One of our MBA scholarship recipients, Ana-Marija Boic answered a couple of questions regarding her MBA expectations, interests, professional development as well as her thoughts on improving business performance.
How will the MBA contribute to your career advancement?
Companies need people who understand the business environment and can effectively work in it. Engineering managers need more than only technical skills. Excellent communication skills and conflict resolution are equally important for project management. With business and finance knowledge, it will be easier to assess situations that don’t have clear right or wrong answers and make a good judgment call. An engineering degree with an MBA gives a great amount of flexibility in a future career.
Why are you interested in continuing your education?
To stay competitive in this highly competitive market and to acquire new knowledge and skills, which I find useful for my field of interest. Many careers require continuing education and civil engineering is most certainly one of them.
What skills do you hope to obtain in the MBA program and how will they help you in your professional development?
Long-term, I see myself running my consulting firm. After the program, I hope I could identify and seize business opportunities, have leadership skills, improve communication and time management, and develop strategic thinking even more. Meeting new people of similar interests will help me get a broader worldview and develop a network of colleagues.
If your were promoted to a managerial position, how would you improve the performance of the business?
My priority would certainly be the quality of our products / services and employee satisfaction. When you’re working on your own project, it’s not a problem for you to invest 150% of your time because you’re creating something for yourself while most employees who work for you don’t have that attitude. Therefore, I think it is extremely important to motivate employees, provide them with things they need and in some way involve them in the project in a way that they feel like they are part of the project. Highly motivated employees will also bring better results. Employees are a reflection of every company! CLC marketing and customer satisfaction after purchase is also one of the key “criteria for success” of any company’s business and I would certainly base business more on quality than on quantity. The time when price was the main factor when buying is over, now quality is sought!