Business

Course List

Code Course Description
BUSN 1198

Business Explorations I

This course provides an introductory overview of the Canadian business system in context with the contemporary business world -- how it functions, and how it relates to specific areas such as marketing, production and finance. The course provides a specific insight into actual business operations and some of the major areas of concern regarding the role of business in society. Attention is paid to enhancing business vocabulary and strategies in studying business.

Foundation Program students who successfully complete this course will gain equivalent credit to BUSN 1200.

BUSN 1200

Fundamentals of Business

This course provides a broad overview of the Canadian business system -- how it functions, and how it relates to specific areas such as marketing, production and finance. The course provides a specific insight into actual business operations and some of the major areas of concern regarding the role of business in society.

BUSN 1210

Management Essentials

This course will introduce the student to managerial principles, methods and skills: understanding organizational structure, planning strategy and operations, controlling and leading. Particular attention will be given to managerial decision-making in a complex society.

BUSN 1335

Introduction to Biostatistics

This course restricted to HIM students is an introduction to biostatistics - statistical methods applied to data derived from biological sciences and medicine. Topics covered include descriptive statistics, probability concepts, probability distributions such as the binomial, Poisson and normal distributions, sampling distribution and linear estimation.

BUSN 2275

Business Strategy and Simulation

This course will provide students with an introduction to strategic management, which students will practice using a computerized business simulation. Topics covered include: Company missions, external environment, internal analysis and company profile, objective and strategies in the long and short term, strategic analysis, and implementation. Various strategic business models will be introduced and analyzed. This course will consider all the functional strategies in a corporate entity. This is a capstone course to be taken in the final semester of a diploma program.

BUSN 2290

Introduction to Quantitative Decision Making

The course will provide an introduction to modeling, analyzing and solving business decision problems under certainty and uncertainty. By developing good modeling skills, students will be able to solve and develop managerial insight, in a variety of common and not so common problems in today’s business environment. The course also develops concepts of uncertainty, probability and simulation which are the foundation of many business problems. Microsoft Excel will be used to model and solve many of these problems.

BUSN 2429

Business Statistics

This course will provide students with an introduction to statistics. Students will learn to solve problems using computer spreadsheets. Topics include measures of central tendency and dispersion, probability, sampling, normal and binomial distributions, confidence intervals and hypothesis testing and regression analysis. Students will be required to have basic Excel skills.

BUSN 3100

Trade in the Global Marketplace

This course presents the key elements of the international business process that are necessary for local companies to transition into and thrive in the global marketplace. The course focuses on financial analysis of costs and pricing for the import and export of products (goods) and services. It examines the inherent risks of international trade and the steps that must be taken to analyze and mitigate risks including currency, political, economic, social, environmental, ethical, commercial, physical asset, personnel, technology, and intellectual property. The course aims to provide the tools necessary to propose a global business transition plan that incorporates market research and cultural awareness.

BUSN 3200

Global Trade Finance

This course presents the basic elements of short to long-term international trade finance and payments. It discusses various ways to assess the risk for international trade transactions and strategies to minimize such risk. The course focuses on cash management techniques used in conjunction with international trade transactions and requires students to prepare a trade project. The course also examines cash flows and financial statements prepared according to different accounting standards.

BUSN 3253

Entrepreneurship and New Venture Development

This course provides students with analytical frameworks for assessing entrepreneurial potential and management skills development, including researching and creating a business plan. Topics include: small business and marketing management; evaluating and purchasing a business; developing a basic business plan; franchising options; e-commerce marketing strategies; financial management; HR management; and leadership. The main emphasis will be on new venture development and management.

BUSN 3310

Organizational Management Skills

This course enables a student to develop necessary skills in preparation for a career in organizational management. By learning and practicing personal skills, interpersonal skills, and group skills, students can acquire critical management skills, including communications, motivation, delegation, managing conflict, gaining power and influence, problem solving, stress management, managing change and team building.

BUSN 3312

Innovation and Change Management

Organizations, especially businesses, must understand how to effectively develop, lead, and manage innovation- and change-capable cultures in order to thrive in their markets. This course introduces students to the key skills needed to generate an innovative/learning organization culture that leads to relevant product and service offerings. In addition, this course exposes students to the requirements for introducing successful change initiatives and how to develop an organizational culture that is change-capable.

