Ethics and Integrity Culture Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Compliance Managers, Ethics and Integrity Officers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-CG-051

Before you join: Participants should have experience managing people, policies, risks, controls, compliance, HR, audit or operational decisions.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Corporate misconduct rarely begins with an explicit decision to break rules. It often develops through sales pressure, conflicting targets, rationalisation, weak challenge, tolerated exceptions and leaders who fail to act on warning signs. Boards and senior managers need more than policies and annual declarations: they need observable behaviours, credible reporting routes, fair consequences and governance evidence that shows whether integrity standards are working.

This course examines the behavioural, managerial and governance conditions that shape ethical conduct. Participants study bounded ethicality, ethical fading, motivated blindness and moral disengagement, then connect these concepts to codes of conduct, conflicts of interest, incentives, speak-up arrangements, investigations and board reporting. They learn to identify conduct risks, assess culture signals, design practical controls and create accountability mechanisms that work beyond formal compliance requirements.

Instruction combines short expert briefings with realistic cases involving procurement conflicts, sales misconduct, retaliation concerns, bribery allegations and control overrides. Group work, simulations and structured analysis build confidence in handling difficult judgement calls, escalating concerns and communicating expectations to teams. Participants leave with an integrity culture action plan, conduct-risk assessment tools, a speak-up maturity checklist and board-ready reporting measures. The five-day instructor-led course is available in classrooms in 50+ cities or live online, runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, provides approximately 6.5 contact hours daily, and includes a certificate of completion.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess behavioural ethics risks using bounded ethicality, ethical fading and moral disengagement concepts
  • Apply the PLUS ethical decision model to difficult business judgement calls
  • Design integrity culture measures covering leadership, incentives, controls and accountability
  • Evaluate speak-up arrangements using accessibility, confidentiality, independence and non-retaliation criteria
  • Create conduct-risk assessments linking misconduct causes, controls, owners and indicators
  • Develop investigation protocols that protect fairness, evidence integrity and due process
  • Produce board reporting measures for culture, conduct risk, remediation and assurance
  • Build a 90-day integrity culture implementation plan with defined accountabilities

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Recognise rationalisations and pressure patterns before they develop into misconduct
  • Handle conflicts of interest and escalation decisions with clearer judgement
  • Lead credible conversations about ethical boundaries, reporting and accountability
  • Assess whether speak-up processes protect reporters and support fair outcomes
  • Present integrity culture evidence and remediation priorities to senior leaders

For your organisation

  • Reduces conduct failures caused by misaligned incentives, weak challenge and tolerated exceptions
  • Improves early identification and escalation of fraud, bribery, retaliation and conflicts
  • Strengthens manager accountability for ethical behaviour and policy adherence
  • Produces clearer evidence for board oversight, audit review and regulatory engagement
  • Creates targeted integrity interventions based on conduct-risk data and culture indicators

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can explain how governance structures, accountability and culture influence integrity outcomes.

  • Corporate governance duties of boards, executives, managers and control functions
  • OECD G20 Principles linked to integrity oversight and accountability
  • Integrity culture distinguished from formal compliance programmes and policy libraries
  • Three lines model assigns ownership, challenge and independent assurance
  • Stakeholder harm mapped through conduct failures, incentives and weak controls
  • Board committee mandates for ethics, compliance, audit and remuneration

Participants can identify behavioural mechanisms that cause otherwise principled people to make poor ethical decisions.

  • Bounded ethicality explains unintentional misconduct by otherwise principled professionals
  • Ethical fading identified when business framing obscures moral consequences
  • Motivated blindness tested against conflicts of interest and performance pressure
  • Moral disengagement mechanisms: diffusion, displacement, euphemistic labelling and victim devaluation
  • Slippery-slope escalation traced from minor exceptions to material misconduct
  • Choice architecture redesigned to reduce predictable conduct failures

Participants can apply structured decision methods and conduct standards to complex workplace dilemmas.

  • Values statements translated into observable decisions, behaviours and escalation expectations
  • Code of conduct clauses tested against realistic judgement calls
  • Giving Voice to Values scripts prepare principled responses under pressure
  • PLUS ethical decision model weighs policies, laws, universality and self
  • Conflict-of-interest declarations assessed for actual, potential and perceived conflicts
  • Decision records capture rationale, stakeholders, alternatives and escalation routes

Participants can establish management behaviours that reinforce ethical expectations and constructive challenge.

  • Tone from the top aligned with middle-management reinforcement and consequences
  • Ethical leadership behaviours: role modelling, inquiry, fairness and accountability
  • Psychological safety distinguished from tolerance of poor performance or misconduct
  • Manager conversations address rationalisations, pressure signals and boundary testing
  • Team norms surfaced through behavioural expectations and peer challenge
  • Recognition practices reward ethical means alongside business results

Participants can assess and strengthen reporting arrangements that encourage concerns and protect participants.

  • Speak-up channels compared for accessibility, anonymity, confidentiality and independence
  • Non-retaliation protections translated into manager actions and monitoring indicators
  • Reporter journeys mapped from concern, intake, triage and resolution
  • Trauma-informed communication supports reporters, witnesses and accused employees
  • Case triage separates grievances, misconduct allegations, control failures and emergencies
  • Feedback loops close cases without breaching confidentiality or due process

Participants can identify conduct risks created by targets, rewards, conflicts and external relationships.

