Some students (including myself before completing my MBA)
often wonder, why shall we go for MBA. Does it really teaches us anything? Is
it really worth to spend so much money on doing MBA, rather than finding a
decent job and starting ahead? Well, I will like to share my personal opinion
and experiences on the matter.
Well, even though I have done my MBA in Marketing as major
subject, we have learnt about Finance, IT, HR etc. etc. too. It often left us
wondering, why shall i learn finance or IT when all I have to do is marketing.
What do I have to do with learning about balance sheets or ledger entries etc.
Well I got my answer after joining my first job.
Often the engineers and marketing personnel get in argument
with finance over their demand for documentation for every single penny. Little
do we understand that what is a single rupee for us accumulates and becomes a
headache for the accountant if it is not matched with the documents; and that
they have to show the documents they ask from us to their auditors (of course
sometimes they become over strict and a bottleneck, but this is a general
explanation)
Coming back to the main topic, What has MBA taught me or
helped me with? Well, if I compare myself with my colleagues at similar / same
position, I do feel more confident than they do. I am ready to accept more
challenges, ready to take more risk and
understand the business better as a whole. And it is not just me. This is a
general difference I have observed during my short career spanned over three different jobs.
When we do higher studies (MBA in this case), we do get not
only knowledge but also a sense of responsibility and our expectations
increase. And consciously or not, but when it happens, we are ready to take
more responsibility, higher risks and individual decisions. We aim for higher
positions and it naturally helps us to get in managerial position at later
stages. This may be one of the many reasons, for why companies prefer MBA
graduates for higher managerial posts, or help their employees to secure MBA
before taking higher positions.
So, in short I'd say that MBA may or may not help
academically especially for certain streams, but it does help to groom the
students for the next level in organizations; from being managed to managing
others.
:-) ----- DEEPAK GARG
----- :-)