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Environmental Complexity

24 December, 2015 - 10:15
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Environmental complexity includes legal, cultural, political, and ecological factors. High scores for complexity in this category imply high risks for delay and expensive resolution to lawsuits, public opposition, changes for political considerations, and unforeseen ecological impacts.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • There is a positive correlation between the complexity of a project and the risk. Increased levels of complexity imply more people, newer technologies, and increased internal and external unknown factors.
  • High scores for external complexity imply high risks to the schedule, budget, and quality due to unknown factors and limited resources.
  • High scores for internal complexity imply high risks to the budget, schedule, and quality due to organizational complexity and changes of scope due to lack of clarity in project and scope statements.
  • High scores for technological complexity imply high risks to the budget, schedule, and quality due to unknown flaws in the technology and lack of familiarity with it.
  • Environmental complexity includes legal, cultural, political, and ecological issues. High scores for complexity in this category imply high risks for delay and expensive resolution to lawsuits, public opposition, changes for political considerations, and unforeseen ecological impacts.

EXERCISES

  1. There seems to be a                   correlation between project complexity and risk.
  2. One complexity category that is likely to have high risks due to unknown causes is                   , due to lack of experience with the size of project.
  3. How does a high degree of complexity in a project’s environment affect the level of risk?

Environmental Risks

Identify a project with which you are familiar or one that has been in the news recently where the external environmental complexity caused increased costs or delays. Describe the impact of the risk, and the mitigation and its effectiveness. If the mitigation was ineffective, describe how you might have prepared a different mitigation plan.

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