mba programs

mba programs

The Evolution and Impact of MBA Programs in the Modern Business World

1. Introduction to MBA Programs

Nowadays, Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs around the world have a looming impact on business education and business practices. Hundreds of thousands of business students receive an MBA degree each year, and a quarter of these graduates pursue postprofessional education in management. Despite such massive enrollment, little importance has been attached to concerns about the MBA’s value-added potential or the ways to maximize such potential. Yet, over the years, criticisms of the pedagogy and the effectiveness of MBA programs have been intense. Any school and program that potentially leads to changes in the roles of executives, the functioning of business organizations, the economic environment, and the behavior of the 6,000,000-plus MBA graduates that have received that degree cannot be ignored. Its role and value deserve careful research and ongoing monitoring. The objective of the monograph is to document the evolution and impact of MBA programs, to analyze the perceptions of MBA programs, to discuss the debate about graduate business school education, and to suggest future research.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, private business colleges began to offer elementary business and commercial education for individuals seeking a formidable business career. The business education movement in institutions, known as colleges of commerce, was expanded and formalized in 1912 with the establishment of the College of Commerce at the University of California at Berkeley. Higher education in modern business and management has been referred to as “the chief American contribution to management science and education”.

2.1 Introduction to MBA Programs

2. Historical Development of MBA Programs

The term MBA emerged at the onset of the process of evolution and consolidation of Business Schools, which gradually began to widen their teaching-objective offer, broadening it from the initial specialization foci, until the contests encompassing almost all GDP sectors. Prosperity in this type of graduate program among professionals had begun at the same time, multiplying and diversifying interests after World War II had fostered a self-sustaining planetary economic expansion, mainly the rise of large organizations, including multinationals. The experience of the United States’ contribution, through the Marshall Plan, to the rapid reorganization and economic recovery of the European countries brought together the first recipients and investors in MBAs, especially the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations. It was from the end of the 50s that professional and vocational master’s degrees emerged in the US business environment, led by Harvard’s Graduate School of Business (1948) and Stanford (1957). With a focus on practical application, these short-duration courses soon added content from social science areas, including Psychology, Sociology and Economics, attracting new auditoriums. At Stanford, the arrival of companies like IBM meant that classes started being taught on company premises, a legacy that exists until today.

The 20th century was marked by a profound intellectual transition concerning the development of management education systems. Meaningful progress was only reached, however, in the second half of the century. The importance of this process is not only due to the consolidation of the first business courses at academic centers as part of university life as a separate entity, thus revealing intrinsic differences according to area of government, health and education, which is why these areas have been subject to other forms of special treatment. The need is always directly associated with the mobilization of society by public and private sectors around agendas and action priorities, due to the manifest limitations of the management methods applied and the results achieved. It is urgent for society to use more efficient economic management models capable of producing different results, to leverage the development of countries with respect to social inclusion, increasing educational and meritocratic opportunities so that each one has the chance to play a more meaningful role in this progression.

3. Key Components and Curriculum of MBA Programs

Student and faculty requirements must keep pace with these and other rapidly changing areas of instruction. Besides a firm foundation in accounting, finance, and microeconomics, practice and courses must offer requisite analyses and basics covering changing market conditions, other principles of macroeconomics, management mechanisms, institutional control problems, labor market awareness and applications, and structural issues. Additional curricula instruction is needed in issues related to global management, international finance, workforce diversity, marketing, investments, personal financial planning, entrepreneurial development, health sector professional planning, real estate, and applied decision sciences. Greater-value added curriculum training includes participative cost accounting, just-in-time, team process training, negotiation, leadership development, task force construction and evaluation, research into administrative action, advanced international economics, and management, global marketing, hedging foreign currency risks, and new ventures in entrepreneurship.

The MBA curriculum component is specifically designed to extend and expand contemporary management knowledge and best-case practice. Associated with programs at all accredited schools, quality varies by concentration, area of interest, and geographic location. Overall curricula are revised annually to accommodate better known, standardized management concerns and issues. Revisions are currently underway in curriculum areas like strategy, change, innovation, quality, and continuous improvement.

4. The Value and Impact of MBA Programs in the Business World

As the business community recognizes the value and relevance of the generic management skills of MBA graduates with the ability to motivate, recruit, lead, and communicate at all levels, so does the MBA associate or brand with business success or corporate career success. The MBA appears to offer even more than the traditional bent of business schools, which was to provide students with the close contacts that would ensure the early reward of management advancement. By emphasizing an assumption of dual dominance by the disciplines of management and business in their various guises, the MBA is designed to possess a systemic influence over custom-built or “off-the-shelf” in-house management development programs.

What seems to make the MBA unique apart from its immediate relevance and broad coverage is the integrated academic and professional or applied orientation, which it should ideally possess. This is reflected in the emphasis on management and business case study teaching methods and the preference of MBA students for instructors with management experience. MBA graduates thus compare favorably with technically trained graduates, as well as with employees who have learned management and business skills entirely on the job. However, despite widespread claims of a “glut” of international MBAs only a few years back, their job prospects remain as buoyant as ever, particularly in management consulting, corporate finance, banking, and marketing, the traditional “hunting grounds” of MBAs both in the United States and around the world.

5. Future Trends and Innovations in MBA Education

Innovation will likely focus on expanding the possibility for customization of the MBA curriculum. Major trends include the continuing need for a global perspective, the rise of both specialization and increased flexibility in study programs, the need for industries and their academic partners to relate more closely in order to create more effective curriculum topics, and the growth of e-learning or combinations of traditional and e-learning methods to reach and teach students in distant locations. Finally, efforts to assure that textbook education is integrated into effective classroom learning experiences and ensure that the curriculum stays relevant and vital in a changing business world.

Due to increased competition between MBA programs and the rapid rate of change in the business world, schools must examine trends and make rapid changes in order to sustain the dynamic compatibility of the MBA in the modern business world. Relying on past success is no assurance for future greatness. Schools must commit resources to the design and implementation of curricular innovation. Innovations in class delivery must also be implemented to ensure that material is aligned and relevant to the real world of business. Effective partnerships with corporations require close relationships and continuous feedback. This may mean added emphasis from business schools on efforts to be more comprehensive in providing executive education and other specialized programs. In order to accomplish corporate goals, business schools will also have to continue the focus on skill building and the development of leadership competencies in MBA graduates.