MBA - Desire or Fad?

Replies

• 

  Mahesh Dahale

  The Latest Fad MBA
  It has become the latest fashion trend these days
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  Ashraf HZ

  I'd always wanted to do MBA in International Business. Quite a fascinating subject for me, ever since the A level days.
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  sarveshgupta

  But MBA makes your engineering meaningless
  
  Engineers move to become Managers
  
  So Engineers are still not there
  
  If every engineer moves to mba where will we get the engineers?
  
  Or maybe Managers will have to do double shift : day = engineer and night = manager
  
  watsay
• 

  gaurav.bhorkar

  It's definitely a fad. Students move to MBA because most of the engineers do it.
  
  As an engineer I'd prefer M.Tech over MBA.
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  vik001ind

  I don't think engineering goes in vain after mba. It depends on what branch do you opt, if you opt for IT in mba then you are definitely not wasting your engineering degree. Managers & CEO of IT related companies (software, IT security) must have the thorough knowledge of the technical functioning in his company, they should be engineers & they must also have managerial skills that comes from mba.
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  durga ch

  100% agree Vik.
  @Sarvesh: Team members ( techie and non techie) hate when thier boss has no clue of what they are talking about. It is very much needed that the boss needs to understand and suggest and analyse the process. For eg: In a Telco, it is very much needed for the CEO to understand the intricacies involved in laying the network, maintaining it and building up new infrastructure. It involves him to manage resources ( funding/people) in a optimal way to reap high profits. He needs to understand the competitors technology to improve his own company's infrastructure.Sitting in CEO chair and having no clue what a Ethernet does is useless.
  
  Finally, many be for some it might be a FAD, but for people who are genuinely interested! yes its a must!
• 

  sarveshgupta

  @Vik @durga : yes you are right
  
  I was just trying to throw a lighter moment in this serious discussion
  
  I too know the importance of knowing about the field where you are working maybe at any post
• 

  safwan

  I say its a desire for getting job with good salary and having a degree.MBA also teach us the business ways but for good entrepreneur its upto him how he thinks business. For better understanding the todays trend of competition and ways of business person is must to get an MBA degree, and also many of MNC's ask for MBA degree so as to have Business IQ in the Employee.
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  Ashraf HZ

  @ safwan
  Knowing your interests in business studies, I knew you'd say something like that 😛
  
  I've read an article recently regarding managers from engineering backgrounds. They are the most preferred as they are able to both focus at the micro details of the business, as well as zoom out and look at the overall macro picture. This, as well as the obvious problem solving skills 😉
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  Guttu

  I would say it's waste of your talent. Experience is what you need. At least it thought me a lot. MBA is for white collar jobs and fat cash. That ain't an engineer's life.
• 

  Kaustubh Katdare

  Guttu

  I would say it's waste of your talent. Experience is what you need. At least it thought me a lot. MBA is for white collar jobs and fat cash. That ain't an engineer's life.

  Ha!
  
  I like that thinking.
• 

  safwan

  @ Ash I am student of Business Studies by my academic educations so I will support it offcourse. But again I say and I support my statement given in my former post. For business firm they are having both profit motive and ethical interest. I support Durga's example . for a person to work in any environment he must understand what he is working for . Today s organisations they wants business related competition and if employee don't understand that its a big problem for firm . @ guttu & bigiee yes I too. But biggie as you have said in your first post " Lot of students are told that 'In today's world, one cannot really survive without a post graduate degree'. Even on CE, we see lot of engineering students asking whether they should do MBA or MS or M.Tech or whatever." that's what the teachers and parents tell to us . "
• 

  Guttu

  safwan

  that's what the teachers and parents tell to us . "

  It's very tough to be an engineer and you must take your own decision. You should influence others and not get influenced by what others say.
• 

  Ashraf HZ

  Guttu

  I would say it's waste of your talent. Experience is what you need. At least it thought me a lot. MBA is for white collar jobs and fat cash. That ain't an engineer's life.

  Haha, I think you're stereotyping too much. There are people who do MBA for the experience, not for the fat cash.
  
  Ain't an engineer's life? The amazing thing about an engineer is he/she can do many things because of the way they were trained. An engineer's "life" varies among different engineers because of this. Continue with academics, or go to R&D, or start a business, or invent something and patent it, etc. If business knowledge augments an engineer, its an opportunity.
• 

  Guttu

  I am not talking about people who do MBA for experience, I am talking about engineers who do MBA. If you want to count all those who study MBA, ask them why they are doing it. 8/10 or 9/10 will say for money. Just go to any Management college and ask this question. It's from my personal experience.
  
  In what way business knowledge augments an engineer? to earn more cash or to become a businessman?
• 

  Ashraf HZ

  Guttu

  I am not talking about people who do MBA for experience, I am talking about engineers who do MBA. If you want to count all those who study MBA, ask them why they are doing it. 8/10 or 9/10 will say for money. Just go to any Management college and ask this question. It's from my personal experience.
  
  In what way business knowledge augments an engineer? to earn more cash or to become a businessman?

  I respect your opinion and the fact you had experience in the workforce. I'm merely a fresh graduate so I cannot say that my opinions have full convictions. So I will be basing on what I already know from theory and observation from other engineers. I hope this well be a more constructive debate.
  
  Business studies and economics are quite vast topics. I'm not sure what you've learn from these subjects, but I see quite a few skills and knowledge that could assist an engineer:
  
  Every employee of a business, engineer or no, should be aware of the financial impact of their work. One can't go just blindly and assume. What makes up my salary? Is the budget forecast sufficient for me to work on the project, taking account any unexpected or unfavorable events? Is my manager really being transparent about the finances, or do I actually know that there is still enough allocation to go into my engineering work?
  
  Leadership knowledge can also be valuable for engineers leading a team. For sure, experience does count, but some theory will be valuble for the understanding of hows and whys of motivating your team, and making them listen to you. Shall one aim for specialization if my engineers are good at certain skills, or should one give them the same equal tasks regardless of their skills? You would know as an engineer on how to delegate the tasks properly and productively, as you'll know the impact of the skills.
  
  Work ethics and culture obviously differs from each country. Japan is team orientated with long term goals, US is profit orientated with short term goals, etc. Knowing the nuances of different businesses helps engineers deal with them properly and efficiently. Misunderstandings will lead to inefficiency and most likely errors in the projects.
  
  For the engineer wanting to contribute to the less developed societies. What were the causes their poor economic status? What is holding them back? In what way can engineers tackle the issues? Is it better to flood the their economy with your engineering products or co-operate with the government and their infant industries for a more sustainable growth and sharing knowledge?
  
  Yes, perhaps there are 8/10 who wanted to do MBA just for the money. Who knows, perhaps a majority of those also wanted to do engineering for the sake of money too?
  
  For anyone willing to do engineering for the desire and passion, anything that will make them successful and perform better in the job will be beneficial.
  
  MBA should be viewed as a tool rather than a status. That way it would be appreciated better. One should not avoid an MBA just because there is stigma of "only for people who want money" belonging to it. You take it because you know it will help you in achieving your goals.
  
  I wont deny that a possible result is getting a better pay. But I only merely see this as consequential to the fact that you are now armed with more knowledge and skills that are valuable. It also doesn't make you less of an engineer automatically.
• 

  callyD

  The MBA does not guarantee a fabulous job at a fabulous salary. I think point is not whether or not you should do an MBA, but if you are doing it, you better know why you should do so, and then do it well.