According to the PMBOK® Guide, specifically the Plan Risk Responses process, risks are categorized into threats (negative risks) and opportunities (positive risks). While most strategies are unique to the type of risk, Acceptance is the only strategy used for both.
Acceptance (General): This strategy is adopted when the project team decides not to change the project management plan to deal with a risk, or is unable to identify any other suitable response strategy.
Passive Acceptance: Requires no action other than documenting the strategy and periodically reviewing the risk to ensure it has not changed significantly.
Active Acceptance: The most common approach, which involves establishing a contingency reserve, including amounts of time, money, or resources to handle the risk if it occurs.
In Threats: You accept the risk because the cost of other responses (like Transfer or Mitigate) outweighs the potential impact, or the risk is very low priority.
In Opportunities: You accept the opportunity without actively pursuing it, but you are prepared to take advantage of it if it happens to occur.
Analysis of Other Options:
A. Share: This is a strategy used exclusively for opportunities (positive risks). It involves allocating some or all of the ownership of the opportunity to a third party who is best able to capture the benefit.
C. Mitigate: This is a strategy used exclusively for threats (negative risks). It aims to reduce the probability of occurrence or the impact of a risk. The equivalent for opportunities is Enhance.
D. Transfer: This is a strategy used exclusively for threats (negative risks). It involves shifting the impact and ownership of a threat to a third party (e.g., insurance). The equivalent for opportunities is Share.
