EMBAs in a changing business economy

Long-term job stability and security are vanishing. Today, few professionals remain in the same job, in the same company or even within the same industry for the duration. Work flexibility, mobility and transience are the buzzwords for today’s new business economy and some commentators have referred to the advent of a more flexible attitude toward employment as a ‘social revolution’.

Commonly categorised under the monikers ‘the gig economy’ or ‘freelance nation’, the new flexible career paths include consultancy projects, freelance working and creative activities.

The rise of the gig economy

The transformation, or revolution as some have argued, from traditional employment patterns to project-focused employment, has been taking place gradually since the late 1990s and is expected to grow in significance over the coming decades.

In a gig economy, professionals are often self-employed freelancers or consultants, juggling multiple projects, clients and deadlines at the same time. In this type of business economy, everyone runs a business of one (or more). The reasons for this shift in work mode, in the US and increasingly in Europe and elsewhere, are numerous. The trend is certainly fuelled by employer desire to lower labor costs by hiring specialists and expert professionals for projects and jobs that their full-time regular staff cannot tackle.

Employers save on desk space, employment benefits and other costs associated with full-time staff.

Furthermore, gig professionals are not bound by regular employment laws and regulations in the business transaction relationship. During the financial crisis and subsequent recovery, this mode of work flexibility became increasingly attractive for both employers and professionals as an innovative and mutually beneficial arrangement.

Work flexibility and freedom

Professionals embracing the gig economy gain freedom and work flexibility. Although often faced with greater levels of uncertainty, freelancers and consultants have no ties to a specific employer, are not limited to a specific location or office culture, and are able to work where and when opportunities arise. The desire for greater levels of freedom, spurred by the increasing lack of job stability, has made this an appealing work model for many.

However, this employment mode is not without its critics. Many highlight the lack of legal protection for freelancers and consultants and the fact that, to date, it does not offer a quick path to financial wealth. This is where an Executive MBA offers a strong advantage.

Equipped with the core skills to optimize business processes and practices, EMBA graduates are uniquely positioned to run the business of one with efficiency and good returns. A specialization in entrepreneurship or consulting gives EMBA graduates an added edge to develop innovative strategies for new projects, maximize their returns and streamline processes involved in gig economy work. What’s more, EMBA graduates are able to draw on their wide-ranging and extensive network for potential projects in all industries.

As more and more employers are benefitting from the expertise of EMBA graduates in a freelance or consultancy capacity, business schools are increasingly highlighting this new work mode in their programs. Babson College, for example, has introduced the model ‘Entrepreneurship and the Gig Economy’ for their MBA students. Created and taught by entrepreneur Diane Mulcahy, the module was named one of the 10 most innovative business school classes by Forbes Magazine in 2010.

Enhancing your professional skills

Other business schools have responded to the potential of the gig economy by including new consultancy and freelance platforms in their career development services so that students can acquire new professional skills.

Debra Leighton, Associate Dean (Academic) of Salford Business School in the UK, notes that many EMBA students are portfolio workers who seek to enhance their professional skills in ways that will enable them to work across and between industry sectors as a deliberate career choice.

“Often these students will aspire to careers in consultancy and are deliberately gaining a breadth of business experience that can then be applied across a diverse range of client organizations,” Leighton says.

Leighton also highlights how the school’s program format accommodates this trend. “The MBA market is addressing more flexible modes of delivery in order to enable learners to combine a blended delivery model that provides block teaching and opportunities for professional networking, alongside the best of online VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) support. The Salford MBA, with a choice of six entry points, is an example of a flexible, lifestyle learning approach to MBA study.”

Participating in the gig economy is not for everyone. In order to be successful, expertise and professional skills are required, not only in a specific subject area but also in knowing how to find and create business. Since many economists are convinced that this is the ‘job model’ of the future, honing such skills could certainly pay off in the long run for EMBA grads.