Having MBA after your name is increasingly seen as testament that
you can deliver IT solutions which provide that all-important
return on investment. But is it really worth taking time out to
study for an MBA? And if so, how should you go about it?
MBAs (Master of Business Administration) are a rapidly expanding
and unregulated global market, and the UK-based Association of MBAs
(AMBA) is just one national body set up to monitor and evaluate the
programmes on offer.
Prestigious schools in continental Europe and the US, such as
Insead and the Harvard Business School, are among the more famous
names that give the MBA its sparkle. There are, however, scores of
institutions to choose from.
Despite the proliferation of the professional letters, an MBA
continues to be the qualification of choice for IT professionals
who want to have a joined-up view of business. This is even truer
during a recession, says Tom Knight, a principal consultant in
knowledge management practice with ICL. Knight is embarking on the
final two modules of his MBA at the Open University.
"As an IT consultant, you are unqualified and the fear is that you
are only as good as the last job," Knight says. "An MBA offers some
way of codifying and quantifying the boundaries of your knowledge.
It is a bit of an insurance policy during tough times."
An MBA remains, perhaps, a more pertinent qualification for IT
staff than their peers from other departments, precisely because of
the increasing importance of IT in organisations and the lack of
any other professional qualifications to test IT skills.
Rob Lambert, senior lecturer at Cranfield School of Management,
acknowledges that an MBA is a heavy-duty way of accomplishing the
business context. However, he argues against offering thinner
versions of the qualification that would enable more IT staff to
access this base of knowledge. "An MBA is exactly aimed at
broadening specialists. Dumbing it down means the quality goes
down," he says.
Lambert confirms that there is a growing requirement for IT staff
to add value to their company. He quotes the following corporate
aims, which Cranfield discovered when it undertook a survey among
companies: "They want an IT function that understands how to add
value and realise ROI [return on investment] from the massive
investment in IT."
Ageist attitudes
For Cleveland Gibbon, a technical consultant with a PhD in Internet
technologies, there is another reason why techies are considering
the MBA route. "Ageism kicks in for technical staff when they are
past 30," he says. "Companies aren't prepared to train them. They
would rather train younger staff who may adapt more quickly."
Huge salary hikes might be expected to be the major incentive for
IT professionals to become students again - documented increases
range from 39 to 100s of percentage points. However, all the MBAs
interviewed for this article were inspired by broader visions,
too.
Ben Wishart, Tesco's director of strategy, left Kathmandu, where he
had been leading adventure holidays, because he was "on a mission
to get a basic business education and a route into
management".
For the dedicated business student, it is possible to fit an MBA
around the most hectic work and family schedules. The Internet has
given a fresh impetus to distance learning and the Open University
has invigilated exams in the most far-flung places.
However, the wise postgraduate starts their research well before
the course begins in order to ensure that the correct MBA is
selected to suit their career aspirations. The need for management
schools to differentiate has resulted in every permutation of
subject matter, study schedule and method of delivery.
Reputation is the most important thing to look for. There is no
point squandering time and money on a certificate of dubious worth.
AMBA can warn you off disreputable institutions. It also lists the
36 UK programmes that have received its accreditation
kitemark.
While various rankings for MBAs do exist, AMBA warns that they
should be treated with care, as many are based on different
parameters. "The anomaly is that in business school circles, there
is an almost universal consensus about which are the best education
providers," the group says.
"Put 100 deans in a room and ask them to draw up a list of the top
100 schools and you are likely to see far less deviation than will
be found in a comparative analysis of the different media
rankings."
Counting the cost
MBAs do not come cheap and their high price will deter many. AMBA
estimates that the cost of an MBA ranges from £8,500 to £36,000 a
year, excluding living expenses.
Tesco's Wishart took two years out nine years ago to do his MBA at
Cranfield. He reckons the cost back then was around £25,000 a year
and says the full-time study option was only made possible by the
death of a distant relative. "It was a fantastic time out. It was a
real advantage being able to immerse myself in the holistic nature
of the course seven days a week," Wishart says.
For the majority, however, the time-out route is not an option and
a likelier source of funding is sponsorship from their employer.
Knight received funding from ICL, in return for a lock-in clause of
two years service for each module the company paid for. Should
Knight quit before that time, he would have to pay back the
fees.
Nor is full-time employment a necessary prerequisite for
sponsorship. Contractors may be able to negotiate a deal with a
client in return for a guaranteed period of service provision. This
is an avenue being investigated by freelance consultant Gibbon who
says he is close to securing a deal with a key client.
Evidence shows that hard work and endeavour do pay off, however.
Multinationals such as Tesco are now setting up an MBA recruitment
programme, to scale up their strategy and operations. While for
Wishart, the MBA was on a personal level a "career transformational
experience".
Further information:
The Association of MBAs
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