This blog contains posts and comments written by students in Dr. Tufte's economics classes at Southern Utah University.
2/14/2005
Is an MBA enough?
As I picked up an old U.S. News & World Report (Oct. 2003) the other day at a friends apartment, I stumbled across a commentary entitled "In today's job market is an MBA Enough?". It stated there is currently more than 100,000 men and women studying for an MBA degree. Many hiring managers have questions about the real-world value of the MBA in today's business world. These same managers often feel that the traditional graduate business degree provides enough theoretical knowledge, but perhaps, not enough applied or hands-on training. Hence, I ask your opinion. Is the traditional way of teaching for an MBA effective? Are MBA program curriculum's in need of change? Should business programs emulate the medical programs, in that actual work experience is need before graduation?
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4 comments:
I don't know how much knowledge you pull from school actually helps you in the real world. But in the business field I am willing to bet, day to day job activity has little to do with the schooling we receive here at SUU. I think one major reason an employer looks for a BA or a MBA is they want disciplined individuals that can think, and a degree helps point to those individuals. So thank goodness medical students have more hands on experience when they leave Medical school. But it really doesn't bother me to have a fellow co-worker who can't tell me the local demand for apples.
-1 on Kenny's comment for spelling mistakes.
Initially, the MBA was supposed to be something you only got after you had some real world experience. It is still this way at top schools.
Universities have cheapened this degree to bring in more cash. In the traditional way, an MBA had to be relatively cheap in order to make it worthwhile for someone to quit a job to get one. By reducing the necessity of this, business schools have increased the consumer surplus of students. In turn, doing this has allowed them to charge more for their MBA degree.
All three comments have hit correctly on the idea that an MBA is a signalling device. Signalling value to others is hugely important in the real world, and completing degrees does that in a way that is much stronger than the sum of the individual classes.
BTW: this is probably why economics degrees pay more highly than other undergraduate business degrees, and why this is a major that is sought out by employers. I am not going to sit here and tell you that economics teaches a lot that has practical value in the real world. But I will tell you that completing an economics degree signals a potential employer that you've thought more constructively about harder problems than people from other disciplines.
Having an MBA isn't enough a Macc is the only degree that will land you the big bucks. I only kidding. I know it seems silly but I have to agree with the other comments. Just because you have an MBA doesn't mean you can be thrown into a professional business environment and run the show. It means, I may not know all the answers, but if you need them I can find them for you and intelligently discuss them with you. A certain mind set comes from higher education, and I believe that mindset is what the business world is looking for.
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