Do Engineers need management degree?

[miniy]

hello,
Will management studies in any way help a professional engineer?Is it required for us to have a MBA degree.....What do you all think about this?

[DEP]

it is purely a matter of choice. I dont really feel that engineers do need an MBA degree..If you wish to pursue a career in management then you should really go for one otherwise simply following the bandwagon isn't going to be of any help.
What i mean is that these days it has become more of a trend to do B.Tech + MBA than a choice. Reason being "money". None is willling to work. I am not commenting on everyone. Am discussing what i am experiencing and observing these days. People im my college who cannot even manage themselves say that they all aspire to do an MBA from IIM.... I just dont understand why.
IS anyone getting my point...please post your comments.I find this an intersting topic to discuss but obviously i do need your contribution ,only then a discussion/depate can ensue.

[miniy]

Yes.. i agree with your words....now a days, the number of students wanting to do MBA is on increase..I m not saying that management is not needed because in every other filed we do require good managers(and that is why we are having management subjects in most of the engineering degrees)..But my point is that is it must for engineers to have a management degree?i dont think so(because good engineers are good managers too)...I'm confused and that is why i had raised this question...

[gohm]

Dep & Miniy,

I agree with your posts. Mba would help if you were managing engineers. Just like any degree, it would not make one more/less talented & skilled in the field. That comes from drive. I would disagree though that good engineers make good managers as there are different skill sets involved.

[just2rock]

Managing talent and innovation all togetherly come from oneself's deep insight.Many companies like Tata Steel,GE and many more big technology giants dosent hire MBA'ians from outside world.Rather they believe and mould their own talented Engineer's to be its manager on board.

Blog reloaded:Go India

[kidakaka]

Miniy, please redefine the scope of your question. Do you want to do an MBA but still remain in the core engineering field? Or do you want to generalize as an MBA and move away from the technical field?

MBA can help you do both, heres how -

1. If you specialize in a different stream altogether instead of a more technical management field, then you can actually change your job ... you profession. So lets say, you are a programmer in a big IT firm, post MBA you could be an analyst in a financial firm

2. About managing engineers - I have seen many umpteen number of times when an engineer does not look at the business aspects of technology. Sad to say this but its true ... the engineer is oblivious of the application of a new technology, but rather is obsessed with trying out the new technology. In this context, its always necessary to have an MBA who can talk both business and tech sitting on top of techies.

[miniy]

Actually,I wanted to do MBA and still would like to remain in the engineering field.......

[kidakaka]

Ok. Then I am assuming that you wish to do an MBA to understand the business aspects of your technology. Or let me guess (I am only doing a shot in the dark here) ... you plan to do management of projects, et al. I would say, that an management degree would come helpful.

[ash]

I personally plan to take MBA some point in the future, specializing in International Business. That would be useful if you plan to collaborate with other engineers or people from other trades around the world regarding a project or so

[crazyboy]

Originally Posted by miniy

Actually,I wanted to do MBA and still would like to remain in the engineering field.......

Its a matter of discussion and my 2 cents for this is:

1. You have perused your graduation in some engineering subject. In engineering you were taught to do things using technical logic.
2. In management schools, they will teach you how to utilize your technical knowledge into more meaningful/effective market.

Management studies teach us how to improve/utilize our knowledge (may be engineering knowledge or may be accounts knowledge). So If one will do Management in addition to technical knowledge, there is nothing better then that.

CrazyBoy