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It seems that I get more questions about the MBA degree than any
other career development topic. It appears to hold a uniquely prominent
space in the minds of ambitious managers and would-be managers among
the IT ranks.
But the questions are usually of a rather black-and-white nature:
Should I get one? Will it be good for my career? Will it be worth the
money? Is it worth the time away from the workplace to do it full time?
Are part-time MBA programs too hard to do while working full time? Is
it worth going back for an executive MBA once I'm already in
management?
What surprises me most of all is that among all the questions, few are
about what an MBA is and what it isn't. Most of the discussion centers
on the credential and the cost rather than the content. Few ask about
what you learn or what it prepares you to do effectively. For something
that can cost you as much as a house (if you include lost earnings),
there is a surprising lack of consumer interest in the actual product.
But it's not just the consumers of the degree who seem indifferent to
the content of the programs. Hiring managers looking for the credential
on resumes often seem uninterested as well. They just seem to figure
that people with name-brand MBAs must be prepared for leadership
positions.
But the MBA mystique is being questioned in certain quarters. Among
some of the most prominent business-school professors in the world, an
open debate has erupted about the value of the MBA degree.
Before I upset too many of you, I should mention that I am not
anti-MBA. I have one myself from Northwestern's Kellogg School and have
taught in MBA programs at two universities, most recently the
University of Southern California's Marshall School. But I think that
the critics have some important points to make -- ones that we in the
practitioner community should note carefully.
Here are a few of the most important things the critics of this MBA infatuation have pointed out:
MBA programs train students in business, not management or leadership.
Among those with the harshest words for MBA programs is McGill
University professor Henry Mintzberg, one of the most celebrated
thinkers and writers on business today. His perspective: "It is time to
recognize conventional MBA programs for what they are - or else to
close them down. They are specialized training in the functions of
business, not general education in the practice of managing."
Most programs are structured around the functions of business, such as
finance, marketing, strategy, human resource management and general
management. And the courses emphasize technical understanding of these
functional areas. However, an understanding of the general architecture
of a business is not sufficient preparation to lead the people who
inhabit it.
MBA programs overemphasize analytical skills. Many of the criticisms of the MBA are not new. Writing in the Harvard Business Review in
1971, J. Sterling Livingston, a Harvard Business School professor,
offered this observation: "Formal management education programs
typically emphasize the development of problem solving and decision
making skills, for instance, but give little attention to the
development of skills required to find the problems that need to be
solved, to plan for the attainment of desired results or to carry out
operating plans once they are made."
MBA programs don't prepare students for the human element of
management. In overemphasizing analytical skills, they give short
shrift to the softer skills that are more critical to the practice of
management.
Edgar Schein, who is now an emeritus professor at the MIT Sloan School
of Management, conducted interviews with alumni of the program and
noted that "at an emotional level, ex-students resent the human
emotions that make a company untidy. ... [Few] can accept without pain
the reality of the organization's human side. Most try to wish it away,
rather than work in and around it."
So do you need an MBA? To answer that question cogently for yourself or
others, I think it's time to start thinking about the value of the
education in addition to the value of the credential. It has its place
but isn't the end-all in pursuit of a fulfilling and lucrative career.
Paul Glen
is the Founder and Editor of GeekLeaders.com. He is also a columnist
for Computerworld and the author of the award-winning book "Leading
Geeks: How to Manage and Lead People Who Deliver Technology." You can
read more about his speaking and consulting at www.paulglen.com.
© Copyright 2006 by Computerworld Inc., One Speen Street, Framingham,
MA, 01701. Reprinted by permission of Computerworld. All Rights
Reserved.
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