Education

What Can You Do with a Master of Business Administration Degree?

Does your dream job role involve working in leadership or managerial positions within a certain industry or business? You may be sure of where you want to be but unsure of how to get there. Studying a Master of Business Administration can prepare you to work in these areas, giving you the valuable business and leadership skills required to stand out in a pool of applicants and be a valuable addition to a managerial team. Whether you have a clear idea of the industry you want to work in or are still unsure and want a more general understanding and knowledge, a Master of Business Administration degree could be a perfect option for you.

What is Business Administration?

At the most basic level, when it comes to business administration in the educational sense, it relates to the field of study surrounding the preparation of those wanting to work in leadership and managerial roles in companies or organizations. A business administrator is an individual who has studied business administration, learning basic business principles and practices. It is a wide-reaching subject, and you can tailor your learning and experiences to a specific field or industry, applying the techniques and ideas that you learn to different scenarios and workplaces. Business administration is a subdiscipline of economics that is concerned with the economy at the level of the individual business.

Training

An MBA such as the online degree from Saint Bonaventure University will give you the technical and personal skills and experiences required to work in leadership and managerial roles within a company and oversee the day-to-day operations of a business. As a master’s degree, MBAs are for those who already hold a bachelor’s or undergraduate degree. As an MBA is such a broad course, it is ideal for students from many different undergraduate backgrounds. Some of the areas that you could choose to focus on include:

You can also choose to continue on a more general track. Whatever you choose, you will gain valuable interdisciplinary knowledge and build upon experiences you have already gained in previous working or educational environments. Furthermore, if you don’t quite have the experience or knowledge to begin the course right away, there is also the option to take various foundation courses to top up your knowledge and ensure that you are as prepared as possible to begin your studies.

Why Study Online?

Online courses are a brilliant alternative to in-person study. They are flexible and often more affordable, allowing you to experience a high level of teaching in a way that works around your life. Online courses are often designed for those who are working or have other life commitments and still want to pursue a qualification. They are flexible and can be completed at your own pace from a location that works for you and suits your requirements. An online MBA is a great way to achieve the skills and requirements necessary to reach your career goals while not putting the rest of your life on hold.

The courses may use various learning techniques, allowing you to find methods of absorbing and retaining information that works for you and that you can take forward with you in your career. An online MBA can help you develop both personally and professionally, providing you with the advanced skills and specialized knowledge required to work in business administration. Completing an online degree can help you advance in your current company or field, or it can move you into a new one, making it a perfect option for those who have realized at a later date that they want to work in business administration. MBA courses build upon skills and experience you already have to combine this with new methods and techniques, which can accelerate the length of the course and bring you to your dream role even faster. 

Skills

While the main aim of studying for an MBA may be to work in business administration, you will also get the chance to develop important personal skills through completing an online course. Soft skills are a set of transferable, non-technical skills that make you stand out in the workplace, are sought after by employers, and look great on your resume. They include traits such as:

  • Communication 
  • Conflict resolution
  • Creativity
  • Problem-solving
  • Organization
  • Self-motivation 
  • Adaptability 
  • Critical thinking

These are all incredibly useful skills in any profession, but some of them are particularly beneficial when working in business administration. For example, communication is a large part of leadership and managing a team, as is conflict resolution and organization. When you are studying any online course, you will also need to be very organized, as you will need to complete your studies to a high level while continuing with the rest of your daily commitments. Online degrees allow you to use a combination of soft skills all the time, giving you the chance to develop and practice them, perhaps without even knowing it. You will then have practical examples of instances in which you have utilized these skills and can provide these to employers in a job interview.

Location

When you are looking to study in person, you may be limited to what your local educational institutions can offer you. They may not run the type of business administration course you need, and therefore you may have to choose something else or make big sacrifices in your life in order to accommodate a course. With online MBA degrees, the majority, if not all of the work is completed online, which means your physical location matters a lot less. Additionally, being able to learn from home gives you the opportunity to create a learning environment that is perfect for you. You have much more control over the overall learning experience, such as the pace, location, and the methods you use, making online courses a very flexible option.

