Risk Management in Complex Projects: An exploratory study to managing unknown unknowns in uncertain environments

In project management it is generally understood that things may be complicated and a challenge to manage effectively, but that problems will eventually be resolvable. This book explores another dimension where ?standard operating procedures', ?out of the box' solutions and ?recipe knowledge' cannot be counted on to deal with unforeseen events that create chaotic conditions and uncertain outcomes. This dimension has pushed leaders to acknowledge the need to search for, identify and test new approaches in managing projects and hence the related risks. Complex projects are characterised by an unforeseeable development which is beyond the expectation or imagination of the individuals managing the system. This book discusses the implications of complexity for risk management. Through this discussion the characteristics of Complex Risk Management (CRM) as a field of complex project management are identified. One of the core questions is: to what extent is it possible to use the know-how from business contexts to manage risks in projects which involve environmental and/or social complexity?

studied at the Politecnico of Turin and the Free University of Bolzano in Italy, at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany and at the University of Adelaide in Australia. Her work about complex risk management was presented at the doctoral consortium of the Asia Pacific Research Conference on Project Management 2010 in Melbourne.