  • Sales targets assessed for pressure, gaming opportunities and conduct risk
  • Balanced scorecards combine financial results, customer outcomes and conduct measures
  • Remuneration malus and clawback principles linked to misconduct consequences
  • Third-party due diligence addresses bribery, sanctions, labour and conflicts
  • Gift, hospitality and donation controls tested against improper influence risks
  • Segregation of duties reduces opportunity for fraud and concealed conflicts

Participants can design controls that address the root causes and opportunities behind conduct failures.

  • ISO 37301 compliance management system elements applied to integrity governance
  • COSO control activities connected to identified conduct-risk scenarios
  • Risk and control self-assessment documents conduct causes, controls and owners
  • Policy lifecycle controls cover approval, communication, attestation and review
  • Training needs analysis targets roles, decisions and high-risk moments
  • Exception registers reveal recurring overrides, weak approvals and policy ambiguity

Participants can oversee fair, defensible responses to integrity concerns and misconduct allegations.

  • Investigation protocols preserve fairness, confidentiality, evidence integrity and independence
  • Allegation intake records scope, parties, urgency, jurisdiction and safeguarding
  • Investigation plans define allegations, evidence sources, interviews and decision rights
  • Interview sequencing reduces contamination, confirmation bias and retaliation exposure
  • Findings distinguish substantiated facts, policy breaches, root causes and recommendations
  • Corrective actions address individuals, controls, incentives and cultural conditions

Participants can develop meaningful integrity measures and communicate culture risks to governance bodies.

  • Integrity metrics combine leading indicators, lagging indicators and qualitative evidence
  • Dashboard measures include speak-up trends, retaliation claims, training completion, exceptions
  • Root-cause analysis uses five whys and causal factor mapping
  • Board reports present material themes, residual risk, actions and assurance
  • Culture audits triangulate surveys, focus groups, conduct data and observations
  • Independent assurance tests control design, operating effectiveness and reporting accuracy

Participants can produce a practical implementation plan for sustained integrity culture improvement.

  • Integrity culture baseline identifies priority behaviours, risks, stakeholders and evidence
  • SMART objectives convert governance findings into measurable culture-change commitments
  • RACI matrices assign sponsors, owners, challengers and informed stakeholders
  • 90-day implementation plans sequence communications, controls, capability and monitoring
  • Change resistance anticipated through stakeholder analysis and targeted manager engagement
  • Personal leadership commitments specify decisions, conversations and escalation habits

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Integrity culture diagnostic template
  2. Conduct-risk assessment matrix
  3. Speak-up maturity checklist
  4. Ethical decision-making guide
  5. Investigation oversight protocol
  6. 90-day integrity culture action plan

Who should attend

  • Compliance Managers — responsible for translating standards into credible conduct programmes
  • Ethics and Integrity Officers — building reporting, investigation and culture mechanisms
  • HR Directors and Business Partners — shaping incentives, consequences and manager behaviour
  • Internal Audit Managers — assessing culture risks and control effectiveness
  • Risk Managers — incorporating conduct risk into enterprise risk assessments
  • Senior Managers and Directors — setting expectations and responding to ethical concerns

Skills and tools covered

Behavioural ethics analysisIntegrity culture designSpeak-up governanceConduct-risk assessmentInvestigation oversightBoard reporting

Tools and standards

ISO 37301 Compliance Management Systems, COSO Internal Control—Integrated Framework, OECD G20 Principles of Corporate Governance, Giving Voice to Values

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce behavioural ethics, governance methods and recognised frameworks. Participants analyse realistic cases, including sales pressure, procurement conflicts, retaliation claims and investigation failures. Group exercises apply decision models, conduct-risk assessments, speak-up criteria and reporting metrics to practical scenarios. Simulations develop confidence in manager conversations, escalation choices and board-level communication. Each participant develops an application plan linked to their own role, governance responsibilities and organisational priorities.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience managing people, policies, risks, controls, compliance, HR, audit or operational decisions. They should be familiar with their organisation's code of conduct, reporting channels and basic governance structure where possible. Prior exposure to ethics programmes, investigations or risk management is useful but not required. The course does not require legal training, audit certification, prior knowledge of behavioural science, or experience serving on a board. Participants should be prepared to discuss realistic workplace dilemmas without disclosing confidential case details.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should have experience in management, compliance, HR, risk, audit, legal or operational roles. Legal qualifications, audit certification and behavioural science knowledge are not required.

Participants should bring their organisation's code of conduct, speak-up policy or conduct-risk materials if they can do so without breaching confidentiality. A laptop is useful for reviewing templates and preparing an individual action plan.

The course suits managers and specialists who influence conduct standards, culture, controls, reporting or investigations. It is particularly relevant to compliance, HR, risk, internal audit and senior operational leaders.

Compliance and anti-bribery courses often focus on specific legal duties and control requirements. This course examines the behavioural and managerial conditions that influence everyday conduct, while also addressing governance and control design.

Participants can use the diagnostic, assessment and reporting tools to review current culture risks and speak-up arrangements. The final implementation plan identifies immediate actions, accountable owners and measures for monitoring progress.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides approximately 6.5 contact hours. The course progresses from behavioural ethics and decision-making to reporting systems, controls, investigations, measurement and implementation planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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