Is business school a waste of time?
This has been brought up to me several times now these past couple of days. And it's only very early Wednesday morning. From a business standpoint, is getting a Bachelor's degree, an MBA or some other professional designation (CA, CFA, etc.) really going to make one a better business person? Companies, students and their parents have accepted the university degree as being one of the most important requirements for getting the "good job" that everyone seems to be after in their business careers. But is this really true?
Sure, we can say that the Bachelor of Commerce is an indicator that the person has a certain degree of knowledge about their fields of study. However, I think it's safe to say that not all BComm holders are created equal. And no, I'm not just talking about GPAs here. Which again brings up the question: Is a university education really necessary to be successful in business? Are you going to be a better leader and decision-maker because you took courses in management?
I mean, let's face it, even George W. Bush has an MBA from one of the most prestigious business schools in the world and he's still a total idiot. On the other side of the coin, many entrepreneurs with the business acumen that made them millionaires were college dropouts. And now, the people who went through the whole "higher education system" are working for them. I mean, as business students, have we been taught mainly to concentrate on how to study for exams rather than on how to make money?
Where am I going with this? Well, being in my last year at the John Molson School of Business, I'd like to think that all that homework, all that leisure time sacrificed so I can study for exams, all that stress and worry, all the money spent on tuition and textbooks were not for naught. Now I believe that I did get something out of this whole experience, but is it really what I need to prepare me for the real business world?
Let's take this even further.
A lot of students study hard or like crazy on school assignments thinking that this will make them a better accountant, a better marketing planner, or a better operations manager. Some go through business case competitions thinking that they will be better strategic planners. And I think that it will make them that. I know first hand that many of the marketing projects that I've worked on are great preparation tools. I have a lot of respect for students who participate and win at competitions like Commerce Games or the Undergrad Business Games.
OK, let's assume that these activities will teach us valuable skills as future business leaders. But let's be honest here, we may gain these skills, but there is no way that we will be able to apply them right out of university.
Consider the following example: You're an employee working for a large corporation on a proposal for an important client account. Do you honestly think that you, a twenty-something recent graduate, will be allowed to present that proposal to a 50 or 60-year-old executive and be taken seriously? Get real. Most likely, you will work on the presentation and the proposal, but the actual pitch will be made by your 50-year-old superior who can relate to the 60-year-old client. This is not be being bitter or disillusioned. It's just the way things are in most North American companies.
We still need to move up the corporate ladder before we can do any of these things. And sadly, most people will never reach chief executive positions in a company unless they start it themselves.
As business students, should we be more concerned about learning how to play organizational politics rather than learning how to calculate liquidity and profitability ratios? Should we be more concerned with learning how to play golf (might be an interesting course to offer at the JMSB) rather than concerning ourselves with decision support systems? Should young, female business students spend more time learning how to ensure that they are taken seriously by the "old boys' club" that is senior management?
This post is not put down of business schools and universities. I just thought that I should put more thought to this as I am graduating a few months from now.
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5 comments:
It seems to me that a large part of business school is just learning the right jargon to use.
I like the idea of teaching organizational politics, as you call it, or interpersonal psychology skills, not just for business students but all around campus. Regular jobs and the skills they require are the easy part. Dealing with people is a lot more complicated.
And the golf thing is good too ;)
I worked for a hedge fund for a few years before quitting to explore other career paths. Several older colleagues always told me that they wished they had made time to go back to school for graduate study. Now they don't have that opportunity because of the many obligations of real world life. But, they still always think about how it would have been like - the "what ifs" in life. B-school might not be the supreme plan to become a better business person, but you won't have to regret NOT giving yourself the chance to go back to school for an MBA. Just a thought =p Enjoy the experience that many other people wish they would have had.
Realit in NY about MBAs:
http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/00861787-51F3-4435-92CD-2C5E40C312CD/
It seems that indeed B.Schools are not worth it when a junior can make there 250 000 a year => MBA = 2 years "wasted" and you are not granted to make more money in finance fields lije Invest.Banking => i let ou do the math if you assume that an MBa is on average 50-100 000/y for 2 yrs....
As a final year undergraduate studying a Bachelor of Commerce I would have to say that students should be shown the true extent of the course and where it will lead them upon choosing. The fact is no matter what job you work at as the start of your career you are still working inside a business. Therefore in reality you can take any course at university and still end up working a job. The whole illusion during my era and even now is that undertaking a Bachelor of Commerce provides such wonderful opportunities. To a certain point it does however I believe you should be studying something that you enjoy and not taking a course that you are only studying because you have to and later regret. University teaches theory only, nothing more, nothing less. It grooms you to become a good-employee. I went to a recent seminar where a business leader stated that by the age of 40, 40% of employees will go out and start their own business. However I believe this statistic is nothing short of an overstatement and the real reality lies around 10-20%. As you stated in your blog, university does not teach you "how to make money" and that is the key. How to generate profit? Everything comes down to a universal law and I believe that university only exists to appease the masses. The fact is that there will always be people at the top, i.e. the leaders in business, politics, etc. Then the people at the bottom who are toiling. It is a pyramid structure. Not everyone can climb to the top. That is why we have this false illusion of university and the brainwashing that takes place there. You will be groomed to be a worker, to be a slave, to be a yes man. It is the same principle as the Matrix, people only seeing what is in front of them and not what is the real truth. Ignorance is bliss. Knowing the reason behind everything and the fundamentals on what humanity is built on is too harsh, too rash, for normal people to understand. University teaches you to analyse but it doesn't teach you how to think for yourself. To question things, to ask why, what if, how, when, where. To be your own philosopher in life instead of following your neighbours tail like a sheep. You yourself have to awaken to find ways to make money for yourself and to build your own business. The question is how big do you want to build it? Most of the businesses are small to medium enterprises and the fact is they are too small. If you are going to do business then become number one. Of course everything relates back to conditioning. By working a job till your 40 gives you good conditioning in understanding that business you have worked in therefore easier to start a business. If you are young and know nothing then you will have to expose yourself to this type and level of conditioning and everyday work to become greater and greater. So the real question isn't whether business school is a waste of time? The question lies in what you wish to do by going to business school. To get a job at a business or to build a business? To keep on being brainwashed with all the bulls*** around you or to truely open your eyes?
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