Is it worth doing an MBA?

[help_me]

I am in mid 30's thinking of babies, working in IT.

I wanted to do MBA in finance last year but due to unavoidable circumstances I pushed it for next year.

Now that the financial market is crashed.
I little nervous abt taking the steps toward to MBA finance ( even general MBA).
But I still want to get into Finance is MBS (Finance) a better options?

 

[LouisCribben]

This is an interesting thread.
A lot of people who have posted here think doing an MBA is a good thing.

I'm wondering why someone with an MBA is more valuable to an employer, or more likely to be successful if they start their own business.

Doing an MBA doesn't increase you IQ. It doesn't change your personality which is to a large degree fixed from birth. What does it give you ? Does it get you thinking in a different way about business ?

Some say it gives you contacts, surely that's not a good enough reason to do one.

If you take 2 very positive people with the same personality, same intelligence, same education, same everything.
One does a MBA, the other doesn't. In what way would the MBA make you more competent ?

In what way will the person with an MBA have more to offer than the person who hasn't. In what way would it make you more like to succeed if you start a business ?

I work in an IT organisation. I see people rise up the management ranks, without an MBA. Most of it is down to a combination of ambition, personality, hard working, professional competence. Being smart comes into it too obviously. Also being physically tall seems to help !

Most people who start a business obviously dont have an MBA, would they they better off if they did ?

 

[Afuera]

I'm wondering why someone with an MBA is more valuable to an employer, or more likely to be successful if they start their own business.

Some interesting questions there LouisCribben. As a current MBA student who is about 1/3 of the way through the course maybe I can give you my take on it.

Doing an MBA doesn't increase you IQ. It doesn't change your personality which is to a large degree fixed from birth. What does it give you ? Does it get you thinking in a different way about business ?

It has definately changed my thinking about business anyway. I come from an IT background and I think it's very easy to get locked into a particular departamental mindset as you progress in that field. The MBA allowed me to take a step back and opened me up to the other important functions that make up the company. It's hard to appreciate the importance of Marketing, HR, Finance, etc. in a company unless you have had to look at the specific issues each of them faces and the value they add.

If you take 2 very positive people with the same personality, same intelligence, same education, same everything.
One does a MBA, the other doesn't. In what way would the MBA make you more competent ?

As I said above, I think that being forced to look at business in very broad terms does add something to your competency. The added advantage of being surrounded by smart people from all walks of life (bankers, lawyers, entrepreneurs, engineers, consultants, etc), with great experiences already behind them, also greatly encourages this process of reevaluating your own approach.

In what way will the person with an MBA have more to offer than the person who hasn't. In what way would it make you more like to succeed if you start a business ?

Notwithstanding the access to a wide network of alumni, I think the other key differentiating factor is that they would have a demonstrable level of credibility. This can certainly make in difference in the search for funding, partners, etc.

Most people who start a business obviously dont have an MBA, would they they better off if they did ?

I'm not sure this can be answered in general terms. For some businesses I don't think it makes much difference.

 

[Mommah]

Interesting question and I liked afeura's response.

I'm wondering why someone with an MBA is more valuable to an employer,

I feel I was more valueable to my employer as I had a broader range of skills than other managers who were promoted directly because they were technically excellent. Being a manager requires a different skill set to being a good technician. I was better equiped to instigate professional performance management systems, with out engaging the ire of the unions. I say identified less with my speciality and more with the organisation as a whole and I particularly identified with clients as the most important stakeholders.(unusual in my industry where staff are usual seen as the most important)

I was well equiped to manage budgets effectively and creatively.
(not that that was rewarded!)
I understood better how to grow staff within the organisation and how to network effectively with other organisations, universities etc to offer a better service to our clients.

or more likely to be successful if they start their own business.

I think the US is better at offering MBA programmes that appeal to the entrepreneurial personality. One of my classmates launched her own film business and one friend who did an MBA in the US...he launched an international software company, which seems to be successful. But in general my classmates and myself were cogs in the corporate machine.

Doing an MBA doesn't increase you IQ. It doesn't change your personality

Neither does learning to read and write, but it offers you useful tools to deal with the problems you encounter.

Some say it gives you contacts, surely that's not a good enough reason to do one.

Not as a stand alone reason, but it is an important part of doing the MBA.
So if I needed advice or direction on a marketing or IT issue, I would have people I know well who are specialists in these areas, to ask for direction.

Most people who start a business obviously dont have an MBA, would they they better off if they did ?

Most business start-ups fail.
Would an MBA reduce the failure rate?
Probably because fewer people would have started half cocked.
Should all entrepreneurs be forced to do MBAs? No, they are too expensive, but there are reasonable mentoring systems in place for budding entrepreneurs who seek them out.

 

[camel]

Fair played to Afuera and Mommah for the detail in their answers, but I think the response can be much less verbose.

Someone with an MBA has formal training and proof of intention/ambition. I might have the same level intelligence as my local GP, but I don't have his training. Mommah's 'read and write' comment also sums it up.

And I certainly would imagine doing an MBA would broaden the mind beyond the organisation in which one currently works (institutionalisation!).

 

[LouisCribben]

I suppose one key reason people who do an MBA do well is because they are driven, they show this by enrolling in a costly MBA program and seeing it through.
They have to be driven to begin with.

 

[jp2009]

Hi,

What are people's views are on someone doing an MBA with an accountancy background? A lot of people seem to think MBAs are more suitable for people with science/engineering backgrounds. I come from an accountancy background but am sick to death of it! I am looking for a complete career change but I don't know to what yet. I am wondering if an MBA will help me 1) find an area I would like to work in and 2) give me the skills to move into that area?

 

[Mommah]

I think you could choose something better.
There was one or two accountants in my class and I really got the impression that they knew most of the stuff already. Of course they did gather some new information, but really, for them I don't feel the return on investment was as good as for the others.

 

[lazing]

I weighed up doing an MBA at one point, and decided that I couldn't justify the financial / time commitment and expense. Instead I did CIMA - which has many strategic aspects and accountants are respected in Ireland to almost the same degree as an MBA.

You do not necessarily get the project-based interaction with peers that an MBA would offer, but CIMA touches on Law, IT, strategy, finance and accounting.

I would very much recommend CIMA, and perhaps going into some form of consultancy for a couple of years to get the project experience.

 

[jp2009]

I have to say I did CIMA and did not really find I learnt a whole lot from it. I learnt what I needed to pass the exams and that was about it. Once they were finished it all went out the window! I suppose you get out of it what you put into it though as they say.

 

[neoliberal-X]

My Bro is a Chem engineer working for a large multinational pharma. He did an MBA and since then he has had promotion on top of promotion!

I think he reckons it helped him speak the language of all the Senior managment and the yuppie BComms that ponce in and out of things, you know the lingo - it is mostly nonsense but if you cannot speak it it can get you in Board rooms.