Why Go For an MBA? A Personal Perspective - Shishir Nigam

They came in all types. All six of them eyeing the prey. Planning to shred their prey to pieces. I was waiting. They made their first move. This was my final interview before selection to the PGDM programme of SCMHRD, Pune.

The very first question was, ‘why do you want to go for an MBA?’
It has been years since this event, but even now many get stumped by this simple question. Luckily, I had already given thought to this issue, which saved my day.

Basically a B.Tech in mechanical Engineering from IIT Kanpur, I worked for about a couple of years in the industry. I enjoyed the technical challenges, but I was slowly drawn to issues relating to adjustment with the unique culture of the organization that I served. With time I was attempting to understand how the business operates, where the money comes in from, what are the ways to improve efficiency of processes, what is the vision of the organisation, and how all employees could be sold to this vision, thus creating a high – energy work force.

At that time, I realised that I was too immature and lacked the knowledge and perspective to handle these issues. I was also observing that my senior managers often carried a management degree. I too wanted to take on greater responsibilities and also contribute at a higher level within the organisation.
To achieve this aim, I had to learn, and acquire the knowledge of business fast. The obvious solution was formal management education. There were, in addition, secondary but practical needs of perks, position, power and ‘paisa’. My experience in the industry exposed me to problems in business at various levels, in various functions, and ‘problem solving’ is what I had been trained for.

Thus a management degree was a natural ‘cap’ to a technology career; it honed my skills in solving problems and provided me a pragmatic rather than a theoretical perspective to business/ managerial issues.

This is my own perspective about going for a management diploma; others will have their own reasons, but one must be able to clarify the thought behind one’s decision. This will be for your personal benefit more than anything else.