The Doctor of Business Administration degree isn’t as famous as it’s more well-known sibling – the MBA – but it is an increasingly popular degree option for those who want to better understand the principles that underpin business management. Anyone who already has some experience in working as a business manager and is now looking to secure new long-term employment should consider studying for a DBA degree.

What Skills Does a DBA Teach?

Successfully completing any university degree will require you to harness and refine a variety of skills. There are some skills that are specific to a particular industry or subject

 

  • Problem-solving: Succeeding as a business leader is all about solving problems. These problems can range from the most insignificant and minor everyday occurrences to the major complicated decisions that need to be made about a business’s long-term direction. Over the course of studying for a doctorate of business administration degree, students will sharpen their problem-solving skills and gain a new appreciation for what it means to solve problems in a professional management context.

 

 

Of course, any business would prefer to have workers on staff that they can trust to assess and solve problems efficiently rather than having to hold their hands and solve problems for them. This is part of the reason that businesses generally like job applicants who have university degrees. Even if the degree is not directly required or even relevant to the work at hand, it can still demonstrate to an employer that you have a base level of organisation and initiative.

 

 

  • Resilience: Completing a university degree isn’t easy. Even media studies require a basic level of commitment and competence from students – earning your DBA will demonstrate to an employer that you have the necessary resilience to make it through the entirety of your studies. Even if you aren’t the most resilient person going in, completing your course successfully will toughen you up and leave you more resilient by the end of it.

 

 

 

  • Perseverance: There are a number of challenges that are inherent in studying for any degree. For many students, these challenges are an essential component of the learning experience – overcoming these challenges and navigating them successfully is often what separates the most talented managers from the average.

 

 

 

  • Good communication: It is impossible to effectively lead if you are not a good communicator. This is just as true for entrepreneurs and business managers as it is for politicians and other leaders of industry. Employers know that managers who have the kind of formal training that an MBA or DBA provides will be proficient communicators. Not only will they have a good understanding of what to communicate to the workers beneath them, but they will also be able to judge the best method to use.

 

Improve Your Value to Employers

Job applicants who possess university degrees are worth more to employers than those who do not. Having a DBA under your belt will make you a much more valuable prospective hire for a number of different reasons.

 

  • Formalise your business administration skills: In order to enrol on a DBA course, applicants are required to have some level of managerial experience already. Studying for a DBA will, therefore, give students the opportunity to take what they have learned from real-world experience and formalise their competence in the form of a degree. 

 

Having lots of prior experience working as a business manager definitely looks great on a CV. However, while having lots of experience is usually a good indicator of competence, we’ve all encountered those people who inexplicably survived in their roles for a long time despite having no apparent interest in or affinity for the work that they do.

 

  • Show that you can be trusted: Deciding who to hire is a big decision for any business. No matter how large your business grows, it is always important that you are hiring the best people for the job – people who you can count on when you need them. Having a DBA under your belt will demonstrate to any potential employer that you are someone they can trust to run their business properly.

 

Someone applying for a managerial role who has experience but no formal qualifications represents a bigger risk for an employer. That’s not to say that you have to have a DBA-style degree in order to work as a manager, but employers definitely prefer to keep their risks and unknowns to a minimum.

Demonstrate Your Initiative

Businesses love workers who are capable of showing initiative and taking responsibility for their own professional development. Of course, any business worth their salt should be looking to nurture their most promising talent. But it helps a lot if the talent is capable of seeking out its own opportunities as well.

The advent of online degrees has meant that anyone who wants to add a new string to their bow and earn a new qualification that will enhance their value, can do so whenever they choose.

Earning a DBA degree is always an impressive feat and prospective employers will take you more seriously with a DBA under your belt. You can click here to find out more about what an online DBA degree actually looks like and what it entails compared to a PhD. If you can show an employer that you have sought out and earned such a degree on your own initiative, it will reflect well on you and your overall value.

Earning a new degree or qualification is a fantastic way of improving your value to potential employers and increasing your chances of finding a job in times of need. The doctorate of business administration is not the first degree that most people think of when they are looking for something to study. However, while the DBA is not as well-known as the MBA degree, it is rapidly catching up in terms of popularity. The DBA is a much more academic degree than the MBA and is more suited to those who want to understand the principles that underpin modern business theory, but it is just as useful for opening new doors.

Author

Founder of Paisley.org.uk in 1998 and constantly strives to change peoples attitudes to the town, Brian is a self described Paisley Digital Champion who promotes Paisley via any means necessary. You can also follow me on X