Does Having MBA Make an Employee More Valuable?

Having an MBA can make you earn a good six figure salary. Although this is not automatic, it is for this reason that many people attend business schools. But the real question now is how valuable is an MBA? Or if asked in another way does earning the much coveted MBA make an employee more valuable? To begin with earning an MBA can help one to broaden his/her horizon significantly. A medical doctor for instance can pursue this degree in order to understand the business or administrative side of hospital management. Also, others may need it to be better equipped for top management positions in companies that they work for.     


The value in MBA knowledge

The knowledge acquired during an MBA program can be of great value depending on the applicability of such knowledge with respect to the company an MBA degree holder finds himself/herself as well as the position he/she occupies within that organization. In other words, there is a need for course content to fit in with job responsibilities. For instance, some of the things that are learnt in the course of this degree include: asset management, brand value, analysis of financial statement, strategic management among others.

And being equipped with knowledge in subject areas like this can make a person more suitable as an investment banker or a financial analyst. This is because investment banking for one is a job that entails assisting new businesses or firms in offering their stock publicly, and the knowledge gained in the course of this program will certainly prove useful in this regard. Now regarding a financial analyst on the other hand, this knowledge is also very useful since this job entails examining financial data so as to make investment choices.

Individual ability

Individual ability also comes into play when looking at this issue of employee value. An employee may earn an MBA from Wharton or any of the other major or highly respected colleges that offer this degree without bringing much value to the Master’s in Business Administration degree. What is meant here is that this person might have attended the best business school, possibly learns a thing or two, but does not apply the knowledge gained due to his/her inability to do so. Consequently, of what use is this degree to the person’s employer.

Another type of value

Even though value ought to be seen from the perspective of what one brings to the table. An often misused means of valuation when it comes to earning an MBA is your school’s prestige. That is the somewhat “biased” opinion regarding MBAs from schools such as Stanford, Harvard or MIT. It is almost as if no other effort is required to make it to the top in the related professional career. Just earn an MBA from any of these schools and then your perceived “value” increases, without your true value really increasing. It is for this reason that these schools demand high fees with their MBA graduates getting paid fat salaries of as much as $130,000 or more yearly. 

In conclusion

So having looked at some of the things taught under the MBA program as well as the human factor (individual ability), it is safe to say that MBAs can actually increase the value of an employee. The important considerations that have already been underscored here is that of relating school content with job responsibilities plus the ability of the concerned individual regarding applying knowledge acquired to solving business problems. It is when these two issues have been carefully considered and applied to every prospective MBA employee’s situation that true value can really be derived from this program.     


Author Byline
Jason Phillips has shared this post. He works at east texas colleges as a counselor, and loves to do blogging in leisure times.