Master of Business Administration

SOAR 098 (0) - Student Orientation and Academic Readiness

Through this orientation students come to understand their academic expectations, requirements, and rights and responsibilities at University Canada West. Students will learn how to access the university services and systems that they need to be successful in their studies. Orientation includes practices of information literacy, academic integrity, critical thinking, and academic writing. All students will be assessed for academic writing proficiency. 

The Tier 1 courses are your entry to the MBA program. They establish the basic university skills of research and writing while providing you with a theoretical and practical basis for what follows in the program.

BUSI 601 - Business Environment, Ethics & Strategy

This course explores the context of strategic analysis and business decision-making, including the impact of social, technical, economic, environmental, and political factors on organizational success; and the tactics that companies use to respond to those factors. The ethical framework of decision-making in relation to global stakeholders anchors this exploration. Best business practices worldwide will be examined. 

MGMT 601 - Leadership in the Global Context

This course incorporates elements of leadership and strategic implementation at all levels within an organization. Students will learn about leadership theories and consider best practices that may differentiate highly successful leaders from others. They will be engaged in identifying their leadership styles and potential, with a view to enhancing their ability to lead teams. Strategic planning and leadership skills will be developed through the knowledge and application of strategic management tools and processes. Students will be challenged to adopt new leadership thinking, skills and strategies. 

ORGB 601 - Human Interfaces

Understanding the human dynamics in an organizational context, including individual, groups and organization-wide interactions, is critical to productivity and performance in the work place. Students will analyze sources of tension and conflict within organizations and learn about strategies to harness positive energy and productivity.

RSCH 600 - Research Methodologies & Inquiry

The course will focus on the basic research methods (quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods) and the development of the skills that will be required to write effective research papers throughout their MBA program. Topics include understanding the ethical considerations of doing research, developing and refining research topics, crafting a problem statement, and formulating research questions and hypotheses. Students will evaluate and critique the quality of published literature by employing critical thinking skills, writing summaries for individual entries in a literature review, and/or writing comprehensive summaries of articles for a literature review. Students will also practice writing the various sections of a research paper such as the abstract, introduction and theoretical background, problem statements, etc. 

The Tier 2 courses begin to explore the functional areas of organizational operations. These courses expect a more advanced level of study than do the Tier 1.

ACCT 621 - Managerial Accounting

This course investigates the use of accounting information in the decisions made by management during the process of planning and controlling. Includes: systems that measure the cost and profitability of products and services, implications of change in investment, cost reduction strategies, and financial reporting guidelines, both formal and informal requirements, and their effect on managerial judgment. In particular, the focus will be on internal control mechanisms. This will include the implication of changes in accounting policy on investing, operating and financing choices.

Prerequisites: Completion of Tier 1

MRKT 621 - Marketing Management

Marketing principles that will help students implement a marketing strategy for an organization. Included are: the marketing environment, segmentation, positioning, consumer behaviour, customer care, marketing research, branding, pricing, distribution and innovation. Emphasis is placed on an analysis of changes in the marketplace that affect an organization’s future.

Prerequisites: Completion of Tier 1

OPMT 620 - Operations Management

Operations management seeks to implement and monitor processes to help assure that quality products and services are delivered in a timely and cost effective way to customers. Included in the course are computer and decision support systems using Production and Operations Management software. Statistical methods and cutting edge concepts are discussed as part of comprehensive management practices.

Prerequisites: Completion of Tier 2

HRMT 620 - Canadian Human Resource Management

This course will explore how to develop strategies, policies, procedures, systems, and structures, to manage human resources in a Canadian business context. Students completing the course will be fluent in the issues facing businesses in this environment, critically examine the key HR tools to be successful and define a set of business "best practices" to support and advise managers and leaders to be successful in these environments.

Prerequisites: Completion of Tier 1

Or

HRMT 621 - Human Resource Management in the Global Environment

This course will explore how to develop strategies, policies, procedures, systems, and structures, to manage human resources in a global business and multi-cultural context. Students completing the course will be fluent in the issues facing businesses in these environment, critically examine the key HR tools to be successful and define a set of business “best practices” to support and advise managers and leaders to be successful in these environments.  

