Published on Wednesday, Jan 30, 2008
There is a mad rush to acquire that hallowed MBA degree. Students sign up with lascivious dreams of eight-figure salaries, corner offices, fast track promotions and professional prestige. But is the qualification all it is touted to be?
Is having a MBA in your pocket the ultimate passport to success?
While companies continue to bank on MBAs, top-tier executives have started questioning the real efficacy behind the prodigious hoopla.
The jaded view within the executive ranks is that such qualification holders are actually a panacea for business problems.
The unprecedented monopoly has been short-lived, as even recruiters no longer consider MBA as the ultimate degree.
In direct contrast to the earlier pampering of MBAs with absurd salaries and wacky perks, these high-maintenance candidates are actually being expressly avoided by some.
Is having a MBA in your pocket the ultimate passport to success?
While companies continue to bank on MBAs, top-tier executives have started questioning the real efficacy behind the prodigious hoopla.
The jaded view within the executive ranks is that such qualification holders are actually a panacea for business problems.
The unprecedented monopoly has been short-lived, as even recruiters no longer consider MBA as the ultimate degree.
In direct contrast to the earlier pampering of MBAs with absurd salaries and wacky perks, these high-maintenance candidates are actually being expressly avoided by some.
A paradigm shift
Its high time we evaluate whether MBAs actually add value to a company, and if so, how much.
The resounding accusation is that all MBAs do not make good managers, great leaders or even effective entrepreneurs.
It is just a glorified business degree that does not address the real needs of today’s fast-changing business environment.
Concerns over the practicality of management training arise since the largely theory-oriented curriculum misses out on functional aspects like people skills or even sales. Experience cannot match learning from a book, and greenhorn MBAs lack the perspective on how businesses are really run, let alone how to effectively lead, motivate or manage people.
As one consultant surmises, “unfortunately, business schools pretend that any student with a MBA should be a great manager right out the gate, regardless of real-world experience!”.Added to this, is the issue of having to constantly pander to the egos of most MBA-holders who feel they are a cut above the rest and look down on their non-degreed peers.
Deeming that the MBA will propel their career into overdrive and take them to the top of the ladder directly, such people are also loath to getting their hands dirty with grinding experience.
Its high time we evaluate whether MBAs actually add value to a company, and if so, how much.
The resounding accusation is that all MBAs do not make good managers, great leaders or even effective entrepreneurs.
It is just a glorified business degree that does not address the real needs of today’s fast-changing business environment.
Concerns over the practicality of management training arise since the largely theory-oriented curriculum misses out on functional aspects like people skills or even sales. Experience cannot match learning from a book, and greenhorn MBAs lack the perspective on how businesses are really run, let alone how to effectively lead, motivate or manage people.
As one consultant surmises, “unfortunately, business schools pretend that any student with a MBA should be a great manager right out the gate, regardless of real-world experience!”.Added to this, is the issue of having to constantly pander to the egos of most MBA-holders who feel they are a cut above the rest and look down on their non-degreed peers.
Deeming that the MBA will propel their career into overdrive and take them to the top of the ladder directly, such people are also loath to getting their hands dirty with grinding experience.
Reality check
The days when having a MBA earned you envious glances are long gone. Well, the fact of the matter is that the qualification was never meant to be a magic wand that can transform anybody and everybody into a superlative manager.
The over-hype in itself has placed profligate value on the degree as the answer to all management evils, which in turn propagates it as a sort of ‘silver spoon’ that entitles MBAs to a deified worship!Therefore, it is not the MBA degree that is falling short but people’s expectations from it.
A MBA purely provides the basic, yet essential building blocks of knowledge, skills and understanding on diverse business concepts like managerial economics, financial accounting, analytical thinking, strategic decision making, competitive strategy and entrepreneurial development.
This solid foundation of underlying theories, terminologies and best practices learnt in the classroom can deliver results when interpreted with critical thinking and developed into appropriate strategies in actual business settings.
Therefore, it is what you get out of the degree that counts – interpersonal skills, creativity, communication, team work, headship, core strategic thinking – and this is what makes great leaders.
The days when having a MBA earned you envious glances are long gone. Well, the fact of the matter is that the qualification was never meant to be a magic wand that can transform anybody and everybody into a superlative manager.
The over-hype in itself has placed profligate value on the degree as the answer to all management evils, which in turn propagates it as a sort of ‘silver spoon’ that entitles MBAs to a deified worship!Therefore, it is not the MBA degree that is falling short but people’s expectations from it.
A MBA purely provides the basic, yet essential building blocks of knowledge, skills and understanding on diverse business concepts like managerial economics, financial accounting, analytical thinking, strategic decision making, competitive strategy and entrepreneurial development.
This solid foundation of underlying theories, terminologies and best practices learnt in the classroom can deliver results when interpreted with critical thinking and developed into appropriate strategies in actual business settings.
Therefore, it is what you get out of the degree that counts – interpersonal skills, creativity, communication, team work, headship, core strategic thinking – and this is what makes great leaders.
Repositioning the concept
Management per se is too complex a subject. People should not enter the programme just fantasising about the fat paycheques and unmatched success, but have a sense of purpose and sound management potential. As Linda Trevino, herself a professor of management observes, “MBA is often seen as a ticket to more lucrative employment, so perhaps getting the degree is more important to them than the knowledge gained along the way”. An interest in the business function coupled with the willingness to acquire hands-on training alone can shape the learning and help you fathom the real drivers and language of business. Then again, MBA training from a top business school is not the only way to become a strong leader or manage an organisation successfully. The educational venue does arm you with a valuable tool kit, but similar skills can be acquired through on-the-job experience gained in a good work environment. Yet, we cannot decry the fact that the qualification does hold potential. So, instead of needlessly hitting out at MBA students and burdening them with lofty expectations, employers should concentrate on appropriately focussing and channelising a MBA’s enthusiastic, smart and savvy business demeanour. Give them time to learn the ropes and develop the right perspective essential for success.
Then again, companies should look inwards to their own effectual recruitment programmes and exercise due diligence in hiring decisions. After all, simply graduating from a management school never made anyone a good manager.
Management per se is too complex a subject. People should not enter the programme just fantasising about the fat paycheques and unmatched success, but have a sense of purpose and sound management potential. As Linda Trevino, herself a professor of management observes, “MBA is often seen as a ticket to more lucrative employment, so perhaps getting the degree is more important to them than the knowledge gained along the way”. An interest in the business function coupled with the willingness to acquire hands-on training alone can shape the learning and help you fathom the real drivers and language of business. Then again, MBA training from a top business school is not the only way to become a strong leader or manage an organisation successfully. The educational venue does arm you with a valuable tool kit, but similar skills can be acquired through on-the-job experience gained in a good work environment. Yet, we cannot decry the fact that the qualification does hold potential. So, instead of needlessly hitting out at MBA students and burdening them with lofty expectations, employers should concentrate on appropriately focussing and channelising a MBA’s enthusiastic, smart and savvy business demeanour. Give them time to learn the ropes and develop the right perspective essential for success.
Then again, companies should look inwards to their own effectual recruitment programmes and exercise due diligence in hiring decisions. After all, simply graduating from a management school never made anyone a good manager.
PAYAL CHANANIA
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