Why an MBA?
Why an MBA?
Your boss is screaming. Your spouse is squawking. Your kids are screeching. And amid the din of everyday life, you sit and consider: Why an MBA?
Realistically, your life is full. Free time? Balancing the demands of your work life and your home life has left you with precious few minutes for leisure time activities. Yet still, you press on. Once just an idea that you batted around in your head occasionally on the ride home from work, the MBA degree is now within your sights. Once you have set a goal, you are quite determined to see it through. But, why? What is so important about earning an MBA degree?
For those whose careers have slowed down to a crawl or come to an apparent standstill, the MBA degree is seen as a way to get it back on the fast track. The MBA, they reason, will give them a competitive edge over their non-MBA degreed brethren when promotion time rolls around. Some experts such as Paul Danos, Dean at Tuck School of Business Administration, Dartmouth College, agree. According to Danos,
An MBA education is probably the most powerful career transformation available for 25-35 year olds. For those fortunate enough to attend a great MBA program, the rewards in terms of career options, salary, and ability to lead in business are enormous. (1)
However, the “Earning the MBA as a Career Booster” theory has its detractors, too. Andrew MacDonald, Head of APESMA Management Education, Australia, professes, “An MBA does not guarantee you career success, because it does not guarantee that you can perform. It may give you the potential to perform, but it says no more about you than that.” (1) MacDonald further expounds that, “While many in the MBA market choose to ignore it, where a management career is concerned, experience and performance are the key ingredients and formal qualifications are icing on the cake.” (2)
According to both of the experts sited above, it seems that the MBA degree can indeed be important part of career development. They only differ on the level of its importance. If the theories of both experts above are taken into consideration, then the pursuit of an MBA should occur only after sufficient work experience has been achieved in order to maximize its benefits.
Another reason one may choose to pursue an MBA, is to “fill in the gaps” in their education and experience which would help them to become a more well rounded manager. For example, one whose undergraduate studies focused on Management may chose an MBA in Finance to achieve a fuller breadth of knowledge. Shivpal Kulhari, a programming consultant at Verizon Communications, got his undergraduate degree in Information Systems, but has plans to pursue an MBA in Finance. When asked why he chose to focus his MBA studies on Finance, Shivpal replied, ”My background is mostly technical and Finance is a very vital skill for business administration and that is my weak point. I feel an MBA will be the best way to get a good understanding of it.” Shivpal’s reasoning is that having degrees in both Information Systems and Finance would make him a more attractive candidate to prospective employers, and leave him better suited to achieve his goal of being a part of top management in a multi-national company.
So, then what’s so important about an MBA? According to the experts and to those working in the trenches, an MBA is a valuable tool to be used to enhance a manager’s career and help lift it to the next echelon. Achieved in conjunction with work experience and high-level performance, the MBA degree can help to jumpstart a stalled career. Why an MBA, you ask? The question should be, “why not”?
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