 Prerequisites: Completion of Tier 1

The Tier 3 courses will give you the depth of knowledge necessary to make you a qualified practitioner in the field.

FNCE 623 - Financial Management

This course looks at the impact of financial decisions internal to, and external to the organization. It will introduce the topic of financial markets, and how financial information is related to the success of the firm, especially regarding the ability to raise capital. Included will be a discussion of the different instruments and institutions used during the process. Some strategies for evaluating and minimizing risk will be presented. Underlying much of the analysis will be the concept of the time value theory of money. The role and expectation of shareholders will be presented. Ultimately, it will become clear that most decisions within an organization have important financial implications, explicit or otherwise. These should be well understood and managed.

Prerequisites: Completion of Tier 2

BUSI 640 - Consulting Practice

This course is designed to develop skills regarding relationships with internal and external clients. Topics Include: contracts, requests for proposals, client attachment, role expectations, intervention models, process consultation, organizational learning, detachment, and related concepts. This is a foundation course for the Research/Consulting Project.

Prerequisites: Completion of Tier 2

MGMT 640 - Project Management

Increasingly, organizations are using project teams as a core process of operation. This is the result of a growing internal and external complexity. Examines the need for more and deeper involvement of teams in the operation of organizations, and the requirement to understand how teams operate and different forms of related structures and reward systems. This course investigates the role of project teams and their management.

Prerequisites: Completion of Tier 1

Electives

Tier 3 MBA students are also required to take two electives from the Tier 3 elective pool.

Optional work experience

WORK 600 - Work Experience Preparation

This course is designed to prepare MBA students for their MBA work experience. Students will examine their competencies, skills, attitudes, and work, volunteer and educational experiences in order to prepare for job search and work. Students will develop a resume and covering letter and develop networking and interviewing skills. Students will understand the expectations of business with respect to employees. (One hour per week) Grading on a pass/fail basis.

WORK 610 - MBA Work Experience I

The work experience is designed to provide supervised practical experience in a placement where students can apply skills learned in the MBA program. (35 hours per week for 12 weeks) Grading on a pass/fail basis.

Prerequisite: Successful completion of WORK 600 and a CGPA of 3.33 or better.

WORK 611- MBA Work Experience II

The work experience is designed to provide supervised practical experience in a placement where students can apply skills learned in the MBA program. (35 hours per week for 12 weeks) Grading on a pass/fail basis.

Prerequisite: Successful completion of WORK 610

Tier 4 courses are the final step in your program. They provide the opportunity to integrate and polish your knowledge. It includes a major consulting or primary research project that demonstrates your ability in a field of your interest.

MBAR 661 - Consulting/Research Project

The Consulting/Research Project, the final stage in the MBA degree, is completed independently under the direction of an assigned academic supervisor. Students will be assessed on the quality of the final paper and their ability to conduct practical research (typically field research) and to analyze the results and implications of this research. The project will be important not only to advance and apply what you have learned in the MBA program, but also for the value it delivers to the sponsor organization, whether that is the student’s own workplace or another organization. Students will be required to do an oral presentation of their Consulting/Research papers to invited members of the university community. MBAR 661 must be completed within 2 consecutive academic terms. There are no extensions for this course.

Or

MGMT 661 - Strategic Management

Strategic management focuses on the strategy formulation and actions taken by top management utilizing the organization's resources synergistically to improve performance of internal and external environments. The course serves as an opportunity to develop skills for strategic thinking and analysis, leadership, communication, teamwork, and cross-functional integration. Students learn about corporate and business planning as well as the implementation of organizational change through structures, systems, and people. The approach adopted includes lectures, case analyses, and action learning through group efforts.

Prerequisites: Completion of Tier 3

Electives

Tier 4 MBA students are also required to take one elective from the Tier 4 elective pool.

