The Perceived Impact of the Master of Business Administration Program of the Divine Word Colleges in the Northern Province

Abstract

Introduction

Educational leaders in the new millennium face a dramatic state of uncertainty. There is a great deal of pressure to achieve a range of performance expectations in a climate of productivity and financial accountability. The need to accelerate national development activities through human resource development is felt so urgently today more than ever. Graduate education being the apex of the educational system is challenged to showcase the best of academic and intellectual products. It is expected to take a lead role in enhancing the quality of Philippine higher education through the offering of programs that are responsive to local and international standards of quality and excellence. Moreover, the prevailing economic crisis sweeping the country and the world impedes the successful attainment of the twin goals of quality and excellence. The delivery of quality education is a function of how far educational resources both human and material can go, hence, harnessing scant educational resources and putting these to optional use is a big challenge for all institutions.

Recent studies conducted by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) through the Fund for Assistance to Private Education (2004) entitled “Evaluation of Graduate Education of the Philippines” (EGEP) revealed that the operation of these graduate programs, namely: teacher education, business education and public administration are spread over a wide range in a term of quality. Aside from the very few institutions recognized by the evaluators as “outstanding or superior” which can be considered as leaders and centers of excellence on development in their regions, a sizable number may be considered “very good”; the bulk “fair” and many “low or poor”. Several recommendations specific to each graduate program were identified, one of them is the conduct of systematic tracer studies to find out how graduates are doing and assess the impact of their training to themselves, to the organization, and society.

Arcelo (1996) opined that higher education must go beyond the academic realm. It must focus on providing the skills, knowledge, and values that enable graduates to contribute meaningfully to accelerate economic, political, spiritual, and social development and thus enhance their role in society as responsible and productive citizens. The challenge is even greater for graduate schools which envision themselves to be a center for training and development, to be a provider of locally and globally competent leaders, whose professional competence, ethics, and keen sense of Filipino culture could be harnessed in pushing the frontier of knowledge and in delivering vital community services for the enhancement of the quality life in Philippine society. It is in this light that the impact of DWC’s Graduate school in the MBA program was delved into in this study. For one, data would be established as to whether the graduate is accomplishing its vision of developing competent leaders who can become catalysts of change and development in their organizations, and eventually in society. For another, well conducted assessment studies should be able to uncover systematic gaps and shortcomings that management can address by revisiting the curricula. The findings of the study therefore would be helpful in assessing the effectiveness of the MBA program in terms of graduate’s feedbacks on how they perceive the impact of their training in the graduate school would be very insightful in assessing the effectiveness of the programs, and in evolving need-driven improvements.

Methodology

           The respondents of the study were the 59 graduates of the MBA program in the school years 23008-2009 to 2009-2010 and those presently enrolled. To determine the sampler for the study, random sampling was used. Out of 65 graduates, only 59 responded for about 91 percent retrieved rate. The 59 respondents represent: 32 respondents from Divine Word College of Vigan; 14 respondents from Divine Word College of Laoag; the rest, 13 were from Divine Word College of Bangued.

The descriptive survey method of research was employed in the study. A locally constructed questionnaire was utilized extensively to survey the impact of the Divine Word Colleges: Divine Word College of Laoag, Divine Word College of Vigan, and Divine Word College of Bangued Graduate School in the Master in Business Administration (MBA) Program.

The questionnaire consisted of four parts. Part I solicited the data on the four personal factors of respondents. Part II contained the questionnaire checklist adopted from Cruz (2007) to identify the level of assessment of graduate students in the MBA program in terms of program relevance, faculty qualification, research facilities, adequacy of classroom and laboratory facilities and adequacy of library facilities. Part was composed of questions pertaining to the impact of the MBA program which was measured in terms of graduate’s productivity, professional development and advancement, professional recognition, and social and economic factors. Part IV consisted of the graduates’ perception of the extent to which the following program goals were addressed by their training.

Descriptive statistical procedures like frequencies and percentage were used to categorize the respondents according to the phenomena of employment factors. Weighted means were used to determine the assessment of the graduate school and the impact of the MBA program to the extent to which the program goals are addressed by their training. The differences in perceptions of the graduates across schools were examined using the One-way Analysis of Variance procedure or F-test. Scheffe Test was utilized to determine the result of the significant differences."

Profile of the Respondents

The survey revealed that a greater number of the graduates, that is 46 or 77.96 percent, are aged 28 and above, only 13 or 22.04 percent have ages 27 years and below. In terms of gender 37 or 62.72 percent were female, while the male accounted for 22 or 37.28 percent. The married respondents registered the highest employment rate of 36 or 61.02 percent, the single counterpart accounted for 21 or 35.59 percent while the widowed had the lowest employment rate of 2 or 3.39 percent. Moreover, none of the respondents was separated and unemployed. The nature of the graduates’ occupation can be described in four categories of employment: 28 (47.45%) are employed as professional and technical workers; 11 (18.65%) are occupying administrative and managerial positions in various government and private offices. Eleven or 18.65 percent of the MBA graduates are employed as clerks or related workers as bookkeepers, cashiers, bank tellers or computer operators. Three or 15.25 percent are engaged in sales doing insurance and real estate business.

Results on the overall assessment of the graduate school is “Very Good” where the mean rating is 4.07. In the component Faculty Qualification was rated excellent (x=4.60). The following components: Program Relevance (x=4.14); Research Facilities (x=3.97); Classroom and Laboratory Facilities (x=3.75); and Library Facilities(x=3.75) were all rated “Very Good”.

