ABSTRACT
F. H. Knight used the term 'risk' to define a difference between a situation in which a decision maker is faced with an outcome about which he can have no knowledge, and one in which he possesses some objective information about what the outcome might be. Unfortunately, risk is not simply a matter of perception as a real risk can exist even if project managers cannot perceive it. Project manager ignorance of the effects of actions taken at the present time on things that may happen in the future is the source of many of the risks project managers currently face. Throughout the foregoing, risk has been described in terms of the undesirable outcome that will arise if the risk materializes. Hazard is another term that has come into use in the context of risk assessment and it is worth considering for it can be used to define a condition that presents a risk but within specific limits.