The ability to learn at your own pace is also incredibly beneficial and can help you enjoy the course more and as well get as much out of it as possible. Self-paced learning lets you choose your learning method, and you can experiment until you find what works for you. You may also learn what kind of learner you are, as this can inform the methods and techniques you use to learn and retain information. Self-paced learning can also help you become a more independent learner, as there is not a tutor or classmates physically around you to make sure you are doing the work. This means you will need to build your self-motivational skills, manage distractions, and know when you need to seek assistance. 

Cost

Online degrees can reduce or remove some of the costs involved with studying. These costs can include tuition fees, living expenses, rent, and travel and can put a lot of people off of pursuing further education. When it comes to master’s degrees, many people may feel that they do not need one, as they already have a job and qualifications; however, pursuing higher education has many benefits in and of itself. For example, it may provide you more job opportunities upon graduation, higher salaries, networking opportunities, and a chance to delve deeper into a subject that you are genuinely passionate about. An online MBA degree may be able to help you save money, as you may not have to worry as much about travel and accommodation costs when learning from home, and you might still be able to work at your job. This means that you can continue to earn money during your studies.

Skills

You will gain many important technical and personal skills when you study for an MBA, and there are certain personality traits that will help you succeed in the job roles you could find yourself in upon graduation. These include:

  • Communication – in leadership, communication is incredibly important. You will be leading a team, and therefore have to communicate in a concise and eloquent way while also ensuring that you are listening to what others are saying. You will also have to speak with people who have differing levels of experience and knowledge to you, and therefore understand how and when to adapt your communication techniques to suit the situation is very important.
  • Teamwork – even though you may be leading a team, it is important to be an approachable, empathetic leader who listens to and supports the other members of the team. Teamwork and communication often go hand in hand when managing and leading a group of people.
  • Organization – this encompasses a huge range of skills, such as time management, scheduling, and delegation. The latter is a very important leadership skill, as it shows a belief in your team members and ensures that you are not overworking yourself or others. Delegating tasks to your team shows demonstrates that you trust them to complete to the job and want to give them the opportunity to do so. This helps to create a good workplace environment and also gives your team a chance to prove themselves and gain valuable experience that can help them advance in their careers.

These are only a fraction of the skills needed to be successful in business administration, and you can see that it takes a combination of personal attributes and technical business knowledge in order to be a confident and competent leader or manager within a company.

Career outcomes

Business administrators can work in a huge range of industries, such as arts, IT, finance, HR, and marketing. If you have a specific area of interest or prior experience in a certain industry, you may already know the direction that you want to take. However, the skills and knowledge you will gain when training will be applicable to many different workplaces, making you a highly employable individual. Some examples of business administration roles include:

Digital Marketing Manager

Plan, design, and implement digital marketing campaigns for a brand or company. Digital marketing is the use of the internet and online technologies to market something. This can include email, social media, or television campaigns, and digital marketing is one of the most popular methods of marketing that companies use.

Art Director

Art director work in a wide range of areas, such as film, tv, advertising, theater, and marketing, with their main aim being to determine the visual representation of a concept. This could be a huge range of things, including a marketing campaign, magazine, movie, tv show, or video game. This role is perfect for those interested in the arts and creative industries, as it comes with a knowledge of business with an understanding of arts and visuals.

HR Manager

HR stands for Human Resources, and almost every company has one, if not multiple, HR managers. Their tasks vary depending on the size of the business, with the smaller companies requiring more hands-on approaches from HR managers. Takes may include recruiting, admin tasks, ensuring employee wellness, payroll, employee development, and labor laws regulation. In a larger company, a HR manager may be in charge of the HR department and the employees completing these tasks.

Business Consultant

Consultants tend not to be attached to a specific company but are employed by them when assistance is needed. As a business consultant, you may be hired to help a company overcome challenges, develop, increase revenue, supplement existing staff, teach and train staff, identify problems and help to implement change.

Final Words

Business administration is a varied and wide-reaching area of study that can take you in many different directions. There are numerous career options when it comes to graduation, as the skills and experiences you will gain and transferrable and will make you stand out in a pool of job applicants. There is a combination of personal and technical skills required to work in these roles, and you will need to not only be a great leader but also have the specialist knowledge in your chosen area of business in order to manage a team and work at a high level within a company.

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