BUSN 3314

Ethical Management and Decision Making

This course explores the managerial, organizational, social and economic context within which managers make ethical decisions. The course equips students with the abilities to recognize ethical dilemmas in their workplace, the field of business, their communities and the world at large. The foci of the course will be to: (a) develop the students' understanding of the relationship between ethics and organizational structures and cultures and how each may affect organizational "actors" in their decision making and actions and (b) enhance the students' skills in designing effective ethical decision-making frameworks for their current and future roles as managers. Both of these foci aim to facilitate the students' and their organizations' abilities to ethically engage with the internal and external stakeholders, community and world at large.

BUSN 3350

Human Resource Management

This course introduces students to the major human resource activities and current issues, including: human resource planning and job analysis, recruiting, selection, orientation, training and development, career planning, performance appraisal, compensation, health and safety, and labour relations.

BUSN 3351

Training, Development and Performance Management

This course covers two main subject areas in the practice of human resources management, namely: training and development, and performance management. In particular, this course approaches both areas as important motivators linked to an employee's productivity and the organization’s overall performance. For training and development, students will gain a deep understanding of how organizations analyze, design, implement and evaluate training and development as a means to develop high performing employees and increased organizational productivity. Students will also evaluate the costs and benefits of training and developing employees and the impact on performance. For performance management, students will also evaluate practices used by different organizations as a strategy for developing and retaining high performing employees.

BUSN 3352

Workforce Planning and Talent Management

This course prepares students to help organizations thrive and compete in complex business environments by integrating dynamic planning and talent management strategies into organizational goals. Students utilize information available within and outside the organization that affect individual and organizational decision-making, in particular those that have a direct impact throughout the process of planning through retention.

BUSN 3353

Occupational Health and Safety

This course will introduce students to the latest Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) regulations related to workplace health and safety, resources and strategies for meeting the health needs of employees in the workplace, and current topics related to workplace health and safety.

BUSN 3354

HR Metrics and Total Rewards

This course prepares students to understand the theory and application of human resources metrics. The students will develop critical thinking and knowledge of HR metrics that would be essential to interpreting HR data in the decision making process. This course will also help students to recognize various reward systems to build and maintain a competitive workforce. The students will learn how to develop an effective compensation strategy to create strong employer branding.

BUSN 3380

Operations Management

This course will provide students with a generalized approach to designing, operating, and improving the activities of service and manufacturing businesses. Students will compare theory with actual operating businesses, and develop solutions to real-world problems. Topics include: flowcharting, processes, quality, forecasting, capacity planning, layout and job design, inventory systems, scheduling, and supply chain management. Students are expected to have basic Excel skills.

BUSN 3386

Supply Materials Management

This course provides students with analytical tools for translating production plans into material requirements in the manufacturing and service environments. Factors and constraints in planning and scheduling are analyzed and a number of techniques to achieve production goals efficiently are introduced. Topics to be covered include inventory mangement, planning material requirements to support the master schedule, capacity and priority planning, product and process design, and supply and purchasing.

BUSN 3388

Supply Chain Planning

This course will introduce students to the complete manufacturing planning and control process. Topics will include: demand management; forecasting; sales and operations planning; master scheduling; distribution planning; and enterprise resource planning. In class simulations will be used to provide students with practical experience and application of the tools and concepts taught. After completion of this course, students should possess the required knowledge required to begin studying for the APICS - CPIM examinations.

BUSN 3390

Continuous Improvement

This course is designed to improve the student’s ability to design, execute and control the operations of an organization by examining topics such as: process flow design and improvement; push and pull environments; the Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control (DMAIC) quality improvement framework; supplier relationships; and approaches to worker engagement. The focus is on gaining an understanding of the implementation of quality and waste minimization initiatives using industry accepted principles and techniques. Students will conduct a process improvement project, applying the principles and tools of Lean and Six Sigma methodologies. This knowledge can be used to prepare for writing Lean and Six Sigma Green Belt exams.

BUSN 3400

International Business

This course is a survey of the international business environment. The focus is on the nature of the international business environment -- financial, cultural, social, political and legal -- and the manner in which this environment has changed and continues to change. The focus of this course will be from the perspective of a small- to medium-sized business operations, and will be case-based.

BUSN 3401

Principles of International Business

This course provides an introduction to international business and its environment. Focus will be on international business issues such as comparative environmental frameworks, trade and investment, foreign exchange market, business-government relationships and managing global business functions.

