A REWARDING CAREER - MBA

The Educational Institutions are the gardens where the beautiful flowers blossomed always- beauty of nature, the beauty of human work and achievements and above all the beauty of character, which is seen on the face. What ever we look like depends on how we have lived, what we have thought and what we have done.Education is a channel, a process or a device to develop the potentialities of the individual to enable him to grow into a decent citizen. Education guides to meet challenges of life with courage and with humor. In specific, a job-oriented education made the students capable of seeking a job according to his aptitude, ability and competence. The Master of Business Administration, one of the professional educations is the best-known management qualification throughout the world. It can accelerate individual career, prepare him/her for promotion, and help him/her to have a complete career change.NEED FOR MBA:As the environment of organization-including economic, political, competitive, regulatory, and cultural factors becomes more complex, there is an increased demand for managers with the necessary skills, understanding, courage, and energy to tackle the difficult demands facing organizations of all kinds. To be a successful manager, an individual need skills in decision-making, financial analysis, and interpersonal relationships. He also needs the ability to apply those skills in a context of constraints, opportunities, and alternatives. Professional management programs are based on the premise that people can learn to manage all types of business situations more effectively. MBA programs not only help their students to develop skills that are highly valued by many employers, but the programs also present a theoretical context for solving many business problems.*MBA – YOU:The purpose of an MBA education is to provide training in the theory and practice of business management. An MBA is an effective tool to,

o To change your career o To start your own business o To gain the competitive edge in a competitive world o To develop technical expertise and business savvy quickly o To advance your career o To gain valuable networking resources o To enhance your financial position o To enjoy greater job security o To enjoy greater job satisfaction and self satisfaction o To become a leader in an emerging field o To develop your personality as a whole.MBA - JOBS:An MBA with different specialization streams prepares an individual to meet the greater demands of tomorrow's advanced industrialization. Some examples are given below.Executive Jobs:Whether you are seeking CEO jobs, CFO jobs, CIO jobs or other C-level jobs, an MBA is supreme to a career managing companies.Management Jobs:Senior Management job - Senior Management jobs are awarded to candidates and employees with applicable baccalaureate degrees and a master's degree in business such as an MBA.Banking Jobs:Consumer banking jobs deliver financial services to individual customers.Commercial banking jobs deliver financial services to businesses. Human resources jobs manage employee placement, salaries, and training Bank administration / accounting job - Bank administration / accounting jobs handle the banks internal operationsFinance Jobs:Corporate Finance jobs help company find money, grow the business, make acquisitions, plan for it's financial future and manage any cash on hand Money Management job - Money Management jobs manage stocks and bonds for institutional clients and are on the buy side of Wall Street Insurance jobs help individuals and business manage risk to protect themselves from catastrophic losses and to anticipate potential risk problems Real Estate jobs cover field such as title insurance, construction, mortgage banking, property management, real estate appraisals, brokerage and leasing, and real estate developmentAccounting Jobs:Public and Managerial Accounting jobs focus on preparing financial statements and recording business transactions including computing costs and efficiency gains from new technologies, participating in strategies for mergers and acquisitions, quality management, developing and using information systems to track financial performance, tax strategy, and health care benefits management.Marketing Jobs:Product Management jobs have responsibilities including marketing and development of products of all types. Advertising jobs cover every media outlet including newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, and the Internet. Retailing jobs includes store management, buying, and merchandising.CONCLUSION:A Full-Time MBA costs Rs.2-3 lakhs in B-Schools and around 50000 t0 100000 in university and affiliated colleges and takes Two Years time duration. For a period of 2 years, MBA students strive sleeplessly over assignments, presentations, projects, group exercises and reports. This gives them good grounding for the nature of work they will eventually perform.Before concluding this article, I would like to mention about the fact of MBA graduates at present. In the words of Robert Brown, Director of Recruitment and Management of Head Hunters Grant Thornton " I would venture to say 70 to 80 percent of the MBAs are not worth considering." In 1999, an article 'Why CEOs Fail by Henry Mintzberg and Joseph Lampel was published in Fortune. Holders of MBAs ran some 40 percent of the 100 largest companies. On examining failed CEOS, the authors found 38 had 'flopped' because of 'poor people skills' or 'bad execution'. (Tasmac Management Review March 2004) Recently Infosys Chairman and Chief Mentor N.R.Narayana Murthy expressed the opinion that 'our graduates are ill equipped. India today has over 5.3 million graduates even as industries face shortage of skilled labour '(Deccan Herald dated 16.1.2006) He also expressed an opinion that ' 75 pc of engineering graduates are incompetent and unfit to be employed in IT firms. (Deccan Herald dated 4.1.2006)So, if you are an MBA aspirant, try answer the question sincerely- 'Is an MBA degree appropriate for ME?' ' Is the investment made on MBA is related to growing abilities, developing character, gaining education and training?' Evaluate your alternatives. Include factors such as the nature of job, job satisfaction and preferred sector of employment. The critical analysis certainly guides to take a right decision

