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Which Risk Strategy Reduces Impact by Controlling the Root Cause of Resource Delays?
Learn how risk mitigation reduces the impact of resource unavailability risks by controlling causes like delays. Compare it to avoidance and acceptance for effective project risk strategies.
Question
During the planning phase of your project, you identify a significant risk related to potential delays due to the unavailability of key resources. You decide to take proactive steps to manage the risk effectively. Which of the following strategies would you use to reduce the impact of the risk by controlling its cause?
A. Risk mitigation
B. Risk avoidance
C. Risk acceptance
Answer
A. Risk mitigation
Explanation
Risk mitigation focuses on reducing the probability or impact of a risk by addressing its root cause through proactive actions, such as cross-training backup resources, securing resource commitments early, or scheduling buffers to handle potential unavailability. For delays due to key resource shortages, mitigation might involve hiring contingency staff, implementing resource leveling, or negotiating priority access with resource owners to control the cause directly. This contrasts with avoidance (changing the plan to eliminate the risk entirely, like redesigning without that resource) and acceptance (monitoring without action until it occurs).