MBA programs (Master In Business Administration) enable you to earn a high level, specialist qualification, acquiring a skill set and expertise that could benefit you in any business environment. These degree programs will prove invaluable to anyone wishing to succeed in the world of business, and will enable you to gain both the skills and knowledge to perform effectively in a cutting edge business environment. With this sort of qualification you can look forward to a rewarding career, a good salary, and a challenging and interesting role with great promotional prospects.
In the past, undertaking an MBA qualification means having to commit yourself full time to education in a bricks and mortar college – and often this meant moving away from home or at least putting your home life and any sort of career on hold for a number of years. The availability of online MBA programs has changed all this, enabling those interested in pursuing a high-level business career to get the qualifications they need without causing any major disruption to their lives or current jobs.
A number of establishments offer online MBA programs, and these online MBA programs have enjoyed enormous popularity over recent years. Many people have successfully worked through online MBA programs, gaining a valuable qualification and enjoying a far better salary and better promotional prospects. One of the great things about online MBA programs is that they provide a convenient and practical way in which to improve and increase your skill set, and gain skills and knowledge that can better your career prospects in a major way.
When applying for online MBA programs you should check the course structure and eligibility restrictions. Some programs may focus more strongly on one particular area whereas another program may focus on a different area, so by checking the structure and content of the course you can make a more informed decisions with regards to which online MBA program is best suited to your needs.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Looking For Online MBA Programs in USA?
Business Implications for Workforce Motivation in MBA
If Theory Y holds true, an organization can apply these principles of scientific management to improve employee motivation:
Decentralization and Delegation - If firms decentralize control and reduce the number of levels of management, managers will have more subordinates and consequently will be forced to delegate some responsibility and decision making to them.
Job Enlargement - Broadening the scope of an employee's job adds variety and opportunities to satisfy ego needs.
Participative Management - Consulting employees in the decision making process taps their creative capacity and provides them with some control over their work environment.
Performance Appraisals - Having the employee set objectives and participate in the process of evaluating how well they were met.
If properly implemented, such an environment would result in a high level of workforce motivation as employees work to satisfy their higher level personal needs through their jobs.
The Hard Approach and Soft Approach in MBA
Under Theory X, management approaches to motivation range from a hard approach to a soft approach. The hard approach to motivation relies on coercion, implicit threats, micromanagement, and tight controls -- essentially an environment of command and control. The soft approach, however, is to be permissive and seek harmony in the hopes that, in return, employees will cooperate when asked. However, neither of these extremes is optimal. The hard approach results in hostility, purposely low-output, and extreme union demands. The soft approach results in increasing desire for greater reward in exchange for diminishing work output.
It would appear that the optimal approach to human resource management would be lie somewhere between these extremes. However, McGregor asserts that neither approach is appropriate since the foundations of theory x are incorrect.
Pareto Efficiency in MBA
Vilfredo Pareto, Manuale d'economia politica (Milan, 1906)
The term Pareto Efficient (cf: Pareto Optimum), therefore, means the "best that could be achieved without disadvantaging at least one group." (Allan Schick, in Louis C. Gawthrop, 1970, p.32) and much like many of Pareto's works, have been found to be far more compelling and universally applicable then initially believed.
Project Management ApplicationAll projects are constrained by the Project Triangle (Time, Scope, and Money). Based upon a given project's unique constraints, a project manager's goal is to complete the project with Pareto Efficiency, balancing these constraints and satisfying the requirements. Resource cuts extend project duration, trimming scope (using the Pareto Principal, hopefully) to reduce costs, and consciously sacrificing a little quality to beat the competition to the marketplace are all examples of the gymnastics required by effective project managers.
However, trim one of these factors too much and the others suffer, no matter the abundance of the other factors. The Pareto Efficient project is one in which each of the constraints are in balance toward effective project completion.
Maslow's Theory of Motivation in MBA- Hierarchy of Needs in MBA
As a result, for adequate workplace motivation, it is important that leadership understands the active needs active for individual employee motivation. In this manner, Maslow's model indicates that fundamental, lower-order needs like safety and physiological requirements have to be satisfied in order to pursue higher-level motivators along the lines of self-fulfillment. As depicted in the following hierarchical diagram, sometimes called 'Maslow's Needs Pyramid' or 'Maslow's Needs Triangle', after a need is satisfied it stops acting as a motivator and the next need one rank higher starts to motivate.