The perception of the MBA graduates on the impact of their graduate training on job productivity has a “great extent” of effect in terms of improved self-confidence (x=4.44), improved job knowledge (x=4.22), and improved communication skills (x=4.20). “Great extent” of effects was also reported in terms of improved research skills as shown by the obtained mean value of 4.11. The same trend of effects was reported by the MBA graduates. It may be gleaned that the training provided by the graduate schools contributed to a “great extent” with a mean rating of 4.24.

Results of the survey shows that when the perceptions of the MBA graduates were taken as a whole and their perception on the impact of job productivity was compared by institution, a highly significant differences is evident as backed up by the computed F-value of 6.48 where the significance level exceeded the 0.05 level of significance.

This implies the MBA graduates of DWC Bangued were not in agreement that their graduate training contributed to a great extent in their professional development. Their training did not enable them to be actively involved in policy formation and program development, project monitoring and evaluation, in human resources development and in giving lectures and seminars.

The impact of their graduate school training on the professional development and advancement of the graduates was assessed through six different indicators. The MBA graduates agreed that their graduate training contributed to a “great extent” in their professional development. Their training enabled them to be more actively involved in policy formulation, program development, program monitoring and human resource development, giving lectures and seminars and rendering consultancy services. This was shown by the obtained mean values ranging from 3.55 to a high 3.87.

When the perceptions of the graduates were taken as a whole and their perception on professional development were compared by institution, an insignificant difference supported by a computed F value of 0.38 where the significance level failed to reach 0.05 level. This means the respondents agreed in their perceptions that their graduate training produced a very positive impact in their professional development and advancement. The graduates also identified other benefits accruing to the pursuance of their graduate training. They have perceived that their training developed in them the interest in research and other developmental studies.

To a “great extent”, the respondents perceived that their training developed in them the interest in research and other development studies. This finding is quite noteworthy considering that no tenets in higher education are held in higher regard than the appreciation or better still commitment of students to knowledge for its own sake.

Insignificant differences also prevailed in the perception of the graduates on the impact of the MBA program towards professional recognition when compared by institution as backed up by the computed F value of 0.23 which has a significance level below 0.05 level. Other reports supportive of the interest in development undertakings is their active participation in professional organization.

As shown by the obtained values of the MBA graduates and graduates, students perceived that their graduate school training contributed to a “great extent” in improving their communication skills (x = 4.14), management skills (x = 4.1) and leadership skills (x = 4.0). These are three important life skills in today’s complex society. Our society breeds more and more organizations every day. In each of these organizations, managing and leading are essential activities.

The perception of the MBA graduates and graduate students on the impact of the MBA program on their socio-economic status, when analyzed using the F test revealed a computed F value of 0.95 where the significant level is 0.05.

The respondents in the MBA Program in the three Divine Word Colleges in the Northern Province perceived that the extent to which the graduate school goals have been addressed by their training had been achieved to “great extent” in varying point weights.

"This finding indicates that the MBA graduate program is in the right direction, gaining headway in its vision of developing competent leaders in the area of business management. Grounded with sound management principles and theories and with sufficient exposure to contemporary issues and problems, the graduates can be expected to become catalysts of change and development in business organizations.

This indicates that the graduates have very good impressions of the pool of the faculty members in terms of qualifications; the program of studies are consistent with national and institutional goals and objectives; the quality of research activities done by faculty and students reflects the intellectual climate in the institution.

Considering these levels of perceptions of the graduates of DWC’s in the Northern Province as regards to job productivity by institution, comparison was made by means of One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) Computation, the summary of which is presented in Table 4.

This significant difference could be traced from the perception of the graduates from the DWC Bangued as compared with those of DWC Vigan and DWC Laoag.

All the MBA graduates felt that their graduate training produced a very positive impact in their professional development and advancement as revealed by the overall mean of 3.78. If there is one area that they feel has not been maximized, it is doing consultancy services to clients.

This finding is quite noteworthy considering that no tenets in higher education are held in higher regard than the appreciation or better still commitment of students to knowledge for its own sake. Research is indeed central to the work of higher learning (Bowen, 1987). Through systematic efforts to develop a research culture in the graduate school has been put in place, much remains to be done in creating the desired climate. The comment that the graduates feel that their graduate training has somehow developed their interest in research reflects a fresh note that the scientific effort to develop a research culture has not been devoid of meaning.

The comment that the graduates feel that their graduate training has somehow developed their interest in research reflects a fresh note that the scientific effort to develop a research culture has not been devoid of meaning.

The graduates likewise reported that their training has given them opportunities to be invited as speakers or lecturers in seminars and to receive recognition in the form of awards or citations for professional service.

It is likewise impossible to perform any managerial function without communication, which is the process of exchanging facts and ideas between two or more people. If the graduate feels that their training has contributed significantly to developing these skills, then the Graduate School can be said to be on the right track in its vision of developing professional leaders in the field of business.

This means that insignificant differences exist in the perceptions of the respondents as to the impact of the graduate school training on their socio – economic advantages.  These are: (1) providing for a graduate education that is Catholic and Divinian in character and responsive to local and international standards of quality and excellence; (2) promoting the development of critical thinking among students in the analysis of issues and concerns; (3) training students to become agent of change in organizations through knowledge development and technology transfer; developing leaders grounded with sound management principles and theories and with sufficient exposure to contemporary issues and problems; and (5) create a nationalist perspective in responding to issues and problems. The overall mean of 4.30 indicates that the goals of the graduate school have been achieved to a “great extent”.