Archive for January, 2011

GMAT Properties

GMAT was designed for entry to business school programs, in particular MBAs. The tests were designed to make sure students had numeracy and literacy skills and the aptitude to study well. [Whereas other tests, like the GRE, measure abilities such as spacial aptitude.]

Today, I believe that GMATS are almost universally used by MBA providers, although I’m sure that other programs can also make use of the GMAT system. MBA providers use the scores in conjunction with interviews and references to make their selection.

Apparently there is a very close correlation between performance in GMAT and final results in MBA students, so although the GMAT tests may seem quite narrow, they are measuring things that are very necessary to the successful completion of your MBA.

Creating Study Plans

Creating study plans is really important if you’re pursuing an online MBA program. When you attend class, you tend to get motivated through your tutor and other students, but when you have to rely on your own resources, it can be much harder.

Study plans are good, especially around holidays and other busy times. You don’t want to miss out on family and other activities, so if you define what you are going to do, you are much more likely to stick to your plans. Don’t get over-ambitious, or you’ll be disappointed and won’t want to continue. Try to aim to finish a defined project, so that it is obvious what you have achieved in this period of time.

Online study is a matter of discipline, but you have to be reasonable about what you can achieve, and not give up the rest of your life in order to achieve it. A bit like learning to be a manager really.

MBA Programs Input, Too

I’ve talked about interviews and their importance in gaining a place on an MBA program. Yesterday I had a conversation with a colleague of mine who is at present interviewing candidates for his University’s MBA program. He said that they had very specific guidelines for the interviews, and they were specifically selecting the kind of people who they thought would be able to fill more senior management positions.

He also said that they tried to put together groups of people who would work well together. They look for particular experience and then aim for a mix of candidates with diverse backgrounds (diverse in the roles they played in their previous careers). They find that this results in groups of students who can work together and can contribute to the learning process of the whole group.

He stressed that MBA programs rely on much more than tuition money: they also need input from students, guest speakers, outside organizations, and from other resources such as research, industry and even the government.

Counter Arguments

I had an interesting argument today with someone who is very dismissive of the modern MBA. He said that he thought that the qualification was vastly overrated and too expensive, and that most of the people who study for it were capable of getting where they wanted to be without having to put themselves through this process. His contention was that the universities pushed the qualification because it made them so much money.

I have to say that although I don’t agree with this viewpoint, it’s true that  MBAs are expensive and a tiny number of business geniuses might be able to figure it all out on their own. But I think for the majority, MBAs add real value to managers’ education and give them skills and knowledge they need. As well as thinking space.

Predictable Men’s Fantasies

Hmmm, a very interesting but somewhat unscientific poll in my local newspaper today. They polled men about the careers they fantasized about women doing. Number three on the list was the Executive: the well-qualified female with an MBA, good earning power, power in her job, and tailored suits.

This reminded me of how predictable men’s fantasies are. Speaking of which, guess which career came first? Nurses, of course.

Using a Reputation

America is the home of the MBA degree, and the most prestigious business schools are almost all situated in the US. There are some good business schools in Europe – for instance Insead and the London Business school, but these are relatively few.

However, no matter how good the reputation of the business school you attend, it is necessary for you to work hard at maximizing the value you get from your MBA degree. You need to not only study to gain the knowledge you need for your career, you also need to constantly work at applying this knowledge to your own situation and your own talents.

Because the MBA is essentially an applied degree, you can get the best out of it only by working at this application. Knowledge has little value in a vacuum; it is how you use that knowledge that is important.

Finding Your Business Success

Not all aspiring business people looking for career advancement opportunities should pursue a general management MBA.The best candidates for management MBA programs are those with strategic and general management skills, or at least, those who want to work in careers that require these.

This is not to say that management MBAs are not important: on the contrary, people with strong management skills are needed in just about any business pursuit. But some excel in other areas, and should follow their strengths and interests. MBA programs that focus on certain areas–such as technology MBAs, marketing MBAs, finance MBAs–allow individuals to best maximize their potential.

If you are someone with skills and interest in a specific business field, you shouldn’t pick a general program just to improve potential job prospects or possibly increase your salary. When you find something to do that you excel in and are passionate about, it’s far more likely that you’ll be successful.

People Skills + Ambition

After my last work meeting–when a fellow manager basically demoted himself–I fully realized how important it is for MBAs to have strong people skills. Without people skills, being ambitious turns very ugly. This is what happened:

I was lined up to co-manage a project with a colleague — the project involved each of our subject areas. We are both fairly new, but he’s been around a little longer than I.  I made attempts to meet with him about the project, but he always had an excuse to not meet. When we met with our boss, my colleague took front-and-center role, telling me what I need to tell my people, how I should proceed, etc. Remember, we’re supposed to be co-managing the project…

Usually I’m good at de-stressing situations, but that afternoon I simply had had enough, and didn’t want to pander to this guy’s ego any more. So I shut up, and very deliberately asked for 5 minutes of my boss’s time after the meeting. Luckily, I didn’t have to say much: we were on the same page.

By the time I get to my office I had an email from my boss giving me control of the project and taking my colleague off of it. How silly, he really didn’t need to do this to himself. When ambition gets in the way of people skills, it’s time to back off and think of another approach.

Effective Communication

Much of what we write in this blog is about MBA programs in general; it is not often we refer to online MBAs in particular. This makes sense, as studying a program – MBA or other – should not change because of the mode you choose to have it delivered. However it would not be realistic to say that it makes no difference at all, and sometimes one mode is chosen over another because of these differences.

Studying your MBA program online can change several aspects of the program. Group work is a large part of any MBA, and when you are studying online you need to be aware that group work has to be approached differently. In particular, managing communications between group members is much more deliberate than if you are doing this face-to-face. You need to be sure that you communicate with messaging and emails, and you need to keep the dialogue going. Email, however, gives you automatic documentation (very useful if you need to keep track of what is happening), and it can make communication that much more effective.

New Year Activities

A few days into the new year should mean you’ve taken some time to think about what you want to do this year to make a difference in your life. Contrarily, every year I think that I’m not going to use the new year to do this, it’s all too stereotypical. But I still find myself evaluating what I did the last year, and what I can plan to do to make my life better.

Studying is, of course, a very obvious way of giving yourself new opportunities. And there are few programs that are more likely to have this effect than MBA programs. By pursuing an MBA, you have the opportunity not only to gain an education, but also to acquire prestige. When thinking about it this way, there should be no need to worry about being or not being a stereotype.