The Red Queen Principle in MBA
Capitalizing on early successes, the early online retailers added more features and more products to their online product repertoire. Newly affected brick and mortar stores, those that didn't shut their doors as a result, augmented their physical premises with online alternatives as well. Now, some years later, nearly every retailer offers both the convenience of shopping from home over the Internet and the alternative of visiting the store when that is more appropriate. All affected retailers are better than before, and all consumers benefit from this competition.
However, the example of the spam war shows that in some cases the net effect of an "arms race" may also be an absolute fitness decrease. Undeniably, everyone is trying to stop spam, block spam, or kill spam. Every time we get rid of a few pieces of spam, through the introduction of content filters or blacklists, innovative spammers adapt with tricks to circumvent those new tools or techniques. Unfortunately, the net effect is that we receive the same amount of spam in our inboxes, while increasing sums are spent by both sides to attain superiority. Overall, the diminished performance of networks, hosts, and email servers harms all parties involved.
Fiedler's Contingency Theory in MBA
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, industrial and business psychologists such as Fiedler and Woodward started to study the leadership and behavior styles of managers. Before Fiedler's study, industrial psychologists focused on the personal traits of successful leaders and believed in an ideal science of organization. They felt there was a best way to run a company or group which produced the best decisions and most effective business practices. The importance of Fiedler's contingency theory is that it has influenced almost all modern management theories by denying the existence of a singular ideal organizational approach.
The basis of Fiedler's contingency model involved assessing a potential leader with a scale of work style ranging from task-oriented at one end, to relationship-oriented at the other. Then contingent on factors such as stress level in the organization, type of work, flexibility of the group to change, and use of technology, a customized coordination of resources, people, tasks and the correct style of management could be implemented.
Leadership as a wide spectrum of possible effective styles was a ground-breaking idea. It is still central in modern management theories which reject rigid assumptions about ideal management.
Contingency Leadership Theory in MBA
When students of business management first hear of Contingency Theory, they usually think of the common use of the word "contingency". In other words, they expect that a contingency is an unexpected event or something which is dependent or caused by another event. Leadership, relationships, or groups of people, rarely come to mind. And yet, at its very root, the word contingent means a group of people in contact with each other, with dependence or connection between leaders and followers.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, industrial and business psychologists such as Woodward and Fiedler began to study the behavior and leadership styles of managers. Previously, industrial psychologists focused on the personal traits of successful leaders and believed in an ideal science of organization. They felt there was a best way to run a company or group which produced the best decisions and most effective business practices. The importance of contingency theories is that they have influenced almost all modern theories of management by denying the existence of any one ideal approach to organization.
The basis of Fiedler's theory involved assessing a potential leader with a scale of work style ranging from task-oriented at one end, to relationship-oriented at the other. Then contingent on factors such as stress level in the organization, type of work, flexibility of the group to change, and use of technology, a customized coordination of resources, people, tasks and the correct style of management could be implemented.
Leadership as a wide spectrum of possible effective styles was a ground-breaking idea. It is still central in modern management theories which reject rigid assumptions about ideal management.
Self Fulfilling Prophecy in MBA
The term "self fulfilling prophecy" was defined by the American sociologist William Isaac Thomas (1863-1947) in the dictum: 'If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.'
Events tend to turn out as one has hypothesized, not because of some great insight but because one behaves in a manner to achieve this outcome. A large body of evidence exists in various areas of psychology supporting the self-fulfilling prophecy.
Normative Decision Making Theory in MBA
Proposed by the Austrian-American sociologist Peter Blau (1918-), the Normative Decision Making theory prescribes the conditions under which leaders should make decisions autocratically, or in consultation with the group members, or with group members fully participating.
Normative decision making theory assumes: (1) individual decisions are more time-effective than group decisions; (2) subordinates are more committed to a decision if they participate in its formulation; (3) complex and ambiguous tasks require more information and consultation for reaching high-quality decisions. P M Blau, Exchange and Power in Social Life (New York, 1964)
What is the Pygmalion Effect in MBA?
People tend to live up to what's expected of them and they tend to do better when treated as if they are capable of success. These are the lessons of The Pygmalion Effect. Pygmalion first appeared in Greek mythology as a king of Cyprus who carved and then fell in love with a statue of a woman, which Aphrodite brought to life as Galatea.
