Assignment 1 Project Risk Management & Technological Issues
Special instructions
1 Answer all questions and ensure that your answers have the coverage and are in the
format, requested.
2. Present your own ideas.
3. Your answers should be properly referenced and reflect that you have undertaken research
outside the study material.
4. It is expected that your answers will be produced using electronic word processing.
Answers to numerical questions may be produced with an electronic spreadsheet, but all
steps in any calculation should be clearly explained. Handwritten work may be accepted in
exceptional circumstances, but such work must be neat and legible.
5. Please note that if plagiarism or cheating is detected in this assignment it will result in no
marks for the assignment. Students should ensure they clearly understand the meaning of
plagiarism and cheating. In particular, students should understand that while they may
collaborate with other students on the conceptual ideas in their assignments, the final
written report submitted by each student must be unique, and must not contain the written
material of (a) any other student in the course, or (b) by any other person without due
acknowledgement.
Question 1 (200 marks)
Project risk management
Risk management is an integral part of managing technological projects. Examples of risks
that require management are risks arising from the project management process itself (such as
risks in completion time, project cost, delivery quality, and scope creep), environmental risks,
safety risk, legal risks and a range of other risks. Similarly, in asset development and
management there is the risk of failure of assets because of poor quality construction and lack
of maintenance.
Conversely, effective management of risks may lead to the development of opportunities.
Risks can lead to consequences like:
• financial loss
• loss of life, or injury
• heath impacts
• damage to property
• environmental damage
• loss of image
They can also lead to benefits.
While some risks associated with technological projects (such as those arising from
unforeseen events like certain natural disasters) may need to be accepted, most risks can be
managed.
The risk management process is basically one of establishing the context of the risk, and then
identifying, analysing, evaluating and treating risks in an integrated process. These tasks are
supported by communication and consultation, and monitoring and review activities.
The effective and efficient management of risks has the potential for considerable savings in
project time and cost and for the achievement of considerable benefits to the project and its
participants.
Yo u r t a s k
Using an example real or fictitious project (for example, civil infrastructure project, building
or property development, development of manufacturing or power generating plant, design
project, maintenance project), write a structured report on the management of risk in the
delivery of major technological projects. Your report should have a short abstract, followed by
introduction, main and secondary headings, conclusions (recommendations) and references.
Areas to consider include:
1. discussion of the technological project management process and the risks in managing
technological projects, including a discussion of the main risks that can arise and the likely
source of those risks.
2. expected consequences arising from the occurrence of those risks.
3. an outline of the risk management process as it would be applied to a large technological
project, including a discussion on how you would identify, assess, evaluate and treat risks.
4. strategic and operational aspects of managing project risk.
5. examples of how you would apply this process to selected risks.
6. how you as a manager would minimise the adverse effects of these risks, or maximise
opportunities arising from their effective management.
7. the role of management systems in managing project risk areas.
8. a strategy to maximise benefit and minimise costs through effective and efficient risk
management practices.
Comments
If possible, use actual projects on which you are working or of which you have a detailed
knowledge to illustrate your report. E N G 8 2 0 5 - T e c h n o l o g y m a n a g e m e n t p r a c t i c e 1 1
When selecting risks with which to illustrate your discussion, concentrate on a particular stage
of the project life cycle (such as planning, design, construction or development, operations, or
maintenance). This will enable you to make focus on a particular set of risks and keep your
discussion concise. It is also advisable to focus on a few selected key risks in depth rather than
spread your discussion over many risks.
Write no more than 2000 words.
If you do not live in Australia or New Zealand, you may prefer to use risk management
standards and practice from your own country rather than the Australian/New Zealand
standards and guides.
There are books and other material available on technical risk management and project risk
management, which you may wish to access. An example is:
Chapman, C & Ward, S 2003 Project risk management: processes, techniques and insights,
Wiley, Chichester, UK.
You should also make use of the wide range of resources available on the internet, and journal
articles. The USQ library has a number of on-line searchable databases which can be used to
find useful articles.
Question 3 (100 marks)
You are managing the design and development of a new medium density subdivisional estate
in what has to now been a semi-rural area. The development spans a watercourse, which has
only been known to flood once (in 1967) since records were first kept in 1880, and even then
the flooding was quite minor, and little or no property damage was recorded.
There are a number of rural residential properties downstream of the estate. Despite a
requirement from the local council that they keep their section of the watercourse clear of trees
and other obstructions, residents of these properties have allowed the watercourse to overgrow,
as they have enjoyed the natural bushland environment.
Because of the low likelihood of flooding and the idyllic environment, several property
owners have built their homes quite close to the watercourse. All of these are however about
two metres above the estimated maximum flood level. Most of these homes are of high value,
and because they have been constructed on larger blocks are of single storey, slab on ground
construction.
Recently, your head designer was drinking in the local hotel with several of the property
owners. In response to a casual question posed by one of them, the designer stated that there
was absolutely no chance of their properties flooding as a result of development of the estate.
This design incorporated a number of features such as retention basins and the strategic
placement of weirs to minimise the effect of any increased flooding. The expected resulting
increase of about 500 millimetres in the water height of the estimated one in one hundred year
flood was not likely to threaten homes.
What was left out of the casual statement by the head designer was that this figure had been
based on an expectation that residents would need to keep the watercourse free from excessive
growth and other obstructions. The council had passed the plans for the estate on the
expectation that this would occur, but had not so advised the property owners, who from the
council's point of view were expected to abide by council requirements. At the moment, the development has been cleared and a number of roads and storm water
drains constructed. This work has increased the frequency, volume and speed of runoff from
the estate. There has been no work yet on flood mitigation works to minimise this runoff.
About a week ago, the area was subjected to a freak storm, which caused severe flooding and
substantial damage to the properties along the watercourse, including houses close to the
watercourse and their contents. To recover their losses, the owners of these properties have
initiated a class action against the council, your company, your head designer and yourself as
project manager, on the grounds of negligence.
In no more than 1000 words, discuss your opinion of whether the class action by the residents
is likely to succeed.
You should consider:
• The engineering and/or technological issues involved.
• The legal principles involved in this case.
• Whether negligence was involved, and if so by whom.
• The potential legal position of each of the respondents to the class action.
You should develop a conclusion based on your analysis of this case.
Justify any statements you make.
USA 
India