mba degree

mba degree

The Evolution and Impact of MBA Degrees in Today’s Business World

1. Introduction to MBA Degrees

In fact, there are now three types of MBA program. The traditional full-time program is an intense twelve to twenty-one month education exercise. The newer part-time program has been designed to enable working executives to undertake the program without the need to give up their job, and in recent years, the accelerated course that consists of sessions of up to one month with work experience between. In all three cases, the model of the program offered by each school is designed to meet a need, to be relevant to the students’ needs and its state of development at this time.

The Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree has long been synonymous with managerial competence. However, in recent years, it has become even more common for individuals from right across business and industry to undertake the intensive one or two years, full-time, MBA program. Parochialism within business and industry has given way to an explosion of intellectual curiosity and education at the highest level is now provided for accountants, bankers, engineers, economists, management and business teachers, industrialists, marketing men and other professionals through a variety of abbreviated programs.

2. Historical Overview of MBA Programs

The rapid rise in MBA degree popularity has positive implications for the prospects of tomorrow’s entrepreneurs. Entry level MBA degree programs were established in the 1950s to meet the production needs of large corporations. Since that time, MBAs alike have been involved in the establishment of smaller corporations, and have caught up with law and/or medical degree holders as the most likely guarantors of future entrepreneurship. Diversification between corporate and small business experiences suggests relative fields of great potential, with long-term impacts that should influence college career program decisions for years to come.

The MBA degree emerged in the late 19th century in response to the growing needs of today’s leading corporations for the new professional skills of rapid business expansion and resource coordination. In the 60 years between 1910 and 1972, only 1,200 corporate executives were awarded MBA degrees. After this time, the relative importance of the MBA degree increased through the 1980s by an estimated average of 20% per year while, by 1995, this number continued to soar as executive earning power doubled in 1999 relative to 1990 wage values. (This phenomenon primarily reflects the impact of pension funds that closely link top management incentive compensation to corporate earnings. In 2004, for example, the average CEO of the top 1000 U.S. companies took home 2% of all corporate revenues made in that year, quadrupling the pay scales that equally-relocated top managers agreed to in 1990.)

3. Key Components and Curriculum of MBA Programs

It also helps in developing skills, including leadership ability, in addition to strategic and analytical skills. Other skills possessed by graduates include the ability to motivate and manage and equip the organization or group with the necessary resources for development, as well as working effectively as participants in teams and contribute their share to team performance. The General Management MBA is especially designed for individuals in various types of organizations who have demonstrated a high potential for success and desire to work in executive, management or team leader positions both in the present and in the future. Individuals may specifically choose to follow a concord specialization to further complement their development areas.

The goal of an MBA program is to enrich the knowledge of its students in the areas of management and business. Its curriculum includes key components, such as problem-solving skills, general management skills, and knowledge or study of classifying areas and specialized areas. The curriculum is designed with a purpose of meeting different objectives, including the amalgamation of the education of people with a general management attitude in order to enable them to view the total organization and the connection among its components. It exposes students to a high-quality integrated environment, which provides them with the tools and techniques for taking well-thought strategic decisions. It permits students to go beyond general management attitudes and become familiar with problem-solving analytical approach and conceptual skills in specialized areas.

4. The Value and Benefits of Obtaining an MBA Degree

The reverend greatly appreciates their contributions. To mention a different situation, many years before I pursued my MBA, a successful business executive who happened to be my manager’s manager revealed to me that it helps in one’s career progression. He encouraged me to acquire an MBA, which he portrayed as a top degree in business management. Upon my successful completion and at our next executive management weekend retreat, he revealed a strategic business decision to promote me to the next higher position in the hierarchy. At that moment in time, we were also selecting a Vice President to lead the Human Resource Management function, and I interpreted his remarks and POP were my thoughts.

An educator from Bellevue College once asked a mixed audience if they have any MBAs. The few who raised their hands, he further asked if obtaining an MBA raised their market value and employability. All those who spoke substantiated that it did. The reverend had posed the same question to some aged vibrant elders a month before, and one of them, who is a successful business executive, pointed out to another successful lady (who does not have an MBA) and mentioned that she, at one time, got promoted ahead of her and is now at the upper echelon level. He went on to reveal that since she obtained an MBA degree, she has also been offering to teach him. He then gave her the title “Professor”.

5. Future Trends and Innovations in MBA Education

The business environment is going through momentous changes in information, globalization, and innovation. To serve its stakeholders more effectively, business education must evolve, too. Organizations today are seeking to balance profit with sustainability in stakeholder interests. Management education must respond to the need for proficient business leaders who understand the needs of stakeholders and who can satisfy those needs with values-based leadership knowledge and capabilities. The post-economic downturn era will place increasing responsibility on MBA programs as well as on graduates to embrace not simply advanced skills or for-profit strategy, but complete consideration of social, ethical, and environmental aspects. This call for transformation from management and management education is coupled with the continuing debate about skill-sets, the focus, and content of present MBA programs, including an examination of the role of the MBA in future career advancement.

What does the future hold for the MBA degree and degree programs? Are current MBA programs creating the best learning and training experiences for students? These questions reflect a growing concern and demand for continuous improvement in MBA programs. Future program and administrative success could be compromised if substantial changes based on present discussions do not become reality. Our Plan of Action includes recommendations and learning needs of the future. The next step is to implement needed changes and continue to evaluate and re-evaluate the purpose and objectives, pedagogy, and the curricula of MBA programs. The challenge for educators and MBA administrators is to meet today’s needs and this unpredicted future through shared input and shared commitment to innovation and excellence.