2025-26 Highlight: Special Topics Courses
Mon. Jun. 2, 2025
The department of Business and Administration is excited to highlight our Special Topics courses for the 2025-26 academic year. These courses 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 2025
BUS-3900-001
T: Case Competition Course
Instructors Debbie Moritmer and Dennis Ng
This course provides an opportunity to put theory into practice an encourages the development of analytical thinking and presentation skills. Working collaboratively students will analyze a variety of business cases to develop and present real-world business solutions. The course is designed for students wishing to participate in case competitions such as and would be of interest to anyone pursuing their CPA, CMC or CPHR designations. Note: students will be required to participate in and attend internal competitions.
BUS-3900-050
Topics in HRM/OB: Industrial Relations
Professor Maureen Kilgour
This course analyzes industrial relations in Canada – the relations between unions and employers. Almost a third of Canadian workers are unionized, and the outcomes of union – management negotiations have a significant impact on non-unionized workers and workplaces. The course will be especially useful for students who plan to work as managers in unionized workplaces, and who want to practice their negotiation and advocacy skills.
The course is both theoretical and practical. We will learn about how unions are formed, employer and union strategies, collective bargaining, dispute resolution such as strikes, mediation, and arbitration, and explore relevant labour and human rights legislation. Students will have an opportunity to participate in several simulations, including negotiating the terms and conditions of employment (a collective agreement), conducting grievance meetings and presenting arbitration cases.
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 (/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).
WINTER 2026
BUS-4604-001
T: Psych Health At Work
Professor Karen Harlos
This course moves beyond the fundamentals of organizational behavior and foundational influences from the field of psychology to explore research and evidence-based practice of psychological health in the workplace (PHW) based on scholarly and practitioner publications. We review regulatory imperatives and best practice initiatives nationally and regionally, focusing on (but not limited to) Canadian contexts. Historical and contemporary definitions, theories, and practices in this area will be traced, along with related issues of significance—scientifically, economically, legally, and socially— factors that contribute to PHWs, and sound managerial practice. Thus, we will explore relevant concepts that may include (but are not limited to) psychosocial safety climates, work-life balance, employee well-being, workplace stress, employee engagement, and the role of leadership in PHW.