Why should professionals pursue a course in DBA?

Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree is a Doctorate in Business Administration. Generally, DBA scholars are the middle and senior executives with 20 plus years of practical experience in the field of management. This qualification aims to advance the understanding of ‘their business, problem areas in their business, and improvement opportunities in their business at the chosen business sector.

The DBA scholars get all the theoretical understanding of research tools, techniques, and methodologies during coursework to gain the required knowledge for research. Then they apply on a selected research project at the research phase to gain research skills and to establish contributions to theory and practice.

The major reasons for professionals to pursue a course in DBA are:

Working Professionals’ friendly DBA Course Design:

DBA courses across the globe are designed for working professionals by eliminating all the non-value-added activities and by incorporating technologies in each phase of the research process to become working professional friendly Design. The professional can complete the DBA without sacrificing their lucrative jobs, but by sacrificing their weekend time.

The traditional research programs (PhDs) are designed for freshers who just completed their masters. Generally, the traditional research programs contain a lot of non-value-added content in design, hence it takes 4 to 5 years or even more time to complete the program. The DBA course can be completed within 3 years without compromising quality and without sacrificing their job hence the professionals pursue a course in DBA.   

Lucrative Return-on-investment:

The DBA programs assure very high return-on-investment in the form of research skills, consultancy skills, and business skills which helps them to save millions of dollars to their organizations, which in turn assure breakthrough growth in their career in the business sphere, targeting senior executives, director, and managing director positions, etc., with highly lucrative global packages. 

Assuring Senior Management Roles:

An MBA is a popular degree to obtain business manager or leadership. However, DBA is the extra mile to prepare themselves for a leadership role. Advanced research skills and tools which are required for scientific decision making and strategic planning are provided to the DBA scholars during their research journey, which exponentially increases the probability of getting senior management roles (CEO, CFO, CHO, COO, CTO, MD, Director, etc,) hence professionals pursue a course in DBA.  

Unique Skills:

DBA scholars demonstrate unique skills not only in the high level of business proficiency but also in their commitment to their professional, societal and personal growth and willingness to keep the extra effort to reach the extra mile.

The skills gained from the DBA program are unique to those gained from a Ph.D. DBAs are taught practical business skills, including innovation, lateral thinking, and problem-solving based on research output. These skills will keep DBA scholars apart from other candidates in the job market and provide more opportunities hence the professional pursue a course in DBA.

Priceless Peer Learning:

As the DBA cohort is an amalgamation of professionals from across the globe with various business functions such as Finance, Marketing, HRM, Operations, Supply Chain, Project Management, etc., and their interaction during coursework classes, coursework group discussions, and colloquium presentations ensure high-level cross-cultural and cross-functional peer learning which is priceless.

Wow! Training during coursework:

During coursework, the DBA is trained by ‘world-class professors who are highly qualified academic and research staff, world-class consultants, and global business leaders, to ensure that DBA scholars should come out with a balanced perspective and a well-rounded set of skills. DBA scholars are trained with relevant, recent, quality material, and support recent technologies.

Individual Mentoring during research phase:

After coursework, by mapping individual scholar’s research topics with highly qualified professor’s profiles available with the university or global school, the individual DBA scholar will be assigned with two professors one as a Principal supervisor, the second one as a co-supervisor for customized mentoring till completion of their research topic and DBA graduation. This individual mentoring for two years and more duration will not happen at under graduation or post-graduation levels. Hence professionals pursue a course in DBA to get one-to-one coaching in a specialized area of their interest.   

Updated Knowledge and Skills:

The average professional experience of the DBA cohort is around 20 years, these professionals, before joining DBA, may have outdated knowledge and skills concerning quantitative tools, techniques, problem-solving methodologies, etc., The DBA ensure updating their knowledge in a specific business area and updating skills with-respect-to qualitative as well as quantitative tools, techniques, problem-solving methodologies, etc.,

Need of the hour:

DBA encourages the students to choose interdisciplinary topics and techno-managerial topics such as the application of disruptive technologies to business management. Ex.:

• application of blockchain in the supply chain,
• application of machine learning for prediction of operational risk in the Banking Industry
• Application of Artificial Intelligence for business simulation.
• Design of Smart Cities with 100 plus online services to citizens etc.,

The research on techno-managerial topics as mentioned above is ‘the need of the hour’.

HR Prefer DBAs over PhDs, during recruitment:

Unless one should have basic knowledge, practical experience, dedication, passion to acquire new knowledge & skills, commitment, and ready to do hard work, he/she cannot complete the DBA course.  Therefore, graduating with a DBA will demonstrate the above attributes for continual acquiring skills and applying them in their organizations. This has been observed by the HR professionals they prefer candidates with a DBA degree over other degrees, hence professionals pursue a course in DBA.

Due to the above reasons, a DBA degree will be helpful to any professional to stand out from the PhD crowd hence the professionals pursue a course in DBA.

About the author

K. Maddhulety is Professor Cum Deputy Director - Doctor of Business Administration at SP Jain School of Global Management

Note: The views expressed in this article are solely author’s own and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha