Printable Version

More By Accident?

by Ian Hall

Without giving my age away, I can state unequivocally that I was working in industry long before MBA’s became fashionable. (Question: are they still fashionable?) In fact, I’m not sure how long I had been at work before I first heard the term MBA. Initially I struggled with the acronym and in a home spun deduction, mired in ignorance, worked out that it must be a new degree midway between a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts!

Over the years I have sponsored (or more accurately the companies I worked for have sponsored) at least 20 aspiring Masters of Business Administration and I must have interviewed some 50 more. By the time I was older (and perhaps a little wiser) I unfailingly referred to the ranks of MBA’s as Marketers By Accident.

I’m not sure who draws up the syllabus for the qualification (although there is an Association of Masters of Business Administration) or who selects the lecturers for such courses.What I do know, however, is that the graduates, to a greater or lesser degree, virtually all emerge as converts to marketing and marketing research. In my experience even the most feet on the ground, dyed in the wool operators, salespeople and engineers are returned to the world of business as would be marketers.

I can only assume that either a) the course is designed to brainwash people subliminally into believing marketing is king or b) the lecturers in marketing are the most gifted and persuasive on every course or c) the rest of the course is so dull that students cling to marketing as the only light relief.

So why do people go on MBA courses and why do companies continue to sponsor them? A quicklook at the details reveals that the process isn’t cheap. A full-time course is typically between one and two years’ duration. A one year course is the norm in the UK although naturally part-time and distance learning courses are longer. The cost is normally between £10,000 and £15,000.The average age of participants is 27 years old and a prerequisite for most courses is at least three years’work experience.

Many companies use MBA sponsorship as an integral part of their development programmes - especially for high flyers. On the surface this may sound like an enlightened approach, but in practice there are a number of pitfalls along the way.

Firstly, are you prepared to lose the services of a bright young person for a full twelve month stretch? You, as the sponsor, can convince yourself that you are rewarding a promising individual and that you are improving the intellectual stock of the organisation - but can you move someone over to cover today’s problems and how much is the student missing out on developments in a fast moving business? Secondly are you confident that your ambassador will return to the fold? The blurb that management colleges send out about MBA courses proudly claims that the benefits include crosslearning from fellow classmates, networking and how to market yourself.This is shorthand for how to find an alternative job without too much effort.Thirdly, will the person who hopefully returns (see above!) to the company be the same as the one who embarked on the course? Naturally one hopes they will be creatively stimulated and will inject a bit of intellectual thinking into their role - but one wonders if they will be prepared to fit into the slot you have ready for them. After months of cut and thrust debate and being encouraged to challenge everything (especially their company’s approach to marketing!) it often proves difficult to readjust to a structured working environment.

Whether, however, employers are totally sold on MBA’s seems almost irrelevant. In the world populated by business academics the growth of additional degrees gathers momentum year on year. Figures for the USA (unfortunately UK figures are not available) show that in the 1960’s some 5,000 MBA’s were awarded each year. In the year 2000 alone 100,000 MBA’s were awarded in America. Business schools both in the USA and the UK are big business.

I wonder, however, if perhaps there is an element of the “Emperor’s New Clothes” about the whole MBA juggernaut. Whilst I am all for education and self-improvement, I am not totally convinced that studying business in a classroom is the vital key to improving business experience.

As Peter Seeger observed “Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don’t.” I’m not sure that the majority of young hopefuls who read the small print and sign up for an MBA get what they thought they were going to get, i.e. a sure fire career accelerator. In my experience of bringing on talent, the inherent ability usually surfaced by being exposed to a variety of challenges provided by a well structured inhouse development programme.

Interestingly in the popular TV programme, Sir Alan Sugar is not faced with a group of would-be Chief Executives sporting a surfeit of business degrees. Indeed the tests devised seem to rely on innate ability rather than academic process. The MBA he awards at the end of the series, however, is as coveted as that issued by any hallowed seat of learning. I refer of course to his award of My Best Apprentice.

Click here to subscribe to EP Magazine