Residency Courses

MBA 500 Team-Based Skills Workshops

This course is based on a number of concepts relating to the use of teams in management. It includes coaching as well as project team models. You will study team dynamics and styles and how to use them appropriately. You will receive feedback about your personal goals and managerial skills including: management style, visioning, career goals, decision styles, strategic openness and feedback processes. The course will help you build and maintain an effective Learning Team.

MBA 501 Human Interfaces

Focus is on the importance of understanding human dynamics in an organizational context, including individual, group and organization-wide interactions. Tensions found at the boundaries of subsystems will be analyzed and strategies devised to minimize those that are unproductive, while harnessing the positive energy that can result when goals conflict.

MBA 502 The Business Environment

This is an investigation of the effects of social, technical, economic and political activities on organizational success. The underlying variables at the root of these dynamics anchor the discussion. Examines core best business practices worldwide.

MBA 503 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.

MBA 504 Strategic Leadership

Strategic leadership skills and processes including: defining the organization’s mission, strategy formulation, the implementation of guiding principles, and establishing clear direction and purpose. Includes a study of environmental factors, industry and country analysis, organizational assessment, strategic formulation, implementation, and control. You will learn the relationship between rarity, value, substitutability and organizational capacity within the context of financial and leadership control. You will develop enhanced strategic thinking, analysis and judgment abilities.

MBA 505 Numerical Analysis

Focuses on the gathering, analysis and interpretation of numerical information, and on common analytical tools and techniques that will allow you to present numbers in a valid and meaningful way. Includes: statistical interpretation and decision trees, principles of economy engineering based on net present value, aspects of marketing research and data gathering techniques. Some basic economic and statistical measures will be studied.

MBA 506 Consulting Practice

This course is designed to develop skills regarding relationships with internal and external clients. Includes: contracts, requests for proposals, client attachment, role expectations, intervention models, process consultation, organizational learning, detachment, and related concepts. A foundation course for your required consulting assignment.

MBA 522-23 Consulting Assignment

The Consulting Assignment is the principal focus of the UCW MBA. It is a substantive effort of synthesis and application of the material covered during your course work, and will be equal to two courses.

This will be a significant document, not only to your learning at UCW, but also to your sponsor organization, whether that is your own workplace or another organization. It will be a substantial piece of practical research that is fully documented and open for scrutiny by both the university and the sponsor organization. You will need to complete a literature search to support the long-term value of your findings. You will complete: a project proposal; organizational action research, results presentation and final written report. We encourage you to become involved in implementing your project recommendations wherever possible.

If you do not have related business experience, we will require less primary data for your project.

Internet Courses

MBA. 507 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.

MBA. 508 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.

MBA. 509 Digital Universe

This course seeks to understand the interfaces between human progress, hardware and software development. The invention and integration of technology into business and everyday life is evaluated as an imperative for success within the environment of continuous digital change. The implications of shortened cycle times in global technology development are discussed. The effect of the digital universe on human culture and destiny is investigated. Implications for business strategy, and the design of alternate models are appraised.

MBA. 510 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.

MBA. 511 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.

MBA. 512 Enterpriseship

This course examines traditional entrepreneurship and newer forms of enterprise, or intrapreneurship. Includes: the study of new ventures, from conception to creation, business plans, financing alternatives and small business concepts and support mechanisms. Public and private sector implications are examined.

MBA. 513 Change Management

Technology is changing at an ever-increasing pace. This course focuses on understanding and managing change in today’s world, including: motivating employees to act and react more quickly, leadership factors, and proactive mechanisms for change.

MBA. 538 Global Markets

This course will develop an understanding of the dynamics of managing locally while operating globally. A focus will be on recognizing cultural diversity as a critical element of economic development and success. Investigation of the unique characteristics of global competition including the macro-economic environment, marketplace interaction, international financial institutions, Non Governmental Organizations and government policy will be undertaken.

MBA. 514 Global Leadership

Leadership is a critical element in the success of any company. However, the significance of this role is manifold in organizations with mandates that cross borders. Understanding the economic realities of trading internationally requires a breadth of knowledge beyond the scope of managers whose operations are national in characteristic. Awareness of cultural sensitivities and the political realities of doing business are fundamental to this senior leadership, so a study of world leaders and governments will frame this course. Ethical issues, political risk, international mergers, government intervention, and crisis management are some of the important topics covered.

MBA. 529 Knowledge Management

The use of data collection and analysis is considered one of the most important tasks of any organization in the search for competitive advantage. The translation of data into information, information into knowledge, and knowledge into wisdom is not a trivial matter. Both invasive and non-invasive approaches to data collection will be discussed. The implications of data mining will be investigated, particularly as related to its integration within corporate strategy. Methods of harnessing the aggregate intelligence of employees will be discussed. The objective is to increase the organizational IQ making the fine-tuning of target markets more effective and powerful.

MBA. 528 Electronic Commerce

E-Commerce uses computer-mediated networks to engage in enterprise. Although the course includes analysis of Local Area Networks and internal customer oriented systems, it will focus on external customers and the Internet. Evaluation of new models of Business to Business and Business to Consumer processes will be emphasized as will associated supply chain challenges. Trends in advertising and marketing for this medium will be assessed. A thorough evaluation of the impact on traditional organizational structures will be undertaken. Predictions about the evolution of the industry will be discussed.

MBA. 530 Internet Strategies

The rapidly emerging, important role of e-commerce requires specific application of traditional and newer management theory to corporate strategy. Elements that define the foundation of this trading mechanism and that drive a powerful web presence include: legal issues (copyright and intellectual property regulation), search engines, security encryption, electronic payment methods, virus control, local area networks, and server management. Underlying this focus is an awareness of unique opportunities that are transforming not only businesses, but also entire industries. Hence, not only technological infrastructure is evaluated, but also its applications to real situations will be examined through case studies. Current topics will be identified in academic and trade journals.

MBA. 520 Management Information Systems

This course introduces the student to the managerial implications of information systems in organizations. Implicit is the importance of such systems benefiting decision-making and providing the tools for competitive advantage. An overview of information systems technology, systems development, data management, rapid development, and maintenance will be provided. Issues surrounding the human resources implications of the introduction of computer systems will be investigated.

MBA. 522 Systems Design

The processes and tools necessary for computerized systems are at the core of this course. Topics cover a broad spectrum of issues surrounding system planning, analysis and design. Implementation strategies are looked at in detail. An overview of current subject matter includes: information engineering, process and data modeling, object-oriented methods and rapid development. Students are expected to understand and manage the entire systems design process.

MBA. 521 Networks and Security

This course focuses on Local Area Networks (LANs) including technology and related architecture and connectivity. Management issues include implementation and associated costs and benefits. A knowledge base of underlying issues is expected to facilitate the selection and integration of networks. Other topics include: hardware and software elements, topologies, standards, and the convergence of voice, data and images. Underlying this study area is the importance of, and advances in, security.

MBA. 537 International Institutions

Increasingly, especially though not limited to developing countries, the globalization of trade is causing many national and transnational institutions to have a significant impact on organizations that seek to do business on an international scale. These special interest groups and organizations comprise a broad range of style and presence. They include, for example, the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, Non-Governmental Organizations, radical groups, and governments (elected and rogue states), whose interventions in the marketplace make necessary an understanding of the implications of political dynamics. This course will investigate these forces, and propose strategies on how to manage associated risks.