Monday, January 10, 2005

What Good is an MBA?

What Good is an MBA?. This is an important question to answer. Everybody has different notions of an MBA.

As I mentioned before,
The MBA as we all know is a course which we embark on for a specific reason. The reasons range from,

1. I need a better job.
2. Since everybody is doing it I better do it.
3. I want to enter a specific field.
4. I want to be the CEO/Vp of a organisation.
5. I want to educate myself to be able to be make a difference.

The MBA is not an end, it is a small part of a bigger journey which you have started and it is a tool which will help you "live that journey better".
There are many Why's? for doing an MBA and my Why? is :
I do not see an MBA as an education to manage a business but a "set of codified knowledge" which will help me to create, run and manage varied institutions which will help to bring about change in the society.

I chanced upon a blog by N G Wilson (via the Green Building Blog) on business and life. Wilson is an accomplished Entreprenuer who recently completed his MBA.

This is what he says about the MBA.

Many people get a degree, especially an MBA for career employment and promotion. They don't usually think so, but act as if when they get the degree, their career is made. This wrong notion will not do damage, but it will hamper the person IF he thinks that getting a degree is more important than learning the skills that the degree represents.

Which essentially brings me to what I really want to say:

Your degree will open a door, but how far you walked into the door ( which defines your accomplishment and success) will still depend on what you have inside - your skills , your creativity, your motivation, your initiative etc.

It will open doors in the sense that when you send your CV, people will pick you out easily from other ten applicants who may not have an MBA. It will open doors in the sense that the manager may be willing to give you five minutes more interview or ten minutes more time to present your case. But you get that job still because of what you were able to do, or accomplished -- in this case how far you can walk into a door that has been opened.

By and itself, it is not worth much, except when new. But if after ten or twenty years of work, if your work does not speak for itself, and all you can still boast about is that MBA you got so many years ago, then it may just highlight an expectation that you were not able to fulfill. Your MBA opening doors from you should mean that in the next 10 years of your work, you are expected to walk farther into the door than if you have not gotten one. That would be the true measure of your degree. In short, the value is not how high or far it places you initially, but how far it enables you to move forward.

20 Comments:

Blogger Annie said...

Suhit, I read some of your blog because it was on the recommended list on blogger.com. A young man came into the big store where I work doing a charity project for an MBA. I don't think his heart was in it; he was just doing a homework assignment designed "to show them that MBA is not just about making money". I thought, "where have I recently read about MBA....." It was your blog.

12 May, 2005 05:06  
Blogger lijiandang said...

a sober-minded article.

25 May, 2005 02:40  
Blogger Amit Virmani said...

Suhit, I've been grappling with the whole MBA thing internally for a while now. Your post hit multiple nerves. I'm not sure if I'm now ready to make a decision about whether or not to go for an MBA, but I'm certainly wiser.

07 June, 2005 00:39  
Blogger Suhit Anantula said...

Lucky Santa Cruz:

That is good news. I hope you share your experiences with me here if you do decide to take or not to take an MBA.

Suhit

07 June, 2005 10:29  
Blogger 章朝隆 said...

Thanks for your blog, Suhit. Found it on a Y! Group.

I'm certain I want a Masters, but I loathe doing an MSc in IT. Personally I find it of no extra value compared to a BSc in IT.

Hence an MBA. Though now I'm undecided between specializations - or to hit the General MBA. What is your specialization? Sorry, haven't finished your blog yet...

Also, INSEAD has a campus right here in Singapore. I'm charmed by INSEAD's professional website and it's Information PDF. It costs and arm and a leg, but it seems to be the best there is on this island. And that it is a 11-month full-time...
Two huge negatives there, offset by only 1 little positive. Rules of pros-and-cons not working well.

Local universities offer part-time MBAs at very affordable rates. Though the length of study is terribly long - up to 28 months! Even their full-time courses are 5 months longer than INSEAD's.

So, here I am, still weighing and googling...

03 January, 2006 15:18  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hi suhit,
please do share some thing about the job market scenario....there.. would be real gr8 if you could do so.,

18 January, 2006 17:01  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hello 2 all
i m kinjan from india(gujarat), have completed engineering in e.c. i want to know that should i do mba at australiya or master course in technical like communication networks
2)1 year course or 2 years course which would be preferable
reply me on kinjan_koticha@yahoo.co.in

21 September, 2007 15:00  
Blogger Unknown said...

Hi! Suhit, I am Bhargavi from INDIA(Hyderabad). I need an advice from you, Which will be the better course among MBA and Masters in Accountancy.

24 March, 2008 16:50  
Anonymous home businesses australia said...

Great post! I do not actually recommend getting an MBA for everyone, though it is a useful education. The cost and opportunity cost of the 2 years is quite high.

14 February, 2011 15:08  
Blogger Robert said...

Saracen's Rugby club recently hosted MBA students from Cranfield! Have a look here:

http://www.businessbecause.com/schools/mba-students-treated-to-coaching-session-with-top-rugby-team.htm

19 February, 2011 02:33  
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Blogger Unknown said...

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