Business Administration: An All- Time Hip Program

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The core strength of business administration as a field of study lies on its ability to foster enterprising behavior.

Daniel Yar Hamidi, Karl Wennberg and Henrik Berglund in a study titled Creativity in Entrepreneurship Education published in 2008 by the Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development stated that students engaged in academic entrepreneurship programs have higher intentions to start their own businesses in the future. With enterprising behavior boosted, business creation, a major part of job generation, is also advanced. Hence, of the fields in professional practice, business administration has the potential in producing the biggest economic output.

A degree in business administration can also web through multiple fields. From legal to medical practice, public service to community works and communication to the arts, business administration’s element is present. All organizations, profit or not-for-profit, have an aspect of “economic management”, which can be learned from both formal business education and business 
training. In light of the increasing complexity 
of a modern organization’s operations, a degree in business administration offers a balanced method to business decision-making.

The practice of business
 administration and the acquisition of business competence have proven worthy of scholarly pursuit. Organizations in the decades ahead will demand an advanced degree of analytical and organizational skills and superior capacity to deal with the external environment of business and to cope with speedy change in technology. A business administration degree can prepare future professionals in facing these possible changes.

THE MARKET FOR BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION GRADUATES

Occupations available for Business Administration graduates are defined by at least four factors namely:

1.) The kind of function 
performed within a firm. A business administration graduate can have a specialized function within the management group of an organization or primarily an administrative function with the main task of compiling and analyzing information for management personnel. As a rule of the thumb, new graduates enter an organization near the bottom of the management ladders, especially in the firm with more than 100 employees. A business administration graduate may start as salesman, first-line supervisor, or low-level staff specialist. The graduate then may either gradually or swiftly rise to the management position and shift across 
functional lines depending upon the performance.

2.) The level of authority involved. Factors like growth and economic and technical efficiency of a business graduate largely determines deployment of authority by top management. Overseeing the production and marketing of the organization’s products and/or services are firsts on the distribution list.

3.) The kind of business in which the enterprise is engaged. The manufacturing sector used to be the biggest provider of job among business administration graduates. With the move of most manufacturing companies to low-wage countries, retail trade, service and public utilities now provide the biggest chunk of jobs.

4.) The size of the business with 
which an individual is connected. It could be a small business, medium-sized firms or multinational companies. Firms with less than twenty employees usually have at least one manager, those with twenty to forty nine employees have at least two and those with fifty to ninety nine employees have at least three managers. This is to say that the demand for business graduates is a constant readjustment of employer-employee size matches.

CURRENT CONDITIONS

With the slump in the economy and the increase in the unemployment rate, policymakers are fervent than ever to explore new avenues for job creation. On top of those avenues are new entrepreneurial ventures. According to the data from Bureau of Labor Statistics, entrepreneurial venture specifically of the small firms with no more than 500 employees, accounted for the 64 percent of the net of new jobs created in the United States in a 15-year period (1993 to 2008). Since entrepreneurial spirit is well nurtured in the study of business administration, it becomes an all-time hit program in industrialized countries.

The 2010 edition of The Small Business Economy: Report to the President by the U.S. Small Business Administration (USBA) stated that the number of educated self-employed has increased when compared to the educational attainment of the overall population. The self-employed with at least a bachelor’s degree jumped to 37.1 percent in 2008 from the 32.7 percent in 2000. In the same token, the self-employed with no more than high school diploma dropped from 39.7 percent in 2000 to 36.6 in 2007. This rise in educated self-employed and tumble in less-educated self-employed present a compelling case that educational attainment specifically business administration program provides the necessary business competence to the group, which generates jobs the most.

The recent employment situation report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics ascertained business-related education’s capacity to help graduates increase employability. Professional and business services pegged the highest growth in the United States by 48 thousand over a one-month period. From an economic point of view, this resilient growth implies a positive relationship between supply of business administration graduates and the demand of the market. Since two-thirds of jobs created on this tough economic time are either through business expansion or startups, business- competent workers become necessary. Hence, business education can be considered an investment that may generate the most dividends in the long run.

SYNTHESIS

Steady increase on demand for business-educated workers is a compelling reason or career motivation to pursue a degree in business administration. There is a general consensus, as mentioned through out the article and substantiated by statistics, that business education tends to enhance skills and competence of the receiver. This explains the growing number of self-employed with at least a bachelor degree. If pursuing a career in bigger firms, a business degree increases the individual’s value by furnishing specialized knowledge applicable to a given job.

The key role of the business graduate workforce is making organizations, small or large, profit or nor- for-profit, more competitive, more effective and more innovative. While business competence can be achieved through trainings, advanced degree (Masters degree) and other forms of continuing education, Business Administration as a field of study, allows adults to develop valuable skills employable in the increasingly competitive environment of the workplace. An environment wherein understanding and appreciation of organizational theory is introduced side-by-side with real life and complex organizational problems foster business competence. In this regard, business courses are useful because they enable the learning of business attributes while facilitating individual and collective reflection.

Despite varying opinions over the function of business education, its influence and importance is widely acknowledged by leaders from different industries around the globe. The future of business administration graduate remains positive, as business competence is unalienable to any organization. For those wanting to pursue business administration degree or business courses in general, going after a business school with a curriculum, which accurately reflect the skills, knowledge and personal traits deemed most desirable by contemporary organizations is important. While business competence is indeed fostered through business education, it cannot be promoted without conscious reference to what the industry needs.

 

References:

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) U.S. Department of Labor. The Employment Situation – September 2011, 7 October 2011. Available from http://www.bls.gov/bls/newsrels.htm

Hamidi, Daniel Yar, Karl Wennberg, and Henrik Berglund. “Creativity in entrepreneurship education.” Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development 15, no.2 (2008): 304-320.

U.S. Small Business Administration (USBA). The Small Business Economy, 2010. Available from http://www.sba.gov/advocacy/849/6282

 

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