MBA vs. MS in Organizational Leadership

[ArielB74]

I'm curious to get some thoughts on which one of these is the better degree for someone who is already in an executive or middle management role?

Some considerations:

MBA: Can be had in 12 months for less than $20k

MS in Organizational Leadership: Most programs 20-24 months and around $40k

MBA's do seem to be a dime a dozen these days, but is there really a reason to spend more than twice as much (and take an extra year) to do an MS in Org Leadership?  The main difference from a curriculum standpoint seems to be that the MS doesn't have the accounting and finance classes, but tend to offer more on the psychology of business and general management courses.

Thoughts?

[ss20ts]

No need to spend $40K on a MS in Org Lead. Brandman which is becoming UMass Global and UMPI both offer a MA in OL for far less. WGU has a MS in Management & Leadership. Purdue Global has a MS in Management and Leadership. Excelsior has a MS in Management. SNHU has a MS in Management and a MS in Org Lead. CSU Global has a MS in Org Lead. The Org Lead master's is becoming quite popular and offered at a lot of schools. 

Side note. LSU Shreveport has a MBA for under $13K and can be completed in 10 months.

Here's a MS in Management that's completed in 21 months for around $18K.

https://www.keuka.edu/aoe/management

[dfrecore]

Not sure where you're getting your info, but I wouldn't pay that amount or take that long for either of those degrees. I think you have looked at a VERY limited number of programs. On this forum, you won't find too many people paying more than $10k for either, nor taking 1-2 years either.

I would say that you need to figure out how high in a company you want to go, and then decide which degree will get you there. If you're working at the kind of company that basically requires an MBA, then you should do that. An MSOL will not do in many companies. OTOH, an MSOL would be just fine in other places.

[Maniac Craniac]

Meanwhile, a Master of Science in Management from the University of Illinois is $10k.

[bjcheung77]

Further to that, you should look into the MOOC degrees provided in partnership with or by some ranked universities, if it's in Business or IT, or some other fields, it may be a good idea to review what is offered at these MOOC partnerships. Several provide Bachelors and Masters for $10K to $15K, you may want to check out coursera, edx, futurelearn, udacity and upgrad.

[ArielB74]

Sorry - should have qualified this by saying that I was looking at AACSB schools only for the MBA. SE Oklahoma is the most affordable, and there are certainly other options at or under $20k. For the MS, either AACSB accredited or from a really good school (like John's Hopkins, for example, which offers a program for about 40k over two years).

My question was also more oriented towards which degree is the better one to get for someone who is already in a leadership role? The cost of doing the MS is - generally speaking - much higher (sticking to AACSB or high tier schools) vs. an MBA, which can be had for an extremely low cost, even with AACSB accreditation.

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Meanwhile, a Master of Science in Management from the University of Illinois is $10k.

Thanks - that's for "early career professionals" though, and a little different from an MBA or MS in Organizational Leadership.

[Turkish]

"which degree is the better one to get for someone who is already in a leadership role?"

I think the answer to your question is going to be a little more complex than A vs B.  From my own experience it will depend on the company, positions, school, HR department, etc...
Example - At my work, most of our senior management have MBAs, the schools differ, but they previously decided MBAs were important to get. In the last two years, they've moved away from that with a greater emphasis on focused Masters degrees. That's just my company and not 'the industry' as a whole, but it aligns with the idea that there are a lot of MBAs out there and the market is a bit saturated. However, to directly contradict what I said above, with certain hirings, not having an MBA is problematic depending on the position (if no other Masters is available OR depending on the position itself). Then you come into school reputation. I'm fairly confident with the following fake math.

Harvard MBA > WGU MS Org Leadership.
Harvard MS Org Leadership > WGU MBA.

I understand I've chosen a very extreme comparison, but it highlights a point I think most people can understand.

Lastly, the HR department itself may have biases based on certain schools or degrees (preferred or not) that they may apply. I know there are a few schools we avoid hiring from due to recent issues with recent hires. May just be a few bad students made it through the hiring process, but now the school is perceived to be lower quality due to a small sample size.

Long story short to answer your question, I don't know that it can be 100% answered without knowing a whole bunch more detail, and some of which you wouldn't be able to know.

One thing that I have learned from this board is the price of a degree is nowhere near the value in any sense of the word. Most people are familiar with some schooling being insanely high and not worth the money put into it. However, this board has taught me the other end of the scale can be inverse. Several of the BA/MS level degrees are worth far more than the price. As dfrecore mentions, there's an abundance of knowledge on this board about how to get the most effective return on your dollars when it comes to higher education. With that, I can certainly leave some parting information that may be of use: MBA's at Georgia Southwestern State University, Texas A&M University Kingsville, Southeast Missouri State University, Southern Arkansas University and Texas Tech University are all AACSB accredited, online and cost less than $12K.