BUSN 3410

Global Supply Chain Management

This course will provide the analytical framework for assessing the nature and challenges of operating global supply chains. It focuses on the primary activities of global supply chains, distribution and inventory management, and the supporting activities of document management and procurement. It examines how to obtain and manage resources to deal with international suppliers, transportation intermediaries, and government agencies, and how to maintain optimum efficiency in the production, inventory control, and delivery of goods in the international marketplace.

BUSN 3415

Leadership & Management of Organizations

This upper level course explores management and leadership issues within the context of private, non-profit and public community based organizations and businesses. Organizational structure and culture, human resources management, and contemporary management issues are examined.

Note: Students who have received credit for BUSN 3415 will not receive further credit for CCSD 4415 or vice versa.

BUSN 3431

Business Statistics II

This course covers advanced topics in quantitative analysis including: analysis of variance, time series and forecasting, linear and multiple regression, and decision analysis. The focus is to develop understanding of the use of data, data analysis, statistical inference and model building as applied to business decisions and to be able to assess the validity and interpret the meaning of statistical information. Spreadsheets and statistical software will be utilized in problem-solving. Students are expected to already have basic Excel skills.

BUSN 3500

Business Entry Strategies, International

This course examines how to analyze and evaluate potential markets based on a company’s specific abilities and requirements, then create and manage a plan to enter the most suitable markets smoothly and confidently. The chosen strategy should include demonstration of cultural competence and compliance with applicable local and international laws.

BUSN 3600

Project Management Essentials

This course emphasizes the use of tools, techniques, and social components of project management to achieve a successful project outcome. The course uses a chronological approach to project management and explains initiating, planning, monitoring and controlling, executing, and closing projects. This course meets the educational hours requirement for various certifications from the Project Management Institute (PMI).

BUSN 3605

Applied Digital Project Management

In this course, students learn about a range of project management tools and practice using them. The course aims to teach students both Traditional project management tools and Agile project management tools. Students have opportunities to apply all aspects of project management knowledge areas (e.g. Integration, Scope, Schedule, Cost, Quality, Resource, Communications, Risk, Procurement, Stakeholder Engagement) in initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling and closing a predictive project using software tools. Also, students have opportunities to apply Agile concepts using Agile PM tools. Predictive project management applications, Agile project management applications, document management tools and virtual collaboration tools or other available open-source tools will be applied in planning and managing projects successfully. This course provides students with practical experience using the knowledge developed through previous project management courses and the use of common industry project management tools.

BUSN 3610

Managing Project Communications, Stakeholders and Human Resources

This course focuses on managing the project team by communicating effectively with internal and external stakeholders. It will discuss areas related to human resource management and stakeholder management. Various planning and communication tools and techniques will be examined: such as resource histograms, responsibility assignment matrix charts and staffing plans. Using a combination of theoretical principles and applied cases and exercises, students will learn to integrate communication, human resource and stakeholder management considerations into the overall project management framework.

BUSN 3620

Project Scope & Schedule Mgmt

In this course we will look at techniques used in identifying scope, collecting requirements, creating a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), managing scope creep during project execution, and blending agile methods with predictive methods to create an adaptive approach.
Using predictive and agile methods we will look at various activities to determine a viable schedule for the project. We will look at topics such as sequencing activities, estimating activity resources and duration, and developing the project schedule. We will also look at using Critical Path Method to manage project duration and to determine the amount of flexibility in the schedule.

BUSN 3630

Managing Project Costs, Quality, Risks and Procurements

This course will look at cost planning and management throughout a project. The class will learn about: estimating techniques; creating a scope baseline; and determining the project budget and managing costs through earned value management (EVM). This course will also cover tools and techniques common to managing and planning quality and risk in a project. Tools such as cost-benefit analysis, cause and effect diagrams, flowcharts, check sheets, Pareto diagrams, histograms, and other similar tools will be explored. In addition, the class will learn about project procurement topics including: creating a vendor list, selecting a vendor, creating procurement contracts and managing procurements throughout the project. These topics will be presented using a combination of real world examples, case studies, exercises and theory.

BUSN 3640

Public Sector Partnering and Procurement

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the theory, approaches, principles and practices of public-sector partnering and procurement. There is a marked increase in the use of outsourcing and partnering in the financing, design, development, operation and maintenance of large-scale capital and social initiatives by governments at all levels in Canada (and overseas). The capacity and capability of government and non-government organizations to work collaboratively, effectively and efficiently on these large, high-cost and very high-impact initiatives is often the difference between a success and failure. With so much at stake for governments, citizens, organizations and stakeholders, it is imperative that the theory, approaches, principles and practices used meet the demands of this highly complex and important work.