Hopes and expectationsThis is it. After nearly six months of waiting, I’m finally heading towards Cambridge. It means this is my last post in my home country. It also means this blog will now get into a new phase. So far I’ve been talking about my application and all the things that happened ever since. From now on, if I have the time, I’ll be posting from Cambridge and soon enough, I’ll be posting about the course itself.

And for my final post of this stage, I’d like to share with you what my hopes, goals and expectations are. My expectations and goals have been evolving over time as I got to know more about the course and, specially, as I got to talk with future mates who provided me with their insights.

But I still don’t have much information and I still didn’t go through the whole experience, so I thought it would be fun to share my expectations now and maybe come back to them in the future and compare them with the reality.

So, here are my main expectations (regarding fun and work).• I expect the course to be hard working, challenging but not very difficult academically (I have a strong mathematical and economical background);• I expect to be challenged and to be among a very active community with access to innovative ideas and very close to where the actual action is;• I hope I can improve my managerial skills and my social and networking skills;• I believe I will meet lots of interesting, fun and active people;• I expect to make friends for life;• I hope I have the time to do some sport;• I expect to ride a bike a lot (and hopefully, with not too many rain pouring);• I hope to be offered a fulfilling job somewhere along the course (ideally, more than one nice offer);• I expect to attend lots of parties, dinners, cocktails and social events;• I want to travel a lot while I’m there;• I want to learn how to cook Chinese, Thai, Indian or Japanese food (I’m relying on my colleagues on this!);• I hope to participate in the MBATournament in some sport with my colleagues against other business schools;• I expect to have very little time and some sleepless nights;• I hope I can have access to many different opportunities;• I expect to get depressed sometimes with the weather;• I believe I’ll grow up a lot as a person.Obviously, I’m expecting new opportunities, new things and ideas, hard work but also lots of fun. I’m just hoping Cambridge is all that and more!

There is unprecedented competition in the marketplace today. The need to understand consumer desires and cater to them has become the norm for existence and survival in business. Thus, the necessity for enterprising managers with a global vision arises. Management education has received a great boost in the post-globalisation era. Premier institutes have descended upon the scenario with programmes aimed at carving out well-rounded personalities who can confidently walk through the portals of the corporate world

The MBA (Master of Business Administration) degree is probably the worlds best known and most widely recognized post graduate degree. It is a professional degree - in that it is intended for those who work in business and management i.e., the intention of a program leading to an MBA is to prepare or further prepare individuals for responsible positions in business - usually managerial positions. MBA programs are run throughout the world, as they are seen to be relevant for the preparation of people for work in management irrespective of the industry, business sector, the nature of the economy, etc.

In fact the degree is a bit of a misnomer. For most people this is a management degree, and it is not only relevant and of value to those in 'business' - as normally defined - but also those in government, the public sector etc. The MBA degree title has always been used in the USA - where it was first developed, but not always in other countries. In the UK for example - where Post Graduate degree level management education only began to develop from the late 1960s the title was not initially used. For example the main schools at that time used the MSc and MA degree titles. From around 1980 however most established programs around the world had adopted the MBA title. There are of course programs which look very much like what other Schools would call an MBA - which still lead to degrees with other titles. Such titles include MBL (Master of Business Leadership - predominantly in S. Africa), MBS (Master of Business Studies), MSc and MA as well as more specialist degrees e.g., Master of Finance. Often such programs are seeking deliberately to differentiate themselves from other programs

Why an MBA? Your future! Being equipped to handle the opportunities and threats of today's dynamic business environment has never been more important. New products, new markets, off-shore resourcing, mergers, and new technologies all create uncertainty and opportunity. An MBA helps position you to take advantage of the opportunities and protects you from the threats. A Master of Business Administration provides you with a broad view of the functional areas of business.