What is a Risk Management Body of Knowledge
By Julian Talbot
You can be an experienced risk practitioner and still encounter a useful method you have never heard of. You might be comfortable with risk assessments, the five whys or failure mode and effects analysis, yet have had little reason to explore options theory, human factors or the design of a risk management framework.
That is where a body of knowledge becomes useful. It brings the wider discipline into view and helps you understand where your existing skills fit.
What a body of knowledge does
A body of knowledge is the organised knowledge of a field: its concepts, terminology, methods, principles and accumulated experience. A book presenting that body of knowledge makes a substantial part of it accessible in one reference.
Its main contribution is synthesis. It brings together ideas developed through research and practice, explains their purposes and limitations, and shows their relationships. Readers can discover an unfamiliar approach, understand why it matters and follow its sources when they need greater depth.
This does not require everyone in a profession to agree about every concept. Risk practitioners may disagree about the usefulness of inherent risk, for example, or use the same term differently. A useful reference makes those differences visible. Inclusion is not a declaration that every method is equally reliable or appropriate in every situation.
What RMBOK brings together
The Risk Management Body of Knowledge, or RMBOK, applies this approach to decisions under uncertainty. It brings concepts from across risk practice into a single reference, connecting specialist techniques with the principles and organisational arrangements that support their use.
The book uses diagrams to make these connections visible. The map below places RMBOK within the wider body of management knowledge.
RMBOK Figure 2. A conceptual map places RMBOK within the wider body of management knowledge and shows related bodies of knowledge. Source: RMBOK, first edition, p. 2.
Think of it as a toolbox with an explanation of how the tools relate. Root cause analysis helps investigate contributing causes. A bow tie helps make the relationships between sources, an event, controls and consequences visible. Insurance and options introduce other ways of dealing with exposure and uncertainty. These approaches answer different questions, and several may contribute to the same decision.
You do not need to become an expert in every technique. You need enough understanding to recognise when one might help, appreciate its limitations and know when to seek specialist knowledge.
The six sections of the book
The opening guidance recommends starting with terminology and returning to the glossary whenever needed. The main text then provides six connected ways into the subject:
Foundations introduces key concepts, tools and models, human factors and quantitative methods.
Standards provides an overview and comparison of widely used approaches to risk management.
Principles explores ideas that guide judgement, including the authors' RMBOK principles.
Frameworks examines how risk management fits into management systems and organisational activity.
Processes considers the work of managing risk at different levels and the activities that support it.
Definitions provides a practitioner glossary, with explanations and illustrations.
RMBOK Figure 1. The navigation guide recommends starting with terminology and offers six connected routes into the book. Source: RMBOK, first edition, p. iii.
How the parts fit together
The RMBOK integration framework gives those connections a common structure. It places objectives and outcomes on either side of organisational capability, with knowledge, competency and controls contributing to that capability. Disciplines and enablers support the arrangement.
This is why knowing a technique is only part of the picture. A good analysis needs a decision to inform, people who can use it and arrangements for acting on what it reveals. The book helps readers connect the tools with those wider requirements.
RMBOK Figure 116. The authors’ integration framework connects objectives and outcomes through capability, supported by knowledge, competency and controls. Disciplines and enablers frame the arrangement. Source: RMBOK, first edition, p. 332.
Who uses it and why
RMBOK is for people who work with risk and want a broader understanding of the field. That includes dedicated risk professionals and people working in finance, projects, engineering, safety, security and other disciplines.
An experienced practitioner can use it to explore beyond familiar methods. Someone entering the profession can build a coherent foundation. Educators can use it as a core reference or textbook within a Master of Risk Management, graduate certificate or related course, supported by teaching, exercises and specialist readings.
You can read it from cover to cover, study one section or open it when a particular question arises. The contents, index, glossary and references support those different routes.
The aim is to make you better informed about the choices available. When you understand what a tool does and how it fits with other tools, you can make a more considered choice about using it.
Explore the book and its companion resources at rmbok.com.
Based on Risk Management Body of Knowledge, first edition, by Julian Talbot, Miles Jakeman and Jason Brown, particularly “How to use this book”, the Introduction and the six section overviews.
Want to see the full scope of the book? Explore the detailed RMBOK table of contents.