SHOW ME THE MBA

Is the degree worth it? Yes, no and maybe

TIERNEYMJ/SHUTTERSTOCK

ALBERT VAN SANTVOORT I t may be surprising, but the value of a master of business administration (MBA) degree can be quite controversial.

A Google search on the subject will bring up pages of articles both extolling the virtues and condemning the frivolousness of an MBA degree.

So what is an MBA worth? The answer, as with most things, is “It depends.” Opponents argue that the degree is useless, with some citing an early-2000s Stanford Graduate School of Business study that concluded there was little evidence that MBA credentials or the grades earned, particularly from non-elite schools, are related to salary or position.

Anecdotally at least, an MBA degree isn’t the right tool for everyone, according to Dorothy Keenan, president and owner of FutureWorks, a career training company. Keenan says that whether an MBA is beneficial ultimately depends on individuals’ career trajectory and what they hope to get out of the MBA program.

When generally assessing the benefit of an MBA degree, Keenan typically sees two types of students: those who have just recently graduated from their business undergraduate degree program who want to further focus their studies on business, and those coming from the workforce looking to expand on their practical knowledge.

“If you’ve just gone straight from university with a BA and then into an MBA, it can be challenging to find work,” Keenan says. “Often employers also want the individual to have some type of work experience, unless they’ve done co-op.” Blair Hutchinson, who received her MBA from Brock

University in St. Catharines, Ontario, shares this assessment. Both she and Keenan say that from their experiences, students who return from the workforce to get their MBA tend to have greater success with the initials than those hoping to bolster their resumé for the first job hunt of their career.

Combining work experience with your MBA not only can help your employment prospects but also can create a better learning experience during your MBA schooling. Hutchinson says that by working in industry before obtaining her MBA, she was able to apply the abstract concepts to her job and understand how they could be used in other real-world scenarios.

Many students and career planners are convinced that the most immediate and obvious benefit of obtaining an MBA is the networking that comes with it. However, not all business schools provide the same opportunities for professional interaction. Blair Reeves, author of a 2018 blog post titled “Should I Get an MBA,” tells Business in Vancouver that the value of a person’s MBA is almost entirely based on the institutional brand it’s affiliated with. “Obviously the group of people you meet at Harvard Business School are meaningfully different than the group of people you meet at [the University of Toronto’s] business school,” Reeves says.

An MBA program’s prestige also affects the return on investment. Regardless of whether you go to the best MBA school on the continent or you get your MBA from Podunk University, you can expect to pay tens of thousands of dollars for that degree. Reeves and Keenan agree that if your MBA goal is to raise your starting salary, significant thought needs to go into a strategy to ensure you see that return. Both agree that admission to a top-tier business school is required for a meaningful financial return.

While some focus on the fringe benefits that participating in an MBA program may have, proponents of the degree see value in the education itself. Iqbal Kassam, president of the private equity firm Zynik Capital Corp., looks at professional degrees in two ways. Some, such as accounting designations, are microscopes, good for taking an in-depth look into the details of a project or problem. The MBA, on the other hand, is a telescope, Kassam says, empowering people to take a broader, strategic look at projects and problems. Just as science would be unable to unravel the mysteries of the universe relying solely on telescopes or solely on microscopes, it is difficult for a business to succeed without these diametric skill sets working together toward the same goal.

Kassam is a fan of MBAs, and when hiring company presidents who don’t have the designation, he invests in comparable training programs. However, Kassam argues that not every business executive needs an MBA degree. For technical positions like vice-president of finance or engineering, being a telescope is less important that having a microscopic understanding of the details. However, an MBA becomes much more valuable in a CEO or operations manager position, where one has to look at the business as a whole and not miss the forest for the trees. Despite being a supporter of the MBA degree, Kassam says that, for him, a sense of intellectual curiosity is the most important characteristic in potential hires. A good candidate can always go out and earn an MBA, but having a professional degree doesn’t necessarily mean a person has the intellectual curiosity or desire to learn needed to be successful.

So is an MBA worth it? Well, after four interviews and 800 words, the answer still seems to be “It depends.” Its value depends on the school you attend, the networking opportunities students take advantage of and a student’s own personal education and work history. Ultimately, Hutchinson says, it’s all about attitude, and if students go into school ready to learn new things and take advantage of the opportunities offered outside of the classroom, they will have what it takes to be successful. If students approach an MBA as a quick way to raise their starting salary, however, it may be a more difficult path than they expect. É

IF YOU’VE JUST GONE STRAIGHT FROM UNIVERSITY WITH A BA AND THEN INTO AN MBA, IT CAN BE CHALLENGING TO FIND WORK j Dorothy Keenan President and owner, FutureWorks

We drive career advancement so you can succeed. UBC Continuing Business Studies Whether in-class at UBC Robson Square or online, we offer awardwinning professional certificate programs, providing an applied learning experience taught by industry experts to help advance your career. • Agile Leadership • Business Analysis • Exam and Test Preparation courses • Change Management (NEW) • Project Management Sally Kong UBC Sauder Certificate in Project Management Project Coordinator, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation