Sorry DERG, I don't really agree on a number of points.
If you take somebody who fits in well with the company ethos, and has natural leadership abilities - then put them through an MBA, then they still have all of that, plus a lot of management technical skills.
Similarly, take a complete a*****e, who everybody hates, and put them through an MBA, then they'll be an a*****e with management technical skills.
So, some good people will be made better, and some idiots will unfortunately be given a bit more credibility than they deserve. Ultimately however, they are still the same people, just with an MBA.
So it really isn't the MBA that's at fault - other than it tends to give a bit more credibility to people who really shouldn't be put in charge of anything.
Are engineers naturally leaders? Like other professions, some are, some aren't. We probably are more naturally managers than most other professions - because every nature of our job requires a systematic and ordered way of working, as well as a good understanding of what everybody else is doing.
But management is not the same as leadership. This simple fact is sadly very poorly understood.
So, for example, I know somebody who is a pretty mediocre engineer who has been given the management tools, and place as a project manager. Juggling all the bits and bobs, he does a great job of it. If you put him in charge of a department, he'd probably be a disaster, because he doesn't have the leadership skills. I suspect if you asked him, he'd agree with this.
The classic fictional example is Captain Kirk; he did not have the technical skills of any of his team, and I like to think that Mr Spock was regularly being driven up the wall by his failing to keep the accounts and audit procedures in order. On the other hand, he shows the characteristics of a brilliant leader, who used the good people around him to get the job done well.
But I'll bet that Mr Spock was the one with the MBA! Technically brilliant as a science officer, and a manager - but he needed the MBA because he was never going to have Captain Kirk's leadership skills. On the other hand, he knew his limitations and worked to them.
G