The Asymmetry between Threats and Opportunities in Risk Management: Results from a Survey among APM Corporate Members

Abstract

Project Risk Management helps with achieving project objectives, especially those concerning cost, time and quality. In the current APM definition, project risks are uncertain events or circumstances that may or may not happen. Risks are either threats that hurt the project objectives, or opportunities that are positive for the project objectives. Over time, project professionals have expressed concern with the idea that risks can be ‘positive’, since it does not align with the thinking in the non-project world, where risks are always negative. There was also the feeling that opportunities are often not identified, or treated differently from threats.