depends with the field and situation. Risk means the expression of a possibility on a variant of actions and the possibility of realization of individual point of uncertainty. Not all episodes mean that risk has a negative effect, but it is a situation which consequence is uncertain. Business needs to have an effective risk management plan which help to avoid risk increase. Hence risk management is the knowledge and science which helps to identify and analyze any risk during the project life cycle. In information systems risk, management should begin at the start of the project because information systems are complex hence may be influenced by risks.
Information systems project development has a specific kind of risks, which can be categorized as known risks, unknown risks and known risks with unknown consequences. These risks can either originate internally or externally. For internal risk, they depend on organization question, staff, resources available and project nature. External risks are risks which are out of control; for both the organization and the project team. They are either political legal or similar questions.
Risk management is made up of all methods and techniques which are intended to reduce any possibility of risk occurring and increased ability to help get planned results. It is a continued process which includes systematic identification, risk prediction and evaluation. Risk management in IS development is composed of evaluation and control of risk.
Risk assessment includes identification, analysis and prioritization of risk. Identification is all about projecting on any situation which might affect negatively. Risk prioritization analyzes any consequence that might result from risk. It involves estimation of probability to realize risk and its consequence.
Finally after identification and prioritizing of risk, they should be controlled such that they can minimize any negative consequence.