Do MBA's Make Better Managers
Do MBA's make better managers or business leaders? The MBA
debate continues furiously. So is the popularity of MBA programs
worldwide. Though popular the management studies might be they
make a very miniscule percent of successful CEO's and business
leaders compared to legendary leaders of business who are non
MBA's.
An MBA degree is at best a degree which due to its expensiveness
and academic entry barriers attracts the top 5% of the students
who are generally good in disciplined academics. The HR
fraternity mistakenly thinks because they constitute the top of
the academic populace, especially the premium Management
Educational Institutes in the world, they must be good.
The usefulness of the management education program has been hard
to measure and evaluate. While it cannot be denied the stress on
analytical abilities and concepts does give a broad view of what
constitutes management, one can also learn the same through self
studies easily if one can only exercise the disciplines of the
academics into one's own lifestyle.
While we may have some big names who are business management
graduates from the top global institutions, we also have the
legends like Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Steve Jobs to mention a
few while no major names who are MBA's come to mind as easily.
Even Jack Welch of GE fame is a non MBA.
If business success is a matter of knowledge which is what the
expensive management education business is touting, the
knowledge industry itself is dominated by people who have hardly
been to a management school and made a big success of it.
The legendary Peter Drucker does not come from a management
educational background. Most of his management thought comes
from practical observation of the business in action as a
consultant and researcher. The management principles and
theories propounded by him are taught in the management schools.
His managerial thinking is at least 30 years ahead as some of
his thoughts written even in the 50's is only now recognized as
indispensable to running a business.
On the other side of the coin is the MBA's running companies
like the GE, entire nation as in the case of President George
Bush or the top global consulting organizations. How
successfully is a moot point?
While the contribution of the MBA's cannot be denied in the mid
levels, the leadership abilities are questionable. The
phenomenal salaries and perks associated with the MBA's and the
HR skewer towards them ignores the potential available and
learning ability of the entire workforce. If the same amount of
money and resources are spent in training and developing the non
MBA workforce, organizations may be able to develop more leaders
at a lower cost.