Are you a creative problem solver? A degree in business administration and management might be for you.
What is a Business Administration and Management Major?
Today's global economy is complex and volatile, and people in business need to be able to think on their feet and find creative solutions to unexpected problems. Perhaps the price of a resource you need for your business suddenly spikes. Perhaps your business grows at an unexpected rate, and you need to find new employees with specialized skills quickly. Perhaps a political crisis in a country where you do business causes serious problems for your bottom line.
The kind of creative decision making that you'll need to handle these crises is what you'll learn as a business management and administration major. If you major in business administration and management, you’ll learn how to run many different interrelated aspects of a company—finance, employee relations, marketing, data management, and more. You'll learn how the different areas of a business function together, and how to make all these areas run together as smoothly as possible, even when unexpected problems come out of nowhere.
What Courses are Required for the Business Administration and Management Major?
Business administration and management majors need to take an unusually diverse variety of classes, since they need to be able to deal with so many different aspects of a business. They need to have a strong background in the financial aspects of business as well as the interpersonal aspects. Students need to take courses in finance and usually statistics, so it's important to be comfortable with moderately complicated number crunching. Typical courses include:
- Accounting
- Finance
- Human Relations
- Marketing
- Microeconomics
- Macroeconomics
- Industrial Psychology
- Statistics
- Interpersonal Communication
- Group Communication
In addition, many business administration and management programs offer specialties in human resource management, small business management, entrepreneurship, or nonprofit management. Some schools require students to specialize in one of these areas.
What are the Advantages & Disadvantages of this Major?
The main advantage of this major is its flexibility. This major is excellent preparation for many different areas in the working world. However, this flexibility can also be seen as a disadvantage. As a student, you really need to be good at a lot of different things-- crunching numbers, interpersonal communication, group communication, writing, and problem solving.
What Careers are Possible With this Major?
This major leads to many different careers. Students commonly start out in one specific field, such as finance, marketing, or accounting, and then move into management positions. Human resource management is one common area that graduates from this major choice. Other students go on to become entrepreneurs or go into international business. Many students in this area go on to earn MBAs (Master of Business Administration).
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