The course content straddles the areas of supply chain management, project-based procurement and public/private partnering. As such, it builds on students’ previous knowledge of both supply chain management and project management.

BUSN 3800

International Management

In an increasingly global economy understanding broad trends is equally as important as understanding the operational processes such as export process, international business planning and identifying international opportunities. This course provides an in-depth understanding of managing the export process, building an international work force and managing risks. The course explores the manager's role within the dynamic global environment of business management by exploring the political, legal, technological, competitive, and cultural factors that shape corporations worldwide.

BUSN 4275

Business Strategy & Competitive Analysis

This course integrates the knowledge and applied skills gained in other business courses with comprehensive case reviews and shows how the various business functional units work together in formulating and applying strategies in a global setting. The course uses a comprehensive business case review method to develop critical thinking and understanding of business strategy in the international marketplace.
NOTE: As this is a capstone course, it is recommended that students take this course towards the end of their studies.

BUSN 4401

International Logistics and Transportation

This course presents an overview of logistics, as applied to international trade. Topics include: purchasing, inventory management, warehousing, transportation, distribution and integrated planning. The emphasis will be on small- to medium-sized businesses involved in finished-goods shipping.

BUSN 4410

Organizational Business Decision Making

This course builds on, consolidates and integrates the knowledge and skills of earlier courses as they relate to the practice of organizational decision making. This course will examine the nature of decisions and the process of decision making in organizational contexts that are characterized by varying degrees of urgency, stability, conflict and complexity. As they are introduced to frameworks, approaches, models, processes, tools and techniques of decision making, students will learn how to formulate effective decision making practices. Decision making will be explored and practiced as collective, purposeful and intentional actions and processes. Integrated cases will be used to examine all areas of organizational decision making, such as organizational design, strategy, stakeholder (i.e., internal and external) engagement, human resource management and operations management.

BUSN 4460

Leadership Training and Development

This seminar based course will provide students with an introduction to the theory and practice of leadership through an examination of noteworthy theories and approaches of leadership, including but not limited to the relationship and roles of leaders and followers, the responsibilities of leaders and followers, and the consequences of ineffective or bad leadership. One of the major tasks of the course will be to develop the students' abilities to train others in leadership skills and/or behaviours so that the students may use their training skills in real-life organizations.

BUSN 4490

Applied Legal and Ethical Decision Making for Managers, Professionals and Executives

This course is intended for senior students in the applied business degree programs. It is an application driven course that will focus on real world cases and examine thereby both the theory and practice of legal, moral and social decision making in the 21st century. The emphasis, however, will be on practice as opposed to theory. The course will begin with a brief introduction to the various leading theories of business issues in this business area, and then focus on the process of how managerial decisions are made or not made. The students will be introduced to several models to apply and hopefully emulate in their personal careers, followed by an intensive look at numerous real world cases that will challenge and compel students to examine their own values, morals and choices in life. Cases will be drawn from the private, public and non-profit sectors of our society and economy. The last quarter of the course will focus on the role of leadership in the successful implementation of management decision making and practice. It is highly recommended that students complete BUSN 2420 or BUSN 3730 before taking this course.

BUSN 4500

Career Portfolio Development

This course requires students to reflect on both their work and classroom experience to assess their strengths and weaknesses in order to develop a personal road map for their future professional and personal development. This course requires that students have completed 500 hours of work experience, which must be documented and signed off by their supervisor. Students must prepare and present a portfolio that provides evidence from their workplace of applying the eight broad Learning Outcomes of the BBA Program, as well as knowledge and skills specific to their career path. In addition, students must complete a standardized business competency exam.

BUSN 4640

Project Management Methodologies

In this course, students learn about a range of project management methodologies including Agile, Projects in Controlled Environments version 2 (PRINCE2) and others. Students will study Agile methods including Scrum, XP, Lean and Kanban, sprints, just-in-time requirements definition, priority-setting and delivery of incremental results. The course will explore a range of approaches that may be emerging or may apply to specific contexts such as specific parts of the world or in industries with unique conditions. Students who successfully complete this course will cover topics needed to successfully write the Project Management Institute’s Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) exam.