Much later, George Barnard Shaw wrote a play, entitiled Pygmalion, about Henry Higgins (the gentleman) and Lisa Doolittle (the cockney flower girl whom Henry turns bets he can turn into a lady).
So the Pygmalion Effect has come to mean "you get what you expect." If you expect disaster, your expectations may well be met in a kind of "self-fulfilling prophecy," yet another catch phrase about the pressure of expectations.
The Inception of the Pareto Principle in MBA
80/20 Rule UniversalityFurther empirical studies for other time periods, for other countries, produced the stunning result that they all followed the same pattern. Later analysis of distributions in industry and nature has demonstrated that 80/20 Pareto distributions were very common in various fields and not exclusive to income distribution.
In the late 1940s, in his work, The Quality Control Handbook, Dr. Joseph M. Juran accurately attributed the discovery of the uneven wealth distribution of nations to Vilfredo Pareto, but inaccurately attributed the generic discovery of this uneven distribution to Vilfredo Pareto (somtimes spelled Wilfredo, Vilfred, Wilfrido, or Alfredo Pareto) by referring to it as the "Pareto Principle". He admitted this inaccuracy in his writings after he was corrected by his peers. It was actually Joseph Juran's work which first recognized the applicability of the Pareto Principle within the context of inventory management. Recognizing and documenting this universal principle he called the "vital few and trivial many", Joseph Juran credited these findings to Pareto's work and thus it became known as 'The Pareto Principle'. Later, Juran wrote that if he was of a different stature he would have called it the Juran Principle since he was the first to describe this principle in writing.
The Inception of the Pareto Principle in MBA
80/20 Rule UniversalityFurther empirical studies for other time periods, for other countries, produced the stunning result that they all followed the same pattern. Later analysis of distributions in industry and nature has demonstrated that 80/20 Pareto distributions were very common in various fields and not exclusive to income distribution.
In the late 1940s, in his work, The Quality Control Handbook, Dr. Joseph M. Juran accurately attributed the discovery of the uneven wealth distribution of nations to Vilfredo Pareto, but inaccurately attributed the generic discovery of this uneven distribution to Vilfredo Pareto (somtimes spelled Wilfredo, Vilfred, Wilfrido, or Alfredo Pareto) by referring to it as the "Pareto Principle". He admitted this inaccuracy in his writings after he was corrected by his peers. It was actually Joseph Juran's work which first recognized the applicability of the Pareto Principle within the context of inventory management. Recognizing and documenting this universal principle he called the "vital few and trivial many", Joseph Juran credited these findings to Pareto's work and thus it became known as 'The Pareto Principle'. Later, Juran wrote that if he was of a different stature he would have called it the Juran Principle since he was the first to describe this principle in writing.
Making Friends with the Halo Effect
NLP rapport building techniques such as pacing exponentially increase the perception that the pacer is very similar to the observer. This can cause the observer of these pacing tactics to view a halo around the pacer and more readily act in the manner desired by the NLP practitioner.
Leveraging well known social biases can also be an effective means of securing favor. For example, people who wear glasses are frequently perceived as more intelligent. Doctors with white lab coats and stethoscopes are perceived as more capable. Someone who is "dressed for success" cares more about doing a good job. And the list goes on. Rather than fighting these socialized norms, catering to them can allow one to slingshot from existing biases and harness their power to attain a more desirable decision from another party.
A few well known pieces of advice are actually invitations to leverage the haol effekt.
"You are known by the company you keep." This nugget of wisdom just comes right out and says it. Others are judging you, and one of the factors they consider is your peer group. By maintaining a peer group of high performers, aside from the self improving psycho-social benefits, this adage tells us, others will view us favorable or unfavorably based on this one known factor.
"You only have one chance to make a good first impression." While this tidbit is not so forthcoming as the previous, on can readily infer from it that a first impression can have a powerful and lasting impact. So, if the first thing you or your company does for a new client is tremendous, and exhibits overwhelming dedication, service, and talent -- all subsequent actions will be viewed within this hlao. Delays, issues with quality or workmanship, and even incompetence can be overlooked. Citing prior successes as a benchmark, singularly negative events and even strings of events can be completely sidestepped having delivered well initially.
What exactly is the Halo Effect?
What exactly is the Halo Effect?
A psychology textbook provides a "simplistic" definition of the Halo effect as a subjective bias about a person's one outstanding trait extending to influence the total judgment of that person.
