What Business Administration Courses are All About?

A business administration course could have you studying anything from “How to create a simple document” through to “How to lead a growing enterprise”. What you study depends on the course level.

A short course for recent school leavers might be the easiest study choice. The most challenging course would probably be a Master of Business Administration (MBA) program.

What connects every business administration course is that students learn how to be more productive in an office or corporate environment. According to Good Colleges Online, business administration refers to simple office-related tasks as well as to the roles of managing systems and people.

Read on to find out more about what business administration courses are all about. I’ll explain what business administration actually means and how courses in this field differ in terms of content and goals.

What Business Administration Means?

Think of business administration this way. For any business to operate, first you need people to do tasks like processing transactions, keeping records and responding to enquiries. This is business administration in its simplest form.

But, for an organization to operate efficiently, you also need people to manage systems. For example, someone needs to establish and maintain a hiring process. That way, every recruiter in the organization can follow an established process that is known to work well.

A person responsible for managing a system is doing another type of business administration. They manage a collection of tasks that can be considered an administration system. In the example of the hiring process, the administrator might be called a human resources manager.

A third dimension of business administration is managing people. Any business with employees needs people to manage others. People managers include supervisors, team leaders, general managers, directors and CEOs.

Business Administration Skills are Portable

A further quality of business administration activities is that they happen in all kinds of organizations and industries. For example, every large business needs people to do budgeting, marketing, scheduling, team leadership, corporate communication, etc. As a result, business administration skills are portable, meaning you can apply them for many different employers.

The portability of the skills acquired explains why business administration courses are so popular. No matter your age or industry, you can find a training program that will increase your productivity and value in the job market. Many programs are available 100% online, making the study field highly accessible as well.

Business Administration Courses for Entry-Level Jobs

With so much demand for people with business administration skills, doing a certificate or diploma course after leaving school could be a path to landing your first office job.

For entry-level positions, you could enrol in a course where you learn how to do things such as: digitally process financial transactions, keep financial records, process fortnightly payroll, maintain business resources, create schedules, and order products and services.

Courses for Supervisors and Operations Managers

The next level up is to do a course where it’s assumed you will be supervising people and/or managing work processes. Some examples of training courses from Australia are a Certificate IV in Leadership and Administration, a Diploma of Business Operations, and a Diploma of Organisational Development.

The kinds of topics you may study are: applying new technology, business concept development, leading and managing workplace change, establishing an innovative culture, continuous productivity improvement, building strategic business networks, and managing team communication.

Master of Business Administration (MBA) Programs

MBA courses are ideal for experienced professionals who are looking to move into more senior roles. As the most common business masters degree, an MBA is also the most popular masters degree in general. Business overtook Education as the most studied field at a postgraduate level around a decade ago according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Students who enroll in MBA programs do so for many reasons. Among the top advantages of an MBA degree are opportunities for career advancement, higher earnings, employer-sponsored training and flexible study.

MBA courses are fundamentally about leadership training, and almost every program teaches leadership principles. However, you may also have the opportunity to specialize in a field such as finance, marketing or strategic communication.