Attitudes to risk management in space projects

Authors

  • Zakari Danlami Tsiga UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory United Kingdom
  • Michael Emes UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory. United Kingdom
  • Alan Smith UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory United Kingdom

Keywords:

People Personality, Space Industry, Space Projects, Risk Decision, Risk Management

Abstract

The paper aims to examine the personalities of people currently working in the delivery of space projects. The study was conducted via the use of an online survey which included twenty-five Likert scale questions which are based on risk decision scenarios and personality questions. A total of 50 responses were collected from people with experience in the delivery of space projects. The results of this study suggest that people who have experience in space project delivery are people with a high level and long term view, are fair and pleasing, extroverted and logical decision takers, prefer to freeze scope and respect deadlines and finally they prefer to make team consensus decisions. The results also show that the respondents are willing to take risky decisions depending on the situation and case.

Author Biographies

  • Zakari Danlami Tsiga, UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory United Kingdom

    PhD Candidate, Technology Management Group. Zakari Danlami Tsiga, MSc is a PhD student working at the University College London. Prior to beginning the PhD program, Zakari undertook a masters program at the same university, this gave him the opportunity to work on the delivery of various projects for different clients such as Microsoft and the London Clearing House. Form his work he developed an interest in Technology management and the importance of successful project delivery.

  • Michael Emes, UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory. United Kingdom

    Head Technology Management Grouo. Michael is Deputy Director of UCL Centre for Systems Engineering and Head of the Technology Management Group at UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL). He completed his first degree in Engineering, Economics and Management at St John’s College, Oxford, and a PhD at MSSL in developing cooling technologies for spacecraft. He worked as a strategy consultant for Mercer Management Consulting (now Oliver Wyman) on projects in retail, energy and transport, including a project advising the Department for Transport on how to address the problems of the rail sector in the last days of Railtrack plc. Michael now conducts teaching and research at UCL in the areas of systems engineering and technology management in domains including transport, health, defence and aerospace. He is a member of APM, INCOSE and the IET. He is Programme Manager and a lead trainer for the European Space Agency’s Project Manager Training Course and is Programme Director for UCL’s MSc in the Management of Complex Projects.

  • Alan Smith, UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory United Kingdom

    Head of Department and Director. Alan Smith was awarded a PhD at Leicester University in 1978 based on his X-ray study of supernova remnants. His work involved the payload development and flight of a Skylark sounding rocket from Woomera, South Australia. Between 1984-1990 he worked for the European Space Agency at its technology centre in the Netherlands as both an astrophysicist and as an instrument developer. His early career involved a combination of technology development (space flight hardware on European, and Russian satellites), project management and astrophysics. In 1990 he joined University College London’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory, initially as Head of Detector Physics eventually becoming Director and Head of Department (2005). In 1998 he was made a Professor of Detector Physics. While at UCL he has been Director of UCL’s Centre for Advanced Instrumentation Systems (1995-2005), a Co-Director of the Smart Optics Faraday Partnership (2002-2005) and is presently founding Director of the Centre for Systems Engineering (1998-present). Alan was appointed Vice-Dean for Enterprise for the faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences in 2007, helped set up UCL’s Centre for Space Medicine in 2011 and is a member of UCL’s Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction board. He is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and of the Association of Project Management.

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Published

2022-05-20

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2016): The Journal of Modern Project Management

Section

Articles-JMPM

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Copyright (c) 2022 Zakari Danlami Tsiga, Michael Emes, Alan Smith

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Attitudes to risk management in space projects. (2022). The Journal of Modern Project Management, 4(1), 182. https://journalmodernpm.com/manuscript/index.php/jmpm/article/view/228

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