You now have a choice. You can select electives from different tier elective pools as you progress through your degree program. You can select three electives from one of the elective clusters in Marketing, Finance or Leadership, to gain specialized skills and knowledge. Currently the following elective courses are available:

Leadership

MGMT 643 Change Management

This course will investigate intervention theory surrounding the dynamics of change. Included will be methods of aligning organizational structures with strategy within environmental vagaries. Change agent models will be discussed and data collection, content analysis and feedback mechanisms will be outlined to assist the organization achieve risk reduction through harnessing creative, proactive response.

Prerequisites: Completion of Tier 2

MGMT 645 Negotiations

Negotiation is the art and science of obtaining agreements between two or more interdependent parties. Students who complete this course will understand the theory and processes of negotiation as it is practiced in a variety of settings, understand the components of an effective negotiation, and be able to analyze their own behavior in negotiations. The course will be largely experiential, providing students with an opportunity to develop their skills by participating in negotiation exercises and integrating their experiences with the principles presented in the assigned readings and class discussions. This course will be eligible for the Leadership specialization.

MGMT 660 Leadership and Decision Making

Four core competencies support successful leaders: the ability to communicate vision and strategy in simple, direct and relevant language; living and refining a coherent philosophy of leadership; being critically reflective and aware of how individual biographies shape our behaviours and relationships; and constant experimenting with creative and innovate ways of decision-making and problem-solving. In this capstone course, students will engage in action-learning experiences where they will draw upon their learning from the MBA program and develop their leadership capabilities through a series of weekly exercises, a paper-based and/or computer-based business simulation and targeted case studies.

Prerequisites: Completion of Tier 3

Marketing Management

MRKT 623 Digital Marketing Strategy

This course provides an overview of digital marketing and a framework for developing marketing strategies in digital environments. Students will learn how to develop integrated digital marketing strategies in pursuit of long term marketing goals. The course will include an introduction to the wide range of constantly changing digital channels that are critical to building a message or brand. Topics include: digital channels, social media, online advertising, mobile responsive design, international channels, digital marketing optimization, digital marketing strategy and ethical, social and legal issues in digital marketing.

MRKT 625 Marketing Promotion

This course will introduce students to the field of advertising and promotions from an integrated marketing communications (IMC) perspective. A primary objective is to enable students to develop a deep understanding of the communication function within the firm’s marketing mix. This course will include the study of promotional strategy and tactics, the design of promotional materials, promotional campaign implementation and evaluation.

MRKT 627 International Marketing

This course builds upon the concepts learned in other marketing courses and enables students to practice applying these concepts in a foreign market context. Students will learn how foreign cultural, economic and political conditions affect global consumer needs, the design and implementation of the marketing mix and market entry strategies. In addition, students will learn how to assess country market potential and, conduct a competitor and business risk assessment. This course will also enable students to develop an understanding of international logistics and import/export procedures.

Financial Management

FNCE 625 Investment Analysis and Management

Students completing this course will understand investment concepts and security characteristics and be able to apply these concepts in analysing various types of investment securities and to understand how an investment portfolio is managed. Topics covered include investment alternatives, securities markets, securities trading, risk and return trade-offs, fixed income securities, equities, derivative securities, SWAPs, analytical approaches and portfolio selection and management. This course will be eligible for the Financial Management specialization.

FNCE 627 Personal Financial Planning

Students will be introduced to financial planning issues and strategies to achieve long term financial planning goals with a focus on retirement planning. Topics include RRSPs, RRIFs, LIFs, products such as investments, insurance, pension plans and annuities, the roles of taxation, the time value of money and risk in financial planning and estate planning. This course will be eligible for the Financial Management specialization.

FNCE 629 Global Financial Institutions Management

Students will be introduced to the financial institutions industry, the risks involved in the industry, the regulatory framework for financial institutions and the approaches to monitoring and managing the risks (Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and the regulatory environment in Canada and globally. This course will be eligible for the Financial Management specialization.