Earning a Master of Business Administration degree can benefit graduates in many ways. But with the numerous MBA varieties available today, it can be hard to decide which one is most appropriate for you. This is especially true for people who are not yet set on a career path or who enjoy diversity and mobility within job roles.
If you value the potential to pursue vertical, lateral and diagonal career opportunities, the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville online MBA with a Management Specialization program will prepare you for a variety of roles across a broad spectrum of industries.
What Makes an MBA in Management Such a Versatile Degree?
Coursework in SIUE’s MBA in management provides a solid foundation in the attributes needed for all management roles. At the root of this program is quantitative analytical skills and resource management. Effective management optimizes operations to increase efficiency, profitability and productivity across all industry sectors and scales.
Underneath these areas of study is a focus on leadership and interpersonal skills — how to manage people and boost their productivity. A 2017 survey by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) found interpersonal strengths to be the most highly ranked skill set among 1,461 graduate business alumni respondents at various types and levels of business administration jobs.
How Does an MBA in Management Affect Career Mobility?
A degree focused on a specific job such as marketing or supply chain and logistics management can be confining to that specific field or industry. A broader MBA in management provides skills and knowledge needed to succeed in a variety of management roles. This can increase your ability to pursue career goals through a number of career paths.
What’s the Benefit of Lateral Career Mobility?
Lateral, or horizontal, career moves may seem like professional stagnation. But this type of mobility can propel those who wish to explore different industries and different roles within those industries. And it enables professionals to pursue a range of opportunities across industries, effectively increasing their job market reach.
This lateral movement delivers diverse managerial experience and a variety of skills as you “lattice” your way toward upper-level management. You will need the broad expertise and knowledge necessary to grasp the big picture of operations across departments. Similarly, this broad skill set can be extremely useful in the entrepreneurial or small business environment, where business owners often occupy numerous management roles at once.
The combination of analytical skills, human and monetary resource management, and the leadership focus of SIUE’s MBA in management can lead to versatility and effectiveness on many career paths. Whether you want to start a business, work in a variety of roles across industries, or apply deeper level management skills to a current career, an MBA in management can be a great help in the pursuit of those goals.
Learn more about the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville MBA with a Management Specialization program.
Sources:
Forte: Ladder Vs. Lattice: Why Horizontal Career Moves Can Help You Climb Higher, Faster
GMAC: Alumni Perspectives Survey Report 2017
Chief Learning Officer: Strong Interpersonal Skills, Versatility Make Better Managers
