ABSTRACT
Risk management culture is often discussed, but is frequently not well defined. Two meanings of the word ‘culture’ are relevant. The meaning of the word referring to the characteristics of a society is relevant in the sense that a project team is a social group that exhibits behaviours that may be constructive or otherwise. Another meaning of the word referring to the concept of being refined or educated is relevant in that people using the risk management process need to understand it. Using these two ideas, risk management culture can be defined as being the collective willingness and ability of the people involved with a project to use the risk management process for purposes intended to optimise the overall project outcome.
