2024/25 Highlight: Special Topics Courses
Tue. Jun. 18, 2024
The department of Business and Administration is excited to highlight our Special Topics courses for the 2024-2025 academic year. These course give students the opportunity to learn from instructors who are experts in their field and passionate about the content they have chosen to deliver.
FALL 2024
BUS-3900-050
Topics in HRM/OB: Industrial Relations
Professor Maureen Kilgour
This course analyzes industrial relations in Canada and the historical, economic, and sociological factors involved. Current issues in Canada highlight the importance of this topic for business and management students. For example, in the last week of August, the media has been covering the following industrial relations issues: the CPKC and CN rail labour disputes (lock-outs, government interventions, strike votes, referral to binding arbitration, etc.), the first Manitoba-wide collective agreement for school teachers, and the threat of an Air Canada pilots’ strike.
Topics covered include: the evolution of union organization, employer and union strategies, intergroup relations and conflict resolution, employer-union relations, collective bargaining, labour legislation, contemporary issues, and relevant theories and questions in the field. The course aims to raise students' awareness of the importance of industrial relations in organizational management by exposing them to fundamental concepts, the origins of labour law, labour relations procedures, and the impact of unions on the lives of workers in Canada. The course includes both theoretical and applied elements, with students participating in grievance arbitration and collective bargaining simulations.
NOTE: Students can request to have this course count as one of their required courses in the Human Resource Management and Organizational Behaviour Concentration in the Bachelor of Business Administration degree (https://www.uwinnipeg.ca/academics/calendar/docs/bus.pdf). Please contact Professor Kilgour if you have questions about this course and/or would like to request permission to register (in the case of missing prerequisites).
BUS-3900-001
Special Topics: Nonprofit Governance & Management
Instructor Grant Christensen
This course explores the distinctive governance and management challenges inherent in not-for-profit organizations. With over 170,000 not-for-profit organizations operating in Canada, their make-up and purposes vary widely; representing almost 9% of the country’s GDP and employing approximately 2.5 million Canadians. Additionally, hundreds of thousands of Canadians volunteer their time and expertise as board directors in support of not-for-profit governance. Recognizing the economic and social value that this sector contributes to Canada’s well-being, this course will develop the broad scope of professional competencies staff leaders and volunteer board members need to effectively manage and govern not-for-profit organizations. The course will emphasize not-for-profit entities including professional regulatory bodies, charities, and post-secondary institutions. Case study, lectures, guest presenters, and readings will be used to help illustrate the complexities and challenges leaders of not-for-profit organizations experience and to develop students’ knowledge and skills in governance, strategic management, leadership, volunteer engagement, and financial management.
WINTER 2024
BUS-4604-051
Topics in Human Resources: Electronic Human Resource Management
Dr. Sara A. Murphy
This advanced course provides students with the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of electronic human resource management strategies. In addition to their research skills, students further develop their critical thinking and analysis in human resource management and organizational behaviour through review of relevant research on topics such as e-recruitment, virtual interviews, and the widespread impact of artificial intelligence. The course will be conducted as a seminar and will involve critical evaluation and application of key research findings in the field.
BUS-4603-001
Topics in Marketing: Case Study
Dr. Sara Penner
This course will allow students to develop their case based research and writing skills; discovering real world marketing issues and opportunities and then providing recommendations. Students will learn about the case writing process; including setting objectives, conducting research and using a conceptual framework to make recommendations. Then in groups, students will work with a local nonprofit and/or co-operative enterprise, researching their marketing issues/opportunities to develop an interview-based, decision-oriented case study.
BUS-4603-050
Topics in Marketing: Digital Marketing
Today’s world is a digital marketplace with consumers dedicating a signification portion of their time to online activities. Marketeers who fail to ignore the power of digital marketing do so at their own peril. This course will focus on the core principles of digital marketing and help students get hands-on experience across a variety of tools at the disposal of the modern marketer. With exciting topics such as social media marketing, email marketing, SEO/SEM, and mobile marketing, students will learn about practical approaches to the digital world. Emphasis will also be placed strategies that can build a brand’s core offerings in a competitively advantageous manner. This course builds upon the learnings from the fundamentals of marketing and other marketing courses. Vibrant in class discussions and research on the topics being studied will be highly encouraged, and as such students should be prepared for a higher level of engagement and output.
BUS-4602-002
Topics in International Business: Air Transport Management and Regulation
Professor David Timothy Duval (www.dtduval.com)
This course will examine several key aspects of commercial air transport, including airline business models, the governance of airports (especially in Canada), aeropolitics and the negotiation of access rights, airline management (planning, yield management), passenger rights/protections and climate change/sustainability. The course will be a mix of lectures, one-on-one tutoring and directed readings. No written exams or tests. If a student does not have all the prerequisites, registration is absolutely possible. Please email David on da.duval@uwinnipeg.ca.
BUS-4602-001
Topics in International Business: Luxury Brand Management
Professor Satyendra Singh
The globalization of businesses, foreign direct investments and the arrival of Internet technology have contributed significantly to increasing consumers' purchasing power. The rise in purchasing power has also increased the demand for luxury products and services worldwide. To tap into the new market for luxury products, international business managers are forced to develop different luxury and premium brands for different affordable segments yet have the luxury appeal. However, the development and management of such luxury and premium brands are fundamentally different (actually opposite) from ordinary brands. Therefore, the objectives of the research-based course are to:
(1) understand the concept of luxury brand management in foreign (economic, political and cultural) settings,
(2) acquire the fundamentally different business knowledge and special skills necessary for luxury brand development and management, and
(3) identify international markets for the introduction and management of luxury products and services, as different markets have a different concept of luxury and its acceptance in society.
More information at https://sites.google.com/view/drsatsingh