Friday, 16 October 2009 
It is debatable! I have conducted an online survey for working professional (mostly IT techies) and result shown 55% of them agreed that bachelor’s degree is a must for the managerial position.
Survey Statistic
Let’s see what they said:
1. Agree
- If he/she had a very strong skills which everyone recognize, there will not be needed, but at least he/she must have to go part time MBA or some related course. else, wouldn’t it be a waste for those who taken so much time to complete the course? but mostly promoted… are those bachelor in TALKING & TAIJI skills..
- Bachelor’s degree should be a requirement for managerial position. How would he/she be respected by his subordinates, who have finished college or have even taken masters degree, if he/she is a college dropout or if he/she didn’t even bother to finish college?
- Even though it just a paper but you need it.It not just about skills n experiences but good brain too.
- It should… I think not only for managerial positions, but for any position that is of office-function type.
- back in my country, some companies would even require you to have a master degree for you to get to a managerial position. but experience is always better than a degree. if you have experience, then its better than any degree out there
- A manager must always come from a non-manager/technical/executive position, if a non-manager/technical/executive guy doesn’t have a degree, how did he/she get hire at the first place? (Analyst Programmer needed: minimum requirement: SPM/STPM, Can do Java, C#…?). That’s just a question from the people that want a manager salary but too lazy to get a degree.
- Looking at the current market standard, I think its a must for a bachelor’s degree to acquire managerial position
- A lot of ppl have similar experience and skills and therefore in this competitive world, yes it’s a MUST unless he is Lim Goh Tong.
- Yeah babeh
- In an IT enterprise company, one needs credibility for all managerial decisions. Skills is learned yes but when bad thing happens, a lack of credentials can be the cause of management mishaps. One can finish a degree while reaching for managerial position – be pragmatic.
2. Disagree
- Experience is more priority.
- Bachelor’s degree is just a paper. If just a theory is good than practical of the person, he/she would not be a “Good Manager”
- why not you tell me why. is debatable
- The most important is attitude and management skill.
- Now we can obtain certificate with any education institution if you have the correct amount of money. Educational back ground is important but not as a measurement for a manager position. In my experience, manager can’t be created overnight or within a year but must be grom up to the level. You cant be a manager if you don’t know how to manage your time then how are you going to manage other people and their time at work.
- Degree holder doesn’t guarantee a great manager.
- pls consider the number of years in related work experience and the merit of the person should take the upper basis
- Managerial position require brains not certified toilet papers.
- Managerial skills are more on observation and attitude related and not on how many certifications that person have..
- I think it is not a must, because this position related to communication skills, performance and working attitude. Bachelor’s degree can’t evaluate all these factor if without experiences..
- experience, management skills, personality are more important
- Neither Agree nor Disagree. I believe it’s nothing to do with education attainment its something to do with the work performance and have a potential skills/talent of a manager, people skills per se.
- caliber is more important
- degree is a plus but not a must
- You can see those kedai runcit/SME/partnership fella has the capability to hold the position as CEO and director written in their name card. it can happen.
- A degree says nothing on a person’s ability in management. Is PhD a must for CEO position? : )
- Some Managers even have a Masters but can’t do the job better than a diploma holder.
My personal comment
It is true that most manager jobs required candidates with recognize degree or master/MBA preferable.
From my perspective, a manager is expected to be a lot of things. A tower of strength, a leader and innovator, a kindly uncle/aunt, a shoulder to cry on, a dynamic motivator, a stern but fair judge, a diplomat, a politician, a protector, a saviour and a top person responsible for a whole gang of people (that he/she may not like?). These soft-skill neither learn from school nor case study project but gain from years of experience in management. – “A good fighter may not be a good master, a good master may not be a good fighter.”
Once you've build a good team it gets in the habit of having you as the 'Manager'