Mr Martin Giraudeau OLD 5.02 and Prof Michael Power KSW 3.12

This course is available on the MPA in European Public and Economic Policy, MPA in International Development, MPA in Public Policy and Management, MPA in Public and Economic Policy, MPA in Public and Social Policy, MSc in Accounting and Finance, MSc in Economy, Risk and Society , MSc in Law and Accounting, MSc in Management, MSc in Management and Regulation of Risk, MSc in Management, Organisations and Governance, MSc in Public Management and Governance, MSc in Public Policy and Administration and MSc in Risk and Finance. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

Other students may be admitted only with the agreement, in writing, of the MSc (Accounting) Course Tutor.

This is an advanced course focusing on the organisational and institutional settings within which risk is managed.

The first five lectures deal with key issues in organisational responses to risk and uncertainty, including the impact of disasters and accidents and the growing formalisation and standardisation of risk management practice. The second five lectures will deal with specific topics where values of accountability and governance intersect with organisational risk management practices. The overall purpose of the course is to provide students with a critical appreciation of the management of risk as an organisational and social process. The course is necessarily cross-disciplinary, drawing on scholarship within accounting, organisational sociology and regulation studies.

20 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the LT. 2 hours of lectures in the ST.

Two pieces of written work will be assessed during the term but the grades will not count towards the overall course assessment.

No single book covers the entire course. Key readings include: Bebchuk & Fried, Pay Without Performance (Harvard, 2004); Coffee, Gatekeepers: The Professions and Corporate Governance (Oxford, 2006); Hutter & Power (eds) Organizational Encounters with Risk, (Cambridge, 2005); Power, Organized Uncertainty: Designing a World of Risk Management (Oxford, 2007); Turner & Pidgeon, Man-Made Disasters, (Butterworth/Heinemann, 1997); Vaughan, The Challenger Launch Decision, (Chicago, 1997); Short & Clarke (eds) Organizations, Uncertainties and Risks (Westview, 1992); Weick & Sutcliffe, Managing the Unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity (Jossey-Bass, 2007).

Exam (100%, duration: 2 hours) in the main exam period.