What is Business Administration All About Anyway?
You've probably heard the term business administration, and may even know someone who majored in the field in college. But what exactly is business administration? Could it be a career path that might be right for you?
Business administration is a course of study that prepares the successful student for a managerial role in business. It's an open career choice that could open the door to working in a wide variety of fields, be it for a corporation, government, or an individual company.
In general, business administrators can expect to deal with high-pressure, stressful situations as they move their teams toward meeting deadlines and achieving the company's goals. A successful manager has to know how to keep cool, and how to motivate others during stressful times. Further, being accountable to those you lead will be key to earning and holding onto their trust.
You will also need good organizational skills. You can begin developing these while you're in school, and possibly as you juggle responsibilities to your family and perhaps a job. Good organization involves time management, prioritizing, multi-tasking, and wise use of planning tools, such as spreadsheets, day planners, color-coded notebooks, whiteboards, and the notebook feature on your cell phone.
What Does a Business Administrator Do?
Business administrators may get their starts in diverse fields, such as retail, banking, government, hospitals, hospitality, transportation, real estate and development, insurance, manufacturing, office administration, sales, or operations management. You may work in a one-person office or a firm with thousands of employees worldwide.
Some of the tasks you might expect to perform are:
- Overseeing your firm's financial/budgetary activities
- Establishing and overseeing your organization's mission, vision, and goals
- Overseeing policies and procedures
- Supervising production, services
- Implementing new technologies
- Appointing managers and department heads
- Consulting with other businesses, stakeholders, staff, board members, and executives
- Negotiating contracts
- Cutting costs and improving financial performance
- Improving program results
- Analyzing financial statements, sales reports
Once you have your degree, you may enter the workforce as an entry-level employee, perhaps as a management trainee, project assistant, support specialist for technology-related projects, or as an office manager.
A bachelor's degree should prepare you for a number of leadership positions. You might work for a private company, or for public offices or nonprofit organizations. Some of the positions you might aspire to:
- operations manager
- market specialist
- business analyst
- human resources generalist
You might even want to start your own business, embarking on entrepreneurship and building your business from the ground up.
Preparing for a Business Career
The business world offers diverse opportunities, nationally and internationally. These days the most common pathway to a career in business, no matter where you want to work, is through obtaining a bachelor's degree.
Although there are many areas where you can specialize, your degree should provide you a thorough grounding in some basic areas, such as management, search engine marketing, entrepreneurship, accounting, statistics, technology optimization, marketing, and international business.
As a business administrator, you will also need to develop skills in human relations, as your goal will likely be to manage individuals and teams. Emphasis should be on developing critical thinking and sharp analytical skills. Communication skills are also important, as the business manager will be called upon to negotiate with a wide diversity of people, from other administrators and board members, to employees and customers. Verbal and written communication skills will enhance your marketability.
Studying for Business Administration
You will need a high school degree or GED certificate to get started. You should plan on earning at least a bachelor's degree in business administration; an MBA could make you more marketable as you advance in your career, although advice from experts isn’t conclusive.
Although programs will differ depending on which college you enroll in, you should plan on taking these courses to create a good business foundation:
- accounting
- introduction to business
- marketing
- statistics
- information systems management
- business organizational management
- strategic planning and implementation
- business ethics
- macroeconomics and microeconomics
Managerial courses might include some of these:
- human resources management
- change management
- global marketing
- managerial accounting
- international business
- organizational leadership and management
- projects management
- operating systems
Electives should be taken in computers, communications, psychology, algebra, arts and sciences, composition and public speaking. Generally, students take four years to earn a bachelor's degree, although accelerated programs are available that allow you to complete the degree in less time.
Are you interested in the field of business administration? If you want to earn a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, ECPI University offers this course at an accelerated rate. For more information about this exciting program, connect with a helpful admissions advisor today.
It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!
DISCLAIMER – ECPI University makes no claim, warranty, or guarantee as to actual employability or earning potential to current, past or future students or graduates of any educational program we offer. The ECPI University website is published for informational purposes only. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information contained on the ECPI.edu domain; however, no warranty of accuracy is made. No contractual rights, either expressed or implied, are created by its content.
Gainful Employment Information – Business Administration - Bachelor’s
For more information about ECPI University or any of our programs click here: http://www.ecpi.edu/ or http://ow.ly/Ca1ya.