Practice activities · Fictional cases
Case studies
Use the framework to examine a situation, make the relevant distinctions, and give reasons for your judgement.
Interactive activity
Explore the connections
Explore how responsibility, accountability, duty owed, authority, and delegation fit together. Select a concept or connection, then try the meeting example.
Open the connection explorer →Using the case studies
Read each case and consider the questions before opening the discussion notes. Follow the source links to check the relevant definitions and requirements.
For a group session, compare the reasons people give. Identify whether differences arise from the facts, the meaning of a term, the applicable arrangement, or the grounds for judgement.
Activity 01 / Roles, authority, and accountability
Follow the proposal
A committee’s terms of reference authorise it to review proposals and recommend action to the board. The committee formally resolves to recommend a pilot. The board subsequently resolves to approve it, subject to specified conditions.
An officer is assigned responsibility for coordinating implementation and sends progress reports to the chief executive. The papers do not state the officer’s authority or specify to whom the officer is accountable for implementation.
Consider the case
- What act does each resolution perform?
- What has been assigned to the officer, and what remains unspecified?
- What would a decision map need to show?
Activity 02 / Seven stages of examination
Examine an undertaking
An organisation has an accepted procedure through which an authorised chair formally undertakes to publish reasons for a decision. For this fictional exercise, the procedure requires a prescribed statement, signature, and register entry. It also requires a sincere intention to publish, followed by publication within ten working days.
An authorised chair uses the procedure in the appropriate circumstances. The statement is correctly made, signed, and registered. The chair privately intends never to publish the reasons, and the deadline passes without publication.
Consider the case
- Examine all seven stages. What does the case establish at each stage?
- What was accomplished, and in what respects did the application fail?
- What would change if the required register entry had been omitted?
Activity 03 / Nine decision requirements
Is the proposal ready for this decision?
A paper asks a board to approve a new service pilot. It contains a clear recommendation and headline cost. It states that the pilot supports an organisational objective, but supplies no authority reference, alternative options, or checked evidence of demand.
It says consultation is complete, but the responses have not been retained. It names a project lead but provides no implementation timetable or account of how success will be assessed. A supplier has already been told that work can begin.
Consider the case
- Use all nine requirements to identify what needs to be established.
- Which matters concern the board’s decision, which concern the supporting information, and which concern implementation?
- What would you need to know before judging the effect of the supplier communication?
Applying the framework to your own case
Describe the act or arrangement, identify the instruments and evidence, and state the question you want to answer. Use the framework to explain your judgement and the matters that remain unresolved.
Choose an application routePlain Governance, developed by Dr Julien Maréchal. © 2026 The Governance Practice.
Original materials: CC BY 4.0. Source. Scope and attribution.
Logos, third-party material, and website software are excluded.