Critical analysis of an integrative contingency model of software project risk management

1. Critical analysis of an Integrative Contingency Model of
Software Project Risk Management
Abstract
Risk is an important factor in the software project risk management and all project
managers takes necessary steps like identification, assessment and mitigation to
reduce it to achieve the success. However, modelling of risk in the software project
risk management is challenging part. Authors have proposed an integrative
contingency model for software project risk management to reduce the risk and
enhance the performance. In this paper, we have carried out analysis of the proposed
integrative contingency model of the software project risk management.
Introduction
● Software Project Management
A sub-discipline of project management is software project management in
which projects are planned, executed, examined and controlled. The scope of the
project is identified; estimation of the work involved, and creation of project schedule
is done in project planning phase. It begins with requirements given for the
development of the software. The project plan describes the tasks which will lead to
the completion of the software. Tasks defined in the previous steps are completed in
the execution phase. The development team and management are kept up to date on
the project's progress in the project monitoring and control phase. If the project is not
going as per planning phase then project manager takes necessary action to correct it.
● Risk Management in Software Development
Software development activities consist of varieties of technologies and high levels of
knowledge/expertises. Therefore, software development project has elements of
uncertainty because of these factors and it is known as project risk in software
development. A risk is a possible problem which may have effect the success of a
software project. The term total risk exposure for software project includes both
the likelihood and the volume of the possible loss.
It is not enough for software project managers to simply be aware of the risks in the
development cycle. All the risks related to project should be identify , measure and
prioritize by the manager to achieve a successful result. All software project managers
will be agree that any software project cannot move forward without risk because
mostly software projects are distinctive, include new features and advancements in the
technologies. It is important for all stakeholders of software project management to
asses and mitigates risks which may have an effect on the success of a project.
Following are the tasks of risk management;
● Identify the probable risks
● Categorize and prioritize the risks

2. ● Make a plan which links risk to a mitigation
● Monitor the development process and execute the mitigating action incase of
risk.
● Risk status should be communicated during execution of the project.
Integrative contingency
The integrative contingency approach or model is defined: Identifying, assessment
and developing useful link between management, environmental and performance
variables. Applications like software project risk management use the integrative
contingency model to reduce the risk.
Literature Review
This paper highlights the previous research in the software project risk management
like weak and strength areas which indicate the importance and complexity of the risk
issue in the software development. Software risk management have attracted the
attention of many researchers because of its importance in the software industry.
Varieties of approaches have been used for the study of different aspects of software
project risk management. Risks linked with the managing software projects discussed
by the practitioners and academics in 1970’s. However, major focus of their research
was on the studies limited to the development process. As per recent literature review,
It is identified that empirical studies on software risk management is done between
1990–2005 and also analyzed their research purpose, content, theoretical foundations,
time frame and possible research approach. During these research times, few
weaknesses have been identified. The study of the paper is focused on the integrative
contingency model of software project risk management. Author also explains the
hypothesis of integrative contingency model which describe about the performance of
a software development project lies between the risk exposure and management
profile of software project. This hypothesis is tested against the deviation perspective
profile of fit for a specific profile of project management profile.
Perspective of Contingency inSoftware Project Risk Management
Organizational contingency theory research approach also influenced the software
project risk management. As per Burns et al. a fit is establish by successful
organizations between the level of uncertainty of their environment, process and
structural characteristics. A number of researchers accepted contingency perspective is
very relevant to the software project risk management. So, if software projects are
developed and managed with fit approach (the level of the project’s environment risk
or uncertainty) will be more effective comparatively those projects that do not follow
it.

3. Implementation of an Integrative Contingency model in Software Project Risk
Management
The following figure shows the integration of contingency model in the software
project risk management which summarizes and integrates the above proposed points.
Figure 1
The above figure is explained below: The performance of the project will be higher if
“fit” is better between the scale of risk exposure and management profile of a software
project.
Performance
In the software development project, performance is measure based on the efficiency
and effectiveness of the software.
Risk Exposure
According to the research of many information systems (IS), when managing a
software project, risk or uncertainty of the project must be consider during software
development. The probability of an unacceptable outcome is known as “risk,” and
“risk exposure” is the probability multiplied by the potential loss of the unacceptable
result. Risk evaluation approaches approximate the likelihood of an unwanted result
by identifying and assessing situational characteristics probable to influence the
occurrence of the outcome and these are known as “risk factors” .
Fit
“Fit” is defined as the level of risk managements of software projects profile matches
with Risk Exposure. It is important for the researcher to carefully adopt the

4. contingency approach while defining the concept of “fit”. Two broad categories of Fit
are “reductionist” and “holistic” conceptualization.
Conclusion
In this paper, author proposed the use of “Fit” to test the performance of the software
projects. The results of the usage of an integrative contingency model in the software
project risk management indicate that efficiencies of the software is also improved.
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