Leading Risk in Organisations

This executive programme is designed and delivered by some of the world’s leading faculty and researchers in the field of organisational risk. It will demonstrate and instil optimal practices from a range of real-world perspectives that are critical to the effective functioning of your organisation.

Through the examination of psychological and sociological approaches to understanding risk, participants will be given the opportunity to apply new insights to risk management practices within global organisations. This executive course enables participants to better understand the individual, group and organisational influences on risk-taking and to structure risk management practices accordingly.

Programme structure

The nature of risk

You will enhance your ability to define risk, and also, better understand the ways that individuals, groups and organisations behave in relation to risk.

Risk management practices

During five intensive days, you will consider risk in terms of both loss and gain, in addition to organisational issues relating to differential management of risk. For example, some organisations seek extremely low levels of risk, e.g. power or transportation, whereas others accept a balance between risk and return, e.g. start-ups, or innovators. You will then engage in discussion topics around how risks are simultaneously created and mitigated, and responsibilities for managing risk.

Individual differences

Individual-level drives and motives influence preferences for risk-taking that shape individual behaviours. This executive programme will allow you to examine how genetics, experiences and personality influence risk perception and, with a global perspective, discuss the implications for individual-level choices as well as groups and organisations.

Sociological approaches to risk

Definitions of risk and approaches to it are influenced by social variables. This intensive course will look in particular at the idea of ‘risk culture’ and behavioural approaches to risk management.

Decision making

You will be challenged to consider the importance of understanding real-world decisions, non-rational decision processes and their implications for organisational risk management. Your theoretical toolkit will be expanded through the use of expected utility theory, prospect theory and framing, to understand how decisions are made and where decisions deviate from rationality.

Organisational practices

Organisational risk management practices are designed to achieve particular goals that relate to organisational objectives. Interactive case discussions will allow you to review a range of risk management practices and consider whether they take account of individual, group and organisational process.

Virtual course structure

Rather than an intensive five-day course, the virtual courses will be delivered over four weeks and you will be able to manage them alongside your working hours.

Week one will be a course orientation where participants can access your pre-course readings and meet fellow classmates, as well as a live welcome session hosted by our world-leading faculty.

Following that, your course will be taught over the course of three weeks with 10 contact hours each week, matching the level of contact time you would get on an on-campus course. Teaching will typically occur on weekdays during regular UK university hours. During this time, you'll have dedicated slots to meet your fellow participants, a virtual event per programme, full technical support by phone, email or live-chat and a 'virtual graduation' ceremony to end the course.

Course outcomes

The course is interactive, and participants will engage in a range of activities and case discussions designed to enhance their understanding of risk. There will also be opportunities for participants to examine risk management in their own organisations, and to plan for future development, with the benefit of personalised feedback from LSE faculty.

• Enhance your understanding of the nature of risk
• Develop insight into personal approach to risk perception and risk management
• Gain greater knowledge about the psychology of risk as it applies to individuals, groups and organisations
• Understand how organisational risk cultures are created and their influence on individual and group-level behaviour
• Take away a toolkit of techniques for developing risk management practices
• Undertake an individual assignment, with feedback from LSE faculty, to develop risk management practices within your own organisation.