The Process of Risk Management in Business

The process of risk management involves the formulation of a plan that can make the unmanageable manageable. Following the risk management strategy, it may be possible to turn what might seem to be a disadvantage in the planning of conferences and events into an advantage (Culp & Christopher 2002). Risk management process requires that the risk is first identified as a measure to reduce or prevent the risk that may be associated with the planning of an event or conference.

Event planners may not be in a position to resolve a risk that cannot be identified. The process of identifying risks for purposes of prevention and reduction of the outcome can be done in a number of ways such as brainstorming and brain writing, a more structured way to get a group to analyze a challenge (Culp & Christopher 2002). Identifying risks that are associated with specific events and conferences involves tapping resources from the involved team, colleagues, and stakeholders (Smith et al 2002). For effective risk identification, it is recommended that the resources are tapped form individuals with relevant experience who may be helpful in gathering information that is needed in both the identification and the resolution of the problem.

Risk prevention and reduction involved checking on the areas of concern by building trust on personal intuition that can be helpful in pointing out the unlikely scenarios that may not be thought to happen in the event and conference planning process (Culp & Christopher 2002). At the same time, it is not advisable that the event planners become overconfident as special procedures and systems are necessary to weed out risks from non-risks. The special procedures involve taking out insurance and consulting with experts who ensure that the risks are rooted in the cause of a problem.

After the identification of the risks, it is necessary to analyze the risk by transferring the risk and identifying the individuals with a responsibility for a crisis. Risk management in the planning of events and conferences requires that a determination of how the potential risks may occur is done (Hopkin 2010). Assessing project risks makes it possible for the project managers to ultimately and proactively address many aspects that are involved with the risk management process.

Transferring the responsibility of a risk may be difficult as there may be insufficient information about the venue that would be used, the conference planners, the suppliers, and the delegates that would be involved in the occasions (Culp & Christopher 2002). Data gathered may be complex but with the best practices in most industries, it is possible to carry out a proactive analysis for the required framework in risk management (Tummala &Schoenherr 2011). Transferring the risk may be done through qualitative and quantitative risk analysis that involves the determination of the risk factor and how it might impact the planned events and conferences across a variety of metrics.

The analysis of the potential risks is significant in the composition of rules that would influence the use of resources and the duration of the events. The risk may also have an impact on the schedule and time of the event planners; thus, limiting the quality of the projects and the procurement process (Ley 2004). It is important to note that event planners are often held responsible for the potential risks that might be involved with the events and conferences at specific venues. The event planners may also transfer the responsibility to the delegates and suppliers in a written agreement to ensure the success of the events.

In the third step of the risk management process, it is necessary that the event planners make contingency plans whereby they prioritize the potential risks. The back-up plans are created to assist in event and conference planning in case of an emergency. Project managers may be required to evaluate the potential risks and the resources that may be required to resolve the challenges involved (Ley 2004). It may also be necessary to note that the risks may vary and some may plunge the planned projects into a halt. Contingency plans are required to ensure that the risks are prioritized according to the level of attention that the risks may seek from the planners of events (Tummala &Schoenherr 2011). Contingency plans make it easy to plan for how and when the risks would be addressed in a project.

Noting down the contingency plans may be an opportunity to prioritize the risks based on the problems that would have little impact on the project and those that would be a threat to the success of the project. Identifying and evaluating low priority-risks may be significant but not enough to spend too much time on (Tummala &Schoenherr 2011). Project managers have the opportunity and choice to decide on the risks to focus on and the ones that ought to be ignored. In risk management, it may be advisable that some risks may be let go if the impact may not be significant to a particular project that is being planned (Hopkin 2010). Contingency plans are, therefore, important in highlighting evacuation plans that is communicated to all the stakeholders in the case of a crisis.

The last stage of risk management requires that the risk is distributed to various people involved in the project. Distributing the risk implies that the project manager assigns responsible individuals to oversee the risk (Tummala &Schoenherr 2011). During the identification stage, it is also necessary that the people who are responsible for the risks are identified to initiate the work towards resolving the risks (Ley 2004). Assigning risks to the responsible individuals may not be the end or solution to the problems as the project manager has to ensure that there is quick response to the risks. The risks have to be monitored by the project manager who also oversees other operations of the entire project.

The distribution of the risks may be up to the project manager as he is in charge of all the team members who have varying skills and talents. It is upon the project manager to communicate information to the right people who would lead the charge to resolve a problem when it occurs (Culp & Christopher 2002). The process of distributing risks ensures that every risk in a project is assigned to the person who is responsible for the challenges. In the event that there are no specific people who are assigned the duty of resolving the potential risks, there are high chances that the project may be exposed to more risks.

The risk management process may be difficult as the project managers have to foster a collaborative environment that is needed to resolve the risks. Managing potential risks also requires that real-time information is collected to ensure that the risk management team acts on accurate data to minimize the impact of the risks or prevent the occurrence of the risks (Ley 2004). When executing projects, it is important not to mix-up the steps in risk management as the impact of the risks is always unknown.