Banks Competing With Tech For MBA Talent

Why You Should Find An MBA Program That Teaches Prediction Skills

It’s impossible to predict the future, but it can help if you know the past. Experts say that the ability to anticipate and adjust to rapid innovation is highly in demand.

Ilana Kowarski, a reporter at U.S. News, recently explored four signs prospective students should look for in an MBA program if they want to gain analytic prediction skills.

Forward-Looking Curriculum

If you’re interested in learning prediction skills, it may be helpful to look at whether a particular school offers courses in predictive analytics – “a type of business analytics that uses both historical and current business data to create forecasts, or precise mathematical models of what will happen next,” Kowarski says.

Kenneth Ko is an associate professor of decision sciences and an associate dean of various academic programs at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management. Ko tells US News that understanding how to explain forecasts to those who “lack formal analytics training” is useful.

In addition, students can also choose to concentrate or take a few courses in organizational behavior: “the study of the way people interact within groups,” according to Investopedia. “Normally this study is applied in an attempt to create more efficient business organizations. The central idea of the study of organizational behavior is that a scientific approach can be applied to the management of workers.”

Ko tells U.S. News that organizational behavior courses address the differences between organizations with creative cultures and organizations with destructive cultures.

Faculty With Real-World Experience

Like with any quality MBA program, faculty with real-world experience is crucial. Ko tells U.S. News that this is especially important for those who seek to learn prediction skills since professors will need to be aware of current and emerging business trends.

Applicants should look to target schools where the majority of faculty have real-world experience or are experts within their respective fields. Not only does this ensure that they will be better off teaching predictive skills, but also understand more current findings about the field of interest.

Lessons On How To Deal With Ambiguity & Failure

Ronald K. Machtley is the president of Bryant University. Machtley tells U.S. News that tech has vastly revolutionized a number of U.S. industries and that students will need to understand how to properly adjust to rapid innovation.

Moreover, Machtley says it’s crucial to take courses that will allow you to figure out what how to deal with things like risk, failure, and ambiguity.

“The workplace is going to be significantly different,” he tells US News. “In this new world that we’re going to be living in, where you have to have one foot in the traditional world and one foot in this new world, there’s going to be failure, and the question is are students prepared to accept failure and have the grit and perseverance to move on?”

Sources: U.S. News, Investopedia

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