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Strategic approaches to corruption prevention

A workshop for public service senior executives (PSES) and equivalent high-level managers who have operational responsibility for work areas with significant risk for corruption. It focuses on making the organisational changes needed to leverage the control inherent in well-designed and managed operational arrangements.

The workshop uncovers some of the reasons why corrupt conduct continues to occur despite considerable efforts to prevent it. This engaging workshop is underpinned by sound theoretical frameworks and includes case studies and practical activities.

Who should attend?

  • Secretary or Deputy Secretary or equivalent
  • Public Service Senior Executives Bands 1, 2 and 3 or equivalent 
  • Local Government GM/CEO, Deputy GM/CEO or Director or equivalent
  • CEO, Deputy CEO or top tier senior executive from a state-owned corporation, board or trust (in NSW)
  • Vice-Chancellor, Provost, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Registrar, Faculty Dean or equivalent in a NSW university.

Although this workshop is primarily designed for senior executives with operational control over work areas with significant corruption risk, governance and corruption prevention staff may also benefit from attending.
Learning outcomes

By the end of this workshop, learners will understand:

  • the key elements of the control environment
  • the control inherent in tight operational arrangements
  • the role of incentives in motivating and preventing corruption
  • the effects of equity, entitlement and group culture on corruption
  • the impacts of organisational structures and boundaries on opportunities for corruption
  • the importance of process design, measurement and management
  • the implications of information integrity, decision location and accountability on corruption risk.

Note: The extent to which each of these outcomes is met varies depending on the length of the workshop attended.

Workshop outline

  • Corruption and the control environment
  • Information and control
  • People factors
  • Process design and control
  • Transaction costs and why they matter
  • Accountability and organisational structure

Workshop options

This workshop is offered as either a standard full-day in-person workshop or a standard 5-hour online program. It can also be customised to the specific needs of individual agencies. 

Standard in-person in-house workshop - full day

Duration

This workshop requires a time commitment of 7.5 hours including a 15-minute morning and afternoon tea and a 30-minute lunch break. The program is normally scheduled from 9.00 am to 4.30 pm.

Attendee numbers

A minimum of 5 attendees is required with a maximum of 26.

Standard online workshop – In-house or hosted by the ICAC for individuals

This workshop is based on the standard in-person workshop program. 

Note: Although the same topic areas are covered in this workshop as in the full-day program, some elements are covered to a lesser depth in the online workshop due to time constraints.
To maximise the opportunity for interaction, this workshop has been designed for attendance by individuals logging in from their own devices rather than people attending together in a group on one device or in a shared space.

Duration

This workshop requires a time commitment of approximately 4.75 hours, including:

  • pre-reading taking approximately 20 minutes to complete
  • an online workshop delivered in two 2-hour blocks with a 1-hour break in between. Participants are asked to log in 15 minutes before the content start time to address any technical issues that may arise
  • a mid-session activity taking approximately 10 minutes to complete.

This workshop is normally scheduled from 9.45 am to 3.00 pm.

Attendee numbers

A minimum of 5 attendees is required with a maximum of 26.

Delivery platform for in-house workshops

The Commission prefers to use Zoom, but Microsoft Teams is also an option. If your organisation uses a different platform, we are willing to consider using it provided it meets our functionality requirements.

Customised in-house workshop

In consultation with you, we will design a customised workshop based on the content covered in the full-day workshop. Alternative content may also be considered in certain circumstances. The workshop can be delivered in-person or online.

Duration

The minimum session length is normally 2 hours. 

Attendee numbers

A minimum of 5 attendees is required with a maximum of 26.

Delivery method

In-person or online.

Costs for online and in-person workshops

Tuition 

The ICAC provides all of its workshops to NSW public officials free-of-charge.

Travel expenses

We will cover our trainers’ travel expenses. 

Materials

Your organisation may be asked to make copies of training materials for distribution to attendees at in-person workshops.

Venue and equipment 

For in-person workshops, it is the agency’s responsibility to provide a venue and to cover the cost of any associated venue or equipment hire. The facilitator will bring a laptop, but a data projector, screen and whiteboard will need to be provided.

Catering

For in-person workshops, the agency is expected to provide basic refreshments for attendees and facilitators for all scheduled tea and lunch breaks.

Book a workshop

Individual public officials

To see what workshops are currently available for individual public officials, and to register, visit the Free workshops calendar and complete the registration form for each workshop you would like to attend.

Agencies

To book an in-house workshop for staff at your agency, please contact workshops@icac.nsw.gov.au to discuss your needs.