June 12, 2006

Worth(lessness) of an MBA

There is hardly any university worth the name that doesn’t offer an MBA programme. With increasing number of graduates seeking admission there is growing skepticism about the worth of an MBA, that is generally perceived as the most versatile degree that opens many doors of employment. A management professor at McGill, Montreal, Henry Mintzberg, tracked the performance of 19 academically good students of the Harvard Business School (the class of 1990) some 13 years after they graduated (in 2003).

He came up with the conclusion that 10 of the 19 considered themselves “utter failures”, another four rated their performance as “very questionable”, and only five out of the lot did well. The yardstick of success comprised factors such as 1) personal satisfaction with one’s job 2) the respect of one’s peers; and 3) holding a top post – CEO, CFO – at a corporation. Oddly, salary level expectations ranked lower in order of importance; and some MBAs included in their mix of success priorities a capability to make a difference to society.

Prof. Mintzberg is cited in NYT as saying that managers can’t be created in classrooms. If b-schools give people who aren’t management material the impression that they can be turned into managers, they create hubris.

10 comments:

Capt. Anup Murthy said...

I am of the opinion that B-Schools do not teach students about doing business in the real World. The curriculum is perhaps taught mainly by academecians. If "how to do business in the real World" subjects are taught by businessmen and entrepreneurs in their free time or part time, that would be better. Some (or perhaps most) professors teaching management, marketing, finance and related subjects have no real experience themselves of doing any business, starting any business or even running a business. This makes a difference and I have MBA's coming to me for advise and I never went to B school!

Capt. Anup Murthy said...

I agree with Mr. Natraj, especially the management guy ho climbs up the ranks. As for the qualities mentioned for a "leader", thats what I mean when I say entrepreneur. A succesfull entrepreneur has all these skills. Professors and teaching faculty seldom have this experience to pass on to students.

GVK said...

Interesting, and thought-provoking comparison, Mr Nataraj, between MBAs and home-grown managers (HGMs). Do you think their relationship has to be necessarily adversorial?
As someone who knows little on how MBAs are made, I wonder if it is possible to assimilate experience/expertise of HGMs while training MBAs, so that they would have an idea of how we conduct business in India.
I have in mind the managerial attributes of someone who runs 'dubbhawalah' network in Mumbai.
And self-employed small-timers such as Pushcart Papanna (Mysore masale-puri vendor) who multi-tasks - cooks, dishes out, dish-washes, collects cash, and keeps tab on credits tally of regular customers, plus keeping the municipal supervisors and the police in good humor - all, at the same time, without losing his cool.

Capt. Anup Murthy said...

A difficult set of questions to answer, Mr. Vijendra. I don't believe Indians are poor communicators or that they lack the will to succeed in the International arena. I know too many examples of successes. But, as for Indian communicators getting the short end of the stick during uruguay negotiations or any other "governmental" field, perhaps we are cowed down by the "white tactics". The question is, what is the qualification, training and negotiating ability required when the Government chooses to send a negotiator? Is the right person for the right job sent? Is he able to project india's image as it needs to be presented? did the guy get in by merit or is this guy someone's favourite or God forbid, a guy who got in because of merit or purely low scoring reservations guy? I am probably treading dangerous waters here but it needs to be asked. Otherwise, I don't think we can stereotype Indians as being aloof and not capable of communication.

GVK said...

We seem to be straying off the point, if I may submit. And the point was: How do MBAs rate their career progress,in terms of their own yardstick of success ?
We can't re-order this mad, bad, profit-driven business world. I thought the Americans invented b-schools to serve, not to reform, the corporate world.
Now to my plug: Would like to draw the attention of Mr Nataraj to this book, 'Rip-Off'. if he hasn't already read it. I wrote a column on it some time back - Management Consultants or Humbug in Pin-stripes?

GVK said...

Absolutely, it's not only possible, but is happening. I mean, disillusionment of MBAs. At any rate, this was my reading from that Canadian university management professor's findings. To recap, his study found 10 of 19 academically bright Harvard b-school students of Class 1990 reported,after some years into their career, they were "utter failures", not in terms of pay, perks or positions they held, but in terms of lack of job satisfaction (which is disillusionment); in terms of not getting the respect of their peers. Some of them also found their position dib not or wasn't high enough for them to be able to do things that would make a difference to society.

Capt. Anup Murthy said...

I agree with Mr. Natraj about disillusionment can happen with any person on any job. I have a question, perhaps this mood of the US/Canadian MBA's is different than those MBA chaps in India? If there was a negative feeling about this profession, would there be a mad rush at our IIM's and other institutions? MBA entry level salaries have become headline news annually in India and kids are seeing stars and want to do their MBA and so on. So, is the negative feeling phenomena just a western thing at the moment or is it wider than that?

Anonymous said...

Mintzberg, as usual - I've found, has come up with a self-serving conclusion. He's anti-MBA to start with. His study results as given, are not profound. As a McGill MBA grad myself with 12 years in the workforce since graduation (and 4 before my MBA), I could probably identify similar results through conjecture and life experience. The only MBAs (from B or Tier1 schools) I've known to succeed in the ways indicated are those who had strong connections at the get-go. The MBA enhances critical analysis skills picked up earlier. These will take the non-connected to the pinnacle just below the ceiling. The rest is connections. McGill needs to reign in Mintzberg and send him to a factory!

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Anonymous said...

Amusing. Well, by the measure given I guess I'd be a failure since my salary with an MBA is the same as what I made 20 years ago as a fresh BSEE. Of course, now I'm an entrepreneur, lead several businesses, regularly outmaneuver slothful corporate competitors and know enough about both life and tax accounting not to worry about the size of my salary. When it comes to work happiness over the last 25 years I can count the high points on one hand and the longest sustained period has been since I got my MBA and left the corporate rat-race of the Fortune 500.

An MBA probably is not worth it if you only measure your self and success by how much money you make and where you are in the corporate org chart. Frankly an MBA has no more intrinsic value that any other degree, even undergrad, primarily because 1) the degree is ubiquitous - supply and demand applies, 2) like getting an engineering degree, you've only learned the science but not the art but too many people don't understand that and 3) too many A-list MBAs devalued the degree by relying on the school value over anything learned (or not).

The value is in what you learn and your ability to apply that to creating something good.