An overview of this infoKit is available in either multimedia format (requires sound) or static html.
A version of the core material is available for download as a printable version in pdf format. (The Adobe Acrobat Reader to allow viewing of pdf files is available for download here).
Introduction
Welcome to the Risk Management infoKit. Risk Management is an essential part of good management practice and is featuring increasingly prominently on the agendas of senior managers and the education funding bodies. Whilst risk management applies to all areas of institutional activity its relevance is particularly clear in relation to projects, particularly projects with an IT or systems component. It is probably fair to say that risk management is the single most important component of project management. For this reason we have produced this infoKit as a supplement to the Project Management infoKit and given it a focus towards managing risk as part of a project approach. We do however look at institutional risk management in more general terms and there is a section specifically on the risks associated with e-learning.
Risk management is fundamentally about making better decisions. In education, as in any other environment, you can't decide not to take risks: that simply isn't an option in today's world. All of us take risks and it's a question of which risks we take. This infoKit will help you evaluate your own approach to risk and give you some practical suggestions on how to manage the risks you do take.
What is a Risk?
In most project management methodologies risk tends to be viewed in a very negative sense. It is generally defined in terms of something that might occur to adversely affect you achieving your goals. Here we'd like to broaden that definition out a little and suggest that risk may not always have an adverse impact. Let's just say that risk is not necessarily something going wrong - it is simply something turning out differently to how you expected or planned for. This view allows the possibility that risks can be turned into opportunities if managed effectively.
To be a bit more specific risk is: 'A future event (or series of events) with a probability of occurrence and the potential for a.) loss or b.) impact on objectives that can be either positive or negative.' It is therefore more accurate to say that this infoKit is not just about Risk Management rather it is concerned with Risk and Opportunity Management.
