Obtaining a master of business administration (MBA) can be a long, arduous process. “The MBA is not an easy postgraduate degree to earn — but it’s
worth every penny and every drop of
sweat,” says Dr. Rick Schroath, dean of the
Graduate School of Management at Kent
State University.
“The pace of change in business — and
society in general — is such that you cannot ignore continuing education, whether
you’re an electrician, a chemical engineer
or a business manager,” he says.
An MBA is a management degree that
has applications across a broad set of
expanding fields. Historically, it’s been
deemed a corporate phenomenon, but it’s
starting to make an impact in smaller professional businesses like architecture, law
and medicine, which also need specialized knowledge to manage the business
side of the organization.
“The challenge in earning an MBA is that
someone used to doing quantitative analytical work will have to face the creative
human interaction of marketing, HR management and leadership courses. Creative
or people-oriented candidates will have to
contend with the statistics, managerial economics, finance and analytical work.”
Smart Business spoke with Schroath
about the advantages of an MBA and the
time and commitment required.
Is having the MBA degree in hand a career
door opener?
The prototypical part-time MBA student
is on the verge of moving from a supervisory position to a management position.
An MBA provides the management skills
that are valued by upper management.
What are some of the courses needed to
attain an MBA?
You begin with courses that, in part, provide self-assessment, like a leadership
course. You then typically move into an
analytical set of nuts-and-bolts courses,
like managerial economics, statistics,
finance and accounting.
In the intermediate phase, you move
into international business, advanced finance and accounting, general management and human resources management.
Culminating courses include strategy
courses that are much more oriented
toward large organizational overviews.
What kind of commitment is required of part-time MBA students?
As little as 10 to 15 years ago, the classic
path to an MBA was to work for four or five
years, exit the labor force, go to school for
two years and look for another job. That’s
just not realistic anymore. More people are
choosing part-time MBA programs because
they do not want to leave current employment but still need the job enhancements.
The joy of part-time study is that it’s very
flexible. You can emulate a full-time MBA
by going four nights a week and taking four
courses. Typically, students elect to take
one or two courses per term, which can
take up to six years — the maximum time
you have to complete the degree. Three or
four years is typical of our students,
depending on whether they go summers,
skip a term, etc. At Kent State, there is a 3:1
ratio of part-time to full-time enrolled MBA
students.
What kind of financial commitment is
required by prospective students?
Financial commitment varies depending
on the program. Elite private schools are
very expensive. State schools are typically
much less. Online degrees are an option
now, too. But prospective students also
should be concerned with quality. The
Association to Advance Collegiate Schools
of Business International (AACSB International) is the accrediting body that
awards the highest level of accreditation to
business schools.
Are online courses opening up new horizons
for people seeking an MBA degree?
They certainly are. What I look for is
‘blended learning,’ partly in person, partly
online. Certainly, there are many components that students can learn perfectly
well online, especially if they’re computer-literate.
There are some courses, however, that
really need that ‘high-touch’ component,
like a human resources management
course in interviewing skills or a quantitative analytical course where students
need the coaching. Another function that
cannot be delivered online is student-to-adviser and student-to-student social networking.
Is there a time when a person no longer has
the capacity to earn an MBA?
Albert Schweitzer went to medical
school later in life. Not everybody can do
that, but if you’ve got the drive and motivation, you can do it anytime. Recently,
we’ve been seeing a peculiar new phenomenon: baby boomers who retire, then
go back to school for an MBA and start a
second career — many times, starting
their own businesses. So the term ‘lifelong
learning’ has, indeed, become reality.
RICK SCHROATH is dean of the Graduate School of Management at Kent State University. Reach him at (330) 672-2282 or
[email protected].
