PMI Risk Management Professional Practice Exam

Exploitation is to opportunities as what is to threats?

1. Mitigation

2. Avoidance

3. Acceptance

4. Transference

The correct answer is: Avoidance

The correct answer is avoidance. In risk management, exploitation refers to taking advantage of opportunities to enhance project outcomes. Conversely, threats pose potential negative impacts, and the appropriate strategy to address threats is to avoid them whenever possible. Avoidance entails altering project plans or scopes to eliminate the uncertainty that a threat could introduce, thus preventing the risk from materializing. This method is essential in risk management, as it proactively seeks to eliminate threats rather than simply managing or transferring them. Mitigation would imply reducing the impact or likelihood of the threat, acceptance involves acknowledging the risk and deciding to bear it, and transference involves shifting the impact of the risk to a third party, such as insurance. While these are all valid strategies for managing threats, avoidance is distinct in its approach of outright preventing the threat's occurrence by adjusting plans.