E. L. Thorndike's 1920 paper titled "A Constant Error on Psychological Rating", published in Journal of Applied Psychology first documented this perception error (wahrnehmungsfehler) with regard to rating employees. This has also been followed up by Phil Rosenzweig's book on the same topic called The Halo Effect... and Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers.
Thorndike therein defined the halo effect as "a problem that arises in data collection when there is carry-over from one judgment to another."
He further expanded that it is "...an extension of an overall impression of a person (or one particular outstanding trait) to influence the total judgment of that person. The effect is to evaluate an individual high on many traits because of a belief that the individual is high on one trait. Similar to this is the 'devil effect,' whereby a person evaluates another as low on many traits because of a belief that the individual is low on one trait which is assumed to be critical."
So, to clarify, if possible, when an individual is found to possess one desirable trait, then that individual is automatically assumed to have many other desirable traits as well. A kind of an "angelic halo" surrounds the person, in the eyes of the beholder, and they can do no wrong. If a person is bestowed with good physical beauty, then this person is also presumed to possess a host of other positive attributes as well, such as social competence, intellectual competence, and personal adjustment.
The inverse phenomenon called the "Devil Effect," and sometimes the "Horn Effect", doesn't seem to get as much attention, even though its impact is just as prevalent in society. Here, if a person seems particularly deficient in a critical trait, then that person is automatically assumed to be deficient in many other traits as well, related or otherwise. For example, an employee who is constantly "late" to work (perhaps due to other non-work responsibilities in the morning) is assumed to be negligent in their work-related duties, not committed to the job/company/project, and perhaps even lazy overall.
Ultimately, these faulty biases may prove to become factual due to the Pygmalion effect, or "self-fulfilling prophecy ", further reinforcing future errors in perception due to bias and predisposition by the observer. The person working long hours (perhaps compensating for technical incompetence), assumed to be a good worker is given greater opportunity and thus attains greater, albeit undue, career advancement (cf: The Peter Principle). Conversely, the worker who dresses shabbily is assumed to care little about their job, and therefore bypassed for greater opportunity when the situation arises, regardless of suitability or capacity otherwise. Essentially, is phenomenon is a psycho-social application of the Law of Proximity, whereby certain unrelated observations, found in the comparable subjects in a narrow sample set, are assumed to have a high correlation, when, in fact, no such correlation exists.
What is the Peter Principle in Management?
Peter Principle Management is the concept that in bureaucratic organizations, new employees typically start in the lower ranks, but when they prove to be competent in the task to which they are assigned, they get promoted to a higher rank, generally management. This process of climbing up the hierarchical ladder can go on indefinitely, until the employee reaches a position where he or she is no longer competent. At that moment the process typically stops, since the established rules of bureaucracies make it very difficult to "demote" someone to a lower rank, even if that person would be a much better fit and happier in a non-management role. The net result of this principle is that most of the management levels of a bureaucracy will be filled by incompetent people, who got there because they were quite good at doing different (and usually, but not always, easier) work than the work they are currently expected to perform.
Further Reading
The Peter PrinciplePeter's Quotations:Ideas for Our TimesAccording to Laurence Johnston Pieter: Work is accomplished by those employees who have not reached their level of incompetence. Thus we can see why organizations still function even as Peter Principled employees accept one too many promotions. Laurence Peter provides an insightful analysis of why so many positions in so many organizations seem to be populated by employees who seem incompetent. This concept is likely to be ignored by most senior managers since to admit one's organization is suffering from this bureaucratic malady is admission that people have been improperly promoted. This, in turn, suggests that senior management might have attained their own level incompetence, and the problem is easily ignored, lest it become suggested that senior management be more closely examined for their incompetence.
Bureaucracy at Work in USA
The Peter Principle book has attained such renown that The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as "The theory that employees within an organization will advance to their highest level of competence and then be promoted to and remain at a level at which they are incompetent." ... "In a hierarchically structured administration, people tend to be promoted up to their level of incompetence," or, as Dr. Peters Principal explained more simply, "The cream rises until it sours."
The Peter Principle is so appropriate and meaningful a lesson for business, that it has found its way into Masters Degree (MBA) curriculae as a foundation for the next generation to protect itself. But it seems that this hierarchy within companies continues to be the organizational structure of choice for government and big business.
