Which master's matters? A real world look at the MBA versus M.A. … and even the ABC designation

Communication World, June-July, 1997 by Cheryl O'Donovan

Before this discussion, I spoke with executive recruiters, senior managers at Kraft and friends with MBAs. They said a master's in communication probably makes sense early in a career, particularly if you choose a specific type of program. For example, the executive recruiter spoke very highly of the program at Northwestern, which is multi-disciplinary. Resoundingly, everyone said that an MBA has value. The executive recruiters said their clients don't expect communicators with MBAs. When they encounter one, they're surprised. It definitely raises their interest.

Bill Kokontis

It's not so much "either or both," but the skill sets those degrees presumably confirm. My business is arcane and not understood. Communication is a problem for us. Product experts can be terrible communicators - but the people who run the show are more comfortable with that expertise. Product know-how or hard-edge business knowledge has more value than communication skills. But that's a cyclical thing. Product life cycles are so much shorter. What was successful yesterday and was a self-selling product is so-so tomorrow. Suddenly it's a scramble for communication skills to put the product back on the map. So, we prize those who have business expertise as well as first-rate communication skills. That's not answering the question of which degree to get. But I would tell everyone to stay in the education stream, whether it's formal schooling or not.

Audience Member:

Are people getting higher salaries for master's degrees?

Jim Sheahan

Absolutely.

Patricia Shafer

Typically it's the marketing or finance person who has an MBA. It's almost a rite of entry. But I spoke to other MBAs who worked for agencies or consulting firms, and they said it didn't increase their salaries at all. What it did was allow them to add more value - and ultimately more opportunity.

Marilyn Moats Kennedy

If you look on the web at salary surveys, you will find that the difference between a bachelor's and the master's is minimal. Here's why. As resumes get scanned into computers, the computer is told, search for: 'B, B.A., M,' whatever. The employer puts the Bs in one pile and the Ms in the other pile and says, "I can have someone with a master's degree for exactly the same price." If I buy Tide and have a dollar-off coupon, wouldn't I be a fool not to redeem the coupon? So. It's changing the way you're screened. Remember. That's a big-company recruiting thing. How many garage-shop operations use scanners?

Audience Member:

I had a question about the professional accreditation IABC offers, the ABC title. Does that have any effect?

Marilyn Moats Kennedy

Anyone out there who's accredited?

Sarah Bornstein, Audience Member Roosevelt University

I'm an accredited business communicator (ABC). My own sense is the only people who care about it are other accredited business communicators.

The reason to do it is to demonstrate your professionalism. One of the best things about the accreditation process is that it forces you to state objectives, what you accomplished - on something as modest as a newsletter. It's a track record. I'm in human resources. What I'm most proud of is somebody I saved from termination. But I can't parade that person around during a job interview.