The Glamour Degree

Yes I’m talking about MBA!

Born in US in the early 20^th century this degree has now become very coveted all over the world. In India I can’t help notice young Govt. babus doing MBA for getting a promotion, busy executives stretching themselves to the limit by doing Part time MBA because they want to see the three letters added to their qualifications , ambitious youngsters doing the degree because it fetches lucrative jobs and professionals to give a kick and a new path to their career and above all page three celebrities, actors , models , children of businessmen for showing their high educational status and intellectual ability to the world which world thinks they squarely lack.

Hmm…

Reminds me of my days as an MBA student not so long ago. It was quite hectic and stressful initially to adjust after ‘B.E. type’ of education. Loads of notes and assignments, projects ( which I seldom did with seriousness) , tests and unforgiving and sadist Professors ,interviews and so on. I took the education as just a normal course that I needed to pass until I went to the industry. I found that MBA knowledge is very applicable in every aspect of business. In that sense MBA is a very solution oriented degree as compared to say B.Tech. where one makes very little use of his actual knowledge outside his specialization area. But I must stress that there’s not something very unique or substantial that one learns that a graduate cannot practically do.

I also think that MBA is a dual nature degree. You either learn and improve or you go the other way.

What makes MBA special it covers entire gamut of knowledge about business from HR and Operations to Finance , Marketing and Sales and Economics etc . One also learns to work in a team rather than as an individual.

During the course one observes his weaknesses and works on them, most common among them is presentation skills , report writing etc. It should logically make one a better decision maker in every aspect of life be it business or career planning to managing finances.

You go the other way if:

One thinks MBA is just another academic course where you need good marks and hence automatically a good job and then the rat race starts …

I think there is a wide variation in the standards of MBA students in India . Some top B- schools really produce best in class MBA’s and the standard falls rapidly if one goes down to most private ‘ profit oriented ‘ MBA schools. I also think the best time to do MBA is after 3-4 years of Industry experience.

Some Common accusations about MBA’s:

MBA’s don’t normally do well in business : That’s true .You won’t find many MBA’s doing their business .This is because they have a lot to lose – a good high paying and secured job , a high position and in the rat race if they want to go their own way. Very very few want to take that risk.

They don’t want to do routine or technical jobs: This is also true .Most develop aversion for these kind of jobs after doing MBA and now he/she wants to think about strategy , breakthrough, learning and high position . This is what I call MBA EGO.

They took too much time to arrive at a decision : This may be because now they think too much :).