F1GD 5850 - Governance, Integrity and Risk Management: a practical approach (New course)

***UPDATED for 2025/26***

This course offers a practitioner-led exploration of governance, risk management, and organizational resilience in today’s volatile environment. Students will examine how multinational corporations, public institutions, and NGOs structure themselves to deliver on their mission while facing ethical and reputational risk.

Through a blend of theory and practice, students will gain tools to assess and manage risks, respond to incidents, and understand the governance systems that underpin organizational decision-making. The course emphasizes real-world applications, including case studies, simulations, and interactive exercises.

Learning Outcomes

• Understanding the principles of governance (and good governance).

Mautre organizations, private or public, rely on defined allocation of roles and responsibilities to ensure their prosperity, completion of mission and sustainability.

Students will be acquainted with the difference governance models and the history behind them.

In particular, students will:

• Identify the governance architecture of various organizations
• Explain the roles and responsibilities associated with key positions
• Analyze how different governance models influence organizational behavior and decision-making
• Reflect on their own professional interests and identify potential career paths within the different functions of oversight
• Compliance risks: Anti-bribery compliance, fraud risk management, duty of care/ESG risks and human rights violations

Based on learning outcomes 1&2, we will take a step aside and examine the environment in which organizations operate. In doing so, we will examine both legal and ethical developments in the last 20-30 years which have shaped what is considered a risk.

During this 3rd part of the course, students will:

• Examine how globalization has influenced the development of legal and ethical standards across jurisdictions
• Distinguish between hard and soft law frameworks, including key instruments such as the UK Bribery Act (UKBA), Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), SAPIN II, Duty of Care legislation, and international standards from the UN and OECD
• Examine the rise of ethical codes in organizations; purpose, values, human-centric type management and what that implies for risk management
• Understand how these laws shape how companies face risk, anticipate risk and mitigate risk
• Understand how these risks – if unaddressed – can materialize in specific incidences
• Understand how public organizations operate differently than private organizations
• A specific focus will also be awarded to how International organizations, multilaterals and NGOs address sexual misconduct, exploitation and abuse
• Conduct a series of group case studies and simulations that will help students put these concepts and elements into practice
• Gain practical experience via real-world scenarios and apply concepts leaned to real examples
• Practical risk management tools: Risk registries, Risk Mapping, Risk Ownership, 3 lines of defense model

Once the foundational notions of governance are set, we will explore how roles and responsibilities are articulated in practice and what implications this carries for risk management

During this 2nd part of the course, students will :

• Understand conceptual theory of risk management
• Learn about risk registries as a tool for identifying and tracking risks
• Learn about the 3-lines of defense model in organizational contexts
• Apply tools learned and use Risk mapping as a tool

4.Handling misconduct – internal investigations, mitigating conflicts of interest and workplace misconduct, harassment, sexual misconduct,

Building on the concepts, practical examples and case studies of previous modules, this section of the course introduces students how incidences are best addressed, mitigated and prevented.

During this 4th part of the course, students will:

• Gain insight into the principles of incidence management
• Learn about the origins of organizational oversight, in both public and private sectors
• Drawing on learnings from Learning Outcomes 2 and 3, understand who is in charge of handling incidences
• Differentiate between low-, medium-, and high-risk incidents, and classify types of misconduct (e.g., fraud, corruption, harassment) based on organizational impact and learn about investigative best practices
• Identify how is Misconduct reported and handles and what are the best practices
• Evaluate internal justice systems and acquire a practical perspective on investigations

5.Building sustainable and ethical organizations; beyond risk management, how do organizations thrive will respecting their mandate/employees, etc…

As a final learning outcome, students will reflect on the learning acquired and case studies examined during the course to discuss what ethical organizations look like, how their internal justice system is built and these organizations have worked …

During this 5th part of the course, students will:

• Discuss and evaluate best practices for organizational resilience
• Analyse organizational risk appetite and mitigation measures
• Discuss and evaluate lessons-learned during the course

Professional Skills

• Understand and evaluate the principles of good governance (in both public and private sectors)
• Learn theory and practice of internal oversight and risk mitigation
• Understand and assess the impact of reputation risk and how to mitigate them
• Incidence management; learn how to address reputation-damaging incidents
• Learn how to set up multi-functional teams to address these challenges
• Mapping risks and stakeholders
• Managing stakeholders during times of crisis
• Crisis Management 101
• Cooperation across functions, agility, out-of-the box thinking,

Students should ideally have completed a basic management and/or business or public administration course and should have a sustained interest in global affairs, international diplomacy & trade as well as more practical topics such as white-collar crime or business ethics.

A series of readings will be prepared as preparation for the class

I will provide feedback after each assignment and help them prepare for each assignment. There will be individual feedback and group feedback.

The course is designed to be engaging and highly participatory to maximize autonomous and group learning. The assessment in this course will be spread between in-class essays, group presentations and a final essay.

N.B; The amount of in-class presentations will also depending on group size.

The assessment will be composed of:

• 2-3 small group projects 40%
• 1 in class essay 20%
• 1 in class final essay 20%
• In class participation (20%) – includes a potential simulation exercise (tbd)

• 2 hours a week / 24 hours a semester
• Online learning activities: 3 hours a week / 36 hours a semester
• Reading and Preparation for Class: 2 hours a week / 24 hours a semester
• Research and Preparation for Group Work: 1,5 hours a week / 18 hours a semester
• Research and Writing for Individual Assessments: 1,5 hours a week / 18 hours a semester
• Other: 2 hours a week / 24 hours a semester