The MBA continues to be one of the principle business management courses for making headway into the corporate world, and in spite of what a few rumors and myths might be propagating, it never really lost its value. As a matter of fact, completing one’s MBA degree is pretty much considered to be a necessity to make progress after a certain point, if you are working or planning to work in the business division of any company.
Today, we are going to take a look at some of the facts, as well as some common myths and the truths behind them, so that you can choose the right Master of Business Administration degree for yourself with assurance.
The Role of Unaccredited, Scam Institutions in Spreading Misinformation
What actually happened to start the rumor is that a whole range of new scam business schools began to offer the business administration and management degrees without having the necessary authentication and accreditation to do so.
At a time when knowledge wasn’t so easily available on the internet, a good number of professionals and students fell prey, wasting money and time in MBA courses without the necessary accreditations or educational values.
As should be easy to imagine, the thousands of new “MBA graduates” from these universities soon came face to face with the reality of their situation in the corporate world. Their experiences accounted for the myth that has resulted in the misinformation today – that MBA education has lost some of its professional value in furthering the career opportunities of a corporate worker.
In truth, however, that never happened, since the demand for accredited MBA graduates from the top universities has only increased. What these rumors have managed to do however, is bring down the applications for MBA programs in the US, which actually leads us to our next point.
The Demand for Proper MBA Graduates is Higher than Ever Before
Coming down to pure facts, the Graduate Management Admission Council has confirmed that 85% of all employers in the country are looking for MBA graduates to fill the business executive roles in their companies. The 2018 Corporate Recruiters Survey published by the GMAC also outlines the fact that if only Fortune 100, Fortune 500 and publicly traded big guns of every industry are taken into account, more than 90% of them are on the hunt for business graduates with a proper MBA degree on their resume.
Unfortunately, what has suffered is the reputation of the degree courses due to the spread of misinformation, and a long history of business school scandals. A 27.7% year-on-year decline was observed in MBA applications this year (2019), which is quite surprising, given the high demand for MBA graduates seen simultaneously.
A Proper MBA Program: The Importance of Accreditations
There are two primary conclusions to be drawn from the facts and myths we just discussed. Firstly, the originally respected MBA courses had never lost their importance or validity in the first place.
Secondly, unless you are careful in investing your time and money, you could end up with an MBA degree that has little to no value in the business world. This of course, leads us to the question, what are the standards to which an MBA course should be held to determine its validity and importance?
Accreditations from the proper regional and/or international authorities in business education must be present to support the program, or the certificate will not hold any real value during recruitment, salary revision or promotion opportunities.
Click here to check out the Suffolk University online MBA programs, authenticated by the AACSB International, as well the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE). Aside from Suffolk University’s own respected name, the international and regional recognitions confirm the fact that it’s an authentic MBA program with high prospective values, which is precisely why authorization seals, aka accreditations are so important.
Always be sure to backcheck a university’s claim for holding the respected authorizations, by visiting a recognizing authority’s website. Check for the name of the college to see if their courses are really as well recognized as they are claiming. The combination of a good college name and the right accreditations makes all the difference, so always take your time and go through your options before committing your time and money to any advanced course, and not just the MBA.
MBA is Not Meant for Business Students Only
It is not that difficult to see why students and even professionals may think that a Masters in Business Administration is only meant for business school students and professionals currently working in the corporate world. After all, the name suggests so, and that was originally a fact too.
In truth, however, there is practically no limit to the validity and applicability of the MBA program, irrespective of one’s field of work. The only real requirement in order for a Masters in Business Administration course to be useful for them, is that the students should be looking to work in the business sector or teach in it, post completion.
Business is what ties all departments to the central organization, so it’s only natural that the top organizations in the world are looking to hire employees who have just as much of an understanding of their own field as they have about conducting business on an industrial scale. This is also the reason why MBA programs have actually become more valid to a much larger section of professionals today than they originally were.
It should be obvious that if you have an academic career in mind, then the MBA was never meant for you, and you should instead concentrate on getting a Master’s degree in your own subject!
Aside from that, from engineers to HR professionals, everyone working or willing to work in business management and development, will benefit from a proper and adequate MBA course. To exemplify this fact, consider that engineering management courses and modern MBAs with a technical side to them are all designed to help techies bridge the gap which exists between IT and business. It simply makes the entire process from designing and manufacturing, to sales and delivery, seamless.
CEOs and MBAs are a Common Combination in Successful Companies
There is both fact and logic to support this idea, because whether you are talking about Apple, Google or JPMorgan, they all have CEOs with an MBA or a higher educational qualification in business management. Many of them have other qualifications in IT, accounting or other fields of work, but they did complete their management graduation at some point, way before assuming the position of the CEO.
This applies to Sundar Pichai (Google), Satya Nadela (Microsoft), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Tim Cook (Apple), Doug McMillon (Walmart), James Quincey (Coca Cola), and the list simply goes on.
Logically evaluating, this makes sense in that regard too, because a Master’s degree that has been catered to hone the innate business skills of a corporate leader into their most polished versions is pretty much what a proper MBA course is all about. Therefore, a highly ambitious CEO who did not give a few years to sharpen their leadership and business management skills would not make much logical sense. It also adds validation and gives their resume credibility, which would of course be necessary to be chosen as the leader of a multibillion-dollar company!
The Mistake of Considering Exceptions as Norms
It is to be noted that there are certain individuals who do not or did not possess an MBA, and yet managed to achieve great things in business without it.
Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Steve Jobs are some of the most successful names in business who achieved entrepreneurial greatness without going to college. Unfortunately for budding entrepreneurs and prospective executives, the media often misinterprets and manipulates their success to promote sentiments in the line of disregarding college education.
Looking past all that, here are a few established facts that you should consider before taking genius exceptions as inspirations for skipping a graduate degree in business management, or any other professional course:
- Most of them come from a different time and flourished in a completely different industrial setting
- Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have themselves stated how important college education is for business professionals today
- Almost all newly appointed CEOs for the largest conglomerates do have an MBA
- Exceptions are not norm, especially if they happened to be geniuses with world changing ideas!
- The idea behind pursuing an MBA course in any specialization should be guided by the will to gain additional tools for career progression. It breaks the barrier which most of us reach after working in the corporate sector for a significant time. There is no doubt, however, that certain MBA paths are always going to be more lucrative than others, so the focus should be more on figuring out a path that suits your own aptitude and is a proven, authentic program to help you make progress and get to the point where you want to be at a decade from now.
