Excerpt from Case Study :

Risk Workshop and Risk Register The required pre-workshop activities

During the planned workshop, the participants will be provided with an opportunity to share and reflect with the others their experiences in developing a production plan. The moderator will introduce some tools that the participants can use when developing the production plan. The hands on approach of the workshop will offer the participants an opportunity to work and explore with the tools. The good practices required for developing the production plan will also be showcased at the workshop. The previously identified risks will be discussed during the workshop. All participants should be prepared with relevant information regarding the production routines of the company. This will allow the participants to understand what is required of them during the workshop. Representatives from the key functional areas should be aware of the other departments and understand the different roles each play. The moderator will specify the expected outcome of the workshop. Knowing what is expected, and overall outcomes will provide the participants with enough motivation for participation. The list of things to bring during the workshop should be circulated early to allow the participants enough time for preparation. Resource collection by all participants is another requirement before the workshop begins. The moderator will require the participants to have knowledge regarding the different processes that take place within the company. Information regarding the production, supply, and company policies is vital for the participants before the workshop commences.

Risk workshop agenda

DAY 1

Morning

9:00 AM

Introductions

9:30 AM

The objectives of the project are confirmed

10:00 AM

Confirmation of the scope for risk processes

10:30 AM

The ground rules of the workshop are shared with the participants

11:00 AM

Expectation of the workshop and results are presented

11:30 AM

Risks are identified based on the Risk Breakdown Structure. Participants brainstorm the risks.

Afternoon

2:00 PM

Generate further risks based on the assumptions and constraints

2:30 PM

Standard risk checklist is developed to assist in identifying further risks

3:00 PM

Participants rationalize the risks

3:30 PM

The risks identified are described

4:00 PM

The identified risks are recorded

DAY 2

Morning

9:00 AM

A recap of the assessment scheme is explained

10:00 AM

The risk impact and probability are assessed

11:30 AM

Categorizing the risks identified

Afternoon

2:00 PM

Participants are nominated to be risk owners

3:00 PM

Developing an initial response to the priority risks

4:00 PM

Workshop closes

Introductions are vital because they provide the participants with the opportunity of knowing each other and understanding each participant's role (Hillson & Simon, 2012). A set of questions will be used in order to ensure that introductions do not take up too much time. The moderator confirms the objectives of the workshop in order to remove any misunderstandings or ambiguity. This will also provide for inclusion of any omitted objectives, which could be identified when the objectives are been confirmed. This being a time critical workshop, it is vital that the scope of risks be confirmed to all participants, which would ensure that the project stays on course. The workshop ground rules ensure that the workshop is successful and effective. The established ground rules will allow the participants to comprehend what is required of them and how they should behave during the workshop. The ground rules will cover participation, timing, and demonstration of mutual respect.

Clarification of the expectations of the workshop is done to ensure that each participant understands the project, and their specific roles. In order to allow the participants to develop project risks, they will need to brainstorm ideas. Based on the proposed production plan, the participants will establish the risks that might face the plan, and how they will impact the company. The opportunity to identify further risks will ensure that all potential risks are identified. The standard risk checklist offers the participants a chance to employ other techniques for risk identification. This checklist ensures that any risks that occurred previously based on a similar production plan are analyzed to establish if they pose a risk to this project. Risk rationalization provides the participants with a chance to identify similar risks, and merge duplicate risks. Hodges (2000) posits that a risk metalanguage is used to describe all project risks. By describing the risks, participants can share their understanding of the identified risks.

Threat risk register

ID

Risk

Its impact is high it might leave the company exposed if it does not meet the demand. The failure to meet demand will result in the destruction of company image. This would affect all areas of the company (Patterson & Neailey, 2002). The company is faced with tight credit now and the only option it has to mitigate this is getting a credit line of 12% per annum, which is quite high for the company. If this threat materializes, the company will have no option, but to seek credit. Tight credit will affect the company operations, as it will be unable to meet most of its production. The impact of this risk is high because it has the potential to affect all functional areas of the company. Hiring additional staff would be beneficial to the company in the short run, but the probability of this happening is minimal. This is because the company has minimal funds, and there are other ways of handling increased demand. This threat has a high impact as the company would have to justify their need and ensure it has enough demand to necessitate hiring more staff. However, the exposure to the company is minimal because an increase in demand would mean it could afford to pay their full time pay. Currently, the company has idle production capacity, which the new staff could make use of and increase production while reducing production time. Employee fatigue is inevitable if the company opts to increase overtime hours. The employees would have to work for longer shifts, and their off days would be reduced. Employee fatigue could threaten the company's overall production, as the employees would be tired and reduce their production yields. The exposure of this threat is high because the company would suffer if it does not meet its consumer demand. Reduced yield would mean it is paying workers more for less production. The last threat is laying off workers. This threat has been experienced before, and it normally reduces employee morale. The probability of this threat is medium, as it will only occur if more workers are hired and expected increase in demand does not materialize. If this occurs, it would have a high impact and high exposure to the company. Previously when workers were laid off, the remaining workers were less motivated. Having experienced this before, the management of the company is unwilling to lay off workers in order to keep them motivated. There could be other ways that the company could use instead laying off workers. In the case of having hired temporary staff, the company should make the temporary workers aware that they will only be retained if demand increases and there are available positions. This would ensure that workers do not get demotivated when the temporary staffs are laid off.

Opportunity risk register

ID

Opportunity

Probability

Impact

Exposure

Mitigation

Contingency

1

Changing design

High

High

High

This would reduce production time by one minute.

Additional time to increase production

Increase production and reduce wastages.

Less time on the assembly line means more time for production.

2

Subcontracting part of the production

High

High

Medium

No setup fee for the company due to the current economic situation

Would enable the company to meet its forecasted demand

The overall cost is less than hiring new workers.

The company could meet its demand with no major impact on its credit line.

3

Increasing inventory levels

Medium

High

Medium

Ensure there are enough inventories to meet the anticipated increase in demand.

Meet expected demand with the current workforce.

Make use of idle production capacity.

Changing design would have a high probability and high impact. The reason was that the design change would reduce the assembly time by one minute and would free…