Managerial Skills and Attitude of MBA and Non-MBA Employees

Abstract

The present study is an attempt to assess the perceptions of the hiring managers about the managerial skills and attitude of the MBA employees in comparison to the non-MBA employees. A sample of 100 hiring managers, who have been involved in the placement of MBAs, was taken for the purpose of the study. The hiring managers have been found agreeing that employees with MBA degree are better in ‘communication skills’, ‘decision making’, ‘leadership qualities’, ‘handle job related tasks and responsibilities’, ‘learning’ and ‘adapting to changing situations’ than non-MBA employees. The hiring managers have also been found agreeing that MBA employees ‘demand higher pay’, ‘change jobs more frequently’, ‘are more authoritarian’, ‘have unrealistic expectations’, ‘are more loyal to their careers than to their jobs and organizations’ than non-MBA employees. The discriminant analytical approach has been applied to examine the impact of the ‘profile’ and ‘attributes’ examined in the study which clearly differentiate hiring managers who agree with the good managerial skills of MBAs and negative attitude of MBAs from those who disagree with these. In case of ‘profile’ the managers with MBA qualification and regarding the various attributes of MBAs considered in the present study; ‘MBAs are more adaptive to changing situations’ and ‘MBAs change jobs more frequently than non-MBA employees’ have been found evoking significant differences among hiring managers. The findings of the present study can be useful for various stakeholders like, monitoring agencies and education policy makers, faculty and governing bodies of various management institutes for developing required management skills and attitudes among the students.