Decision to Pursue MBA Degree Dorothy Hall MGT/521-Management August 5, 2010 Professor John Quesnel Decision to Pursue MBA Degree Deciding to pursue a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) degree is an important decision that should not be taken lightly. The master’s program is challenging and will take time from an individual’s personal life. An MBA can further a career, begin a new career, or fulfill a personal goal. In contemplating whether to obtain an MBA degree, I had to decide what value this degree would afford me.
In obtaining this degree, it would further my education and could definitely be an asset to any future career choice that I may undertake when I retire from State Farm Insurance in a couple of years. In constructing and supporting this argument on whether to pursue an MBA, as a choice, I used the Jungian Personality Self-Assessment to foster insight into possible career paths and how other individuals perceive me. The self-assessment of the Jungian personality gives an individual through 16 personality types a better understanding of him or herself.
The assessment measures thinking styles of individuals, modes of dealing with information and interactions for potential managers in group settings. My personality type was the INFP result that describes individuals reserved, creative, and highly idealistic with a possible career as an architect, journalist, educational consultant, missionary, actor, artist, and poet. I agreed with some of the result tactics but some of the career choices noted would not be choices that I would have chosen for myself.
The Jungian 16 Type Personality test helped me to understand how my coworkers may perceive me as I perceive them and it also gave me insight of the advantages and disadvantages that I have experienced in the workplace. The benefits of undertaking the MBA program will include better career prospects, opportunity to gain not only theoretical knowledge but also read and listen to experiences of my classmates. I received my bachelor of science degree in business management in May 2010. I currently work with State Farm Insurance and have been there for 29 ? ears and in a year and a half; it is my intent to retire. Upon retirement, I want to continue to work part-time possibly in the School District or begin a clothing or shoe store for women of plus size. With the pursuit of my continued effort to obtain my MBA will afford an opportunity to gain more insight into the pros and cons of any desire of employment that I intend to seek after. One section of the assessment II-B-4. , do others see me as trustworthy, the higher the score is the more a person could be trustworthy.
My score was a 60 out of the highest score of 63. I was happy with this score and it was not that surprising because I consider myself to be a trustworthy individual and I consider this trait as an honest and fair asset of any individual. In the span of my lifetime, I have true friends and also associates claiming to be friends but after completing the Jungian assessment, I could see how I was affected by the assessment as well as how my peers and coworkers fit into my personal life as well as my work environment.
My decision to pursue an MBA in Business Management after recently graduating from University of Phoenix this past May 2010 was a constant reminder to me that education, at any age, is an opportunity. I recently celebrated my 58th birthday and one of the oldest students in many of the courses taken at University of Phoenix. I found myself in this chosen environment and have been happy with the students and their acceptance of me and what I may or may have offered to them with my lifetime experiences.
The MBA degree has long been the flagship postgraduate business qualification as Andrew Turnbull, director of MBA programs at Aberdeen business school, “explains that many leading professionals from a variety of backgrounds seek a move to mainstream management. The responsibility to acquire an MBA is to broaden an individual’s knowledge with hopes to improve his or her career prospects.
Although the MBA experience relates to much more than just the taught element, this aspect of the degree ensures that graduates will obtain a qualification that provides them with a well rounded management education that nevertheless provides the opportunity to specialize the qualification by business discipline or industry ” (Turnbull, 2007, p. 2). In reading this article, I found myself in asking the question, “Why did I enter the MBA program? With all that is happening in my life, both personal and professional, do I have the time to set out to accomplish this venture?
Searching my heart, mind, soul, purse strings and fortitude to do this, the answer was as swift as the question asked, “Yes I can. ” The counselors, on the onset of my decision to pursue the MBA, have been in contact with me to help with decisions regarding whether my choice would be affordable. With their help and the assistance of financial aid, the degree is in sight and all I have to do is to remain faithful and continue to strive to make it to the end.
Before even considering obtaining a college degree of any type, I was under the impression that most jobs did not require a degree as many of the jobs that I have held did not require. It was not until my son was graduating from high school and advising that high school was not enough that he wanted to go to college. With him achieving that goal instilled in me a desire to go to college and the most rewarding day graduating from University of Phoenix with my bachelor’s degree in business management and how proud he was of me and I shall never forget the comment he made, “press on mama and get the MBA. I am grateful for University of Phoenix for affording the working students the opportunity to attend and achieve dreams of a lifetime. References What’s My Jungian 16-Type Personality, Pearson Prentice Hall Self-Assessment Library From the University of Phoenix. Retrieved August 1, 2010. Turnbull, Andrew, The Press and Journal. Dundee (UK): Mar 9, 2007. p. 2 Retrieved August 2, 2010.
