Executive MBA is traditionally MBA program designed for working professional, who are in their mid to senior professional career pathway. Now the design of Executive MBA can have another dimension to it, which will be addressed later in this article.
Executive MBA For Senior Executives
Quite often Seasoned managers have a need to enhance their leadership skills but without leaving their jobs. Besides they also need to understand the core academic principle of all Function in business, be it Finance, HR, Marketing or Operation in a compressed, applied and that that which is experience related.
So an Executive MBA program is designed accordingly and delivered as a part time, late evenings weekend or a block classes program where the focus is not functional depth but rather on its immediate application, Strategic leadership and high-level decision-making for current roles of senior manager that they may have. Now Executive MBA programs often revisit functional areas, but they do that with a strategic lens. See Below Function and the nature of application in that function:
- Finance → Capital allocation, value creation, Mergers and Acquisition
- Marketing → Growth strategy, customer lifetime value
- HR → Talent strategy, leadership pipelines
- Operations → Scale, risk, resilience, and efficiency
An Executive MBA programs design is line with the research finding of Roglio et al (2009) which concludes that the key elements for the development of executive MBA programs are adult learning principles, the role of the instructor, instructional strategies and collective learning.
The impact of an traditional executive MBA programme
Executive MBA programme has profound impact on the lives, careers, and global outlook of its graduates (Hilbert, 1995). An executive MBA graduate think and acts from a more broad perspective, across functions, industries and markets. They often report life changing outcomes and change their focus from development as specialist manager to an integrated generalist leader.
Business School Competition for the MBA Market and its Impact
Over the past few decades, the Master of Business Administration (MBA), one of the most sort after post-graduate programme, has turned into a competitive industry (Sharkey & Beeman, 2008), in which business schools compete for students keeping in mind their need specific need. Accordingly, business schools have adapted and have designed program tailored to the need of the target audience. In particular, taking the case UK Education system, where universities there, have adopted to the needs of GCC and some developing countries and have positioned themselves to almost exclusively tap that market, as a foreign player, with their flexible and structured MBA program pathway.
The pathway comprises of two major phases, where phase I, entails core courses structured and designed by ofqual approved UK Awarding, and delivered by local Institute, typically operating as a locally registered training Institute rather an institute of higher education that is independently approved as a delivery center exclusively by UK Awarding body. On completion of the Phase I, Learners are admitted to Phase II, the Research phase, that is, in certain cases, delivered not directly by the university but by a delivering center, typically in Sri Lanka. Successfully completion of Phase II, secures a candidate with an MBA Degree Certificate and Transcript issued by a reputed and accredited campus based UK University.
Impact of Business School Competition on classification of MBA
The composition of the Modules leading to the MBA degree has redefined the classification of MBA type, attributing new meaning to Executive MBA, with the intent of market positioning.
While the Global EMBA are primarily based on Target Cohort, delivery mode and Pedagogy, an attempt of pathway branding is made and with it to reclassify MBA to be Executive or Strategic, depending on whether the Modules composition emphasis is on mid management level operation execution or top management strategic decisions making. And consequently, depending on the pathway taken, in practice secure either:
1) MBA in Executive Management
or
2) MBA in Strategic Management.
The above classification is not only encouraged but accepted in section of communities in GCC region. As an Example below is the Core Modules structured to lead to MBA in Executive Management by Qualifi Ltd, an OFQUAL, CCEA & QIW recognized Awarding body and the program and Accredited By The National Qualification Framework (UK)
Executive MBA with emphasis on Business Function
Corporate Strategy
Corporate Finance and Financial Strategy
Human Resource Practice, Leadership
Global Trade and its Impact
Research, Problem Solving
Operations, Quality and Supply Chain Management
Strategic Marketing Project Management
The programs is delivered in developing countries and GCC region in Particular Saudi Arabia, UAE (Dubai and Sharjah being a key player) as a part time weekend program for working professionals who could be early career, seeking a comprehensive business education, potentially looking for promotion or change in industries. Learners are encouraged to enroll for the program as:
1) Fee structure is low compared to even the local campus based university.
2) The academic demand made on the student is not much except that of turning in Assignments for individual Modules by email. And potential candidates have acquired market intelligence and are aware that the Local delivery center, the Internal Verifier or the External UK Verifier are, in practice not mandated to verify the source of production of the Assignment.
3) Candidate receive same or similar degree from high ranked accredited campus based UK University, without leaving the town.
4) Finally the otherwise 2 year MBA degree can be secured by candidates, via the pathway above, in one year’s time as advertised by most institutes.
Similarly the MBA with the incorporation four modules dedicated to Strategic Management leads to MBA in Strategic Management.
Conclusion
Globally Executive MBA should be understood as a program that is defined by its target audience, learning approach, and strategic orientation, rather than its modules which are lay on emphasis on Strategic studies with compressed functional curriculum..
While market positioning for some part of International markets and transnational delivery models have led business schools to repackage MBA pathway, sometimes even redefining “Executive” and “Strategic” labels in practice, the core intent of an Executive MBA remains the same that is to develop experienced professionals into integrated and strategic leaders. As the MBA market continues to evolve, especially in UAE, learners must therefore look beyond program labels and carefully evaluate the learning depth, delivery model, and long-term career relevance of the pathway they choose.
Reference List
De Déa Roglio, K. and Light, G., 2009. Executive MBA programs: The development of the reflective executive. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 8(2), pp.156-173.
Hilgert, A.D., 1995. Developmental outcomes of an executive MBA programme. Journal of Management development, 14(10), pp.64-76
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