Careers in Business Administration Need an MBA

As the nation developed and became more industrialized, growing companies needed managers who could coordinate labor with the growing level of automation in production. Emerging "scientific" methods to become more efficient drove the need for professional managers with greater education.

• The Master's of Business Administration didn't really become an established degree until after World War II, fueling the rise of the modern corporation. 
   
• The University Of Chicago Graduate School Of Business introduced the first Executive MBA (EMBA) program in 1940, and the model spread widely to other US schools.
   
• The MBA degree was soon offered in other countries, first in Canada and South Africa. The first European MBA degree was offered by the Institut Europeen d'Administration des Affaires (INSEAD) in 1957.

The focus of a Master's in Business Administration degree has changed as the nature of business has evolved. Critical reports in 1959 by the Ford and Carnegie foundations concluded that students could not master the administration skills needed for a business degree because of poor professors and an emphasis on vocational skills.

After that, schools revised their administration business degree master's programs so students could master analytical methods. They also improved their faculty by hiring instructors who were trained in sophisticated theory.

MBA programs adjusted again in the early 1990s, after complaints by potential employers that students' training was no longer relevant to modern business. The emphasis on analysis, it was said, had become too theoretical and academic. Schools changed their programs, hiring faculty with real-world experience to train students to develop practical solutions to real-life business problems.

Recently, high-profile business scandals have led business schools to examine themselves once more. Many administration business degree master's programs increasingly include coursework that emphasizes leadership, business ethics and morality.

As the global economy grows and business challenges grow more sophisticated and international, companies are certain to be more reliant on candidates who have the analytical business skills that are earned with an MBA.

That expectation is reflected in the volume of applications to Master's of Business Administration degree programs. While year-to-year interest varies as the economy swings, the Graduate Management Admission Council reports that 46 percent of graduate business programs saw growth in international applications in 2011, and even though the majority reported decreased volume, candidate quality and credentials were higher than in 2010.

^{Sources: mba.com; economist.com; bbworld06.com}