What do you think. PsyD in organizational leadership

I'm interested in getting a doctorate degree in organizational leadership. I have done alot of research and have found that O.L. is a multidiciplinary dicipline. I've also noticed this dicipline can be offered by way of a Ed.D., DBA, PHD and PsyD. However, I am particulary curious about this program.
http://www.rockies.edu/online/psydorganizationalleadership.php.

Has anyone graduated or know about this program? Are there any advantages/disavantages in obtaining a PsyD vs. DBA, PHD, Ed.D? My graduate degree is in healthcare.

Pros of the program- 6 week classes taken one at the time, short residencies, many other concentrations, should be able to teach psy. classes (according to the admission counselor), Practicum done at place of employment. 3years to complete.

Cons- price $55,000 for the entire program,not sure about the psy. concentration (business or healthcare classes may have more utility.. But on the other hand a Psy. degree may provide a different perpective.
what do you guys think.

 

I did not even know there was such an animal! Does the APA accredit such type of Psy.D.?

Why not just do a Ph.D. in I/O?

 

Sounds like an interesting degree title.

 

I just looked up their web site and found out that they are not APA accredited.

 

haestra

The way it was explained to me is that this particular program does not need to be accredited by the APA because is not for counseling.

 

University of the Rockies

I have just enrolled in University of the Rockies' masters program in business psychology. I start June 30th and I am really excited about this degree. The PsyD concentration is what it is because it is a practitioners degree, not a research degree. Once I am finished with the masters (18 months), I will enroll in their PsyD program in Organizational Consulting. The Organizational Leadership is also a great concentration, geared not so much towards I/O psych, but organizational management. Yes it is expensive but the courses are only 6 weeks in length, and it is RA and also accredited by the Higher Learning commission. I do not plan to do counseling, so no need for APA accreditation for me. I am going to teach online and get into Human Resources at some level. I decided against counseling because it is not financially feasible as a second career. Plenty of opportunity in I/O and HR though, not to mention teaching online...

 

haestra

Thanks for the info. There are a couple of other universities that offer the same program like the Chicago school of psychology and Fielding institute. It seems to me the psychology background can provide a unique perspective in understanding human behavior.

 

Yes, what I have found is that there is a ton of opportunities in the I/O and human resource field. You can find pure HR degrees such as Ashford's Organizational Management masters, a 33-hr program, something like $500 per credit hour, or Sullivan also has one. Lots of them. But adding psychology into the mix prepares you better for teaching psychology and psych-related things such as testing, assessment, and many HR positions such as recruiting, training, employee relations. Plus, the business psych degree also qualifies me to teach some business courses. The OD route you are looking at will help you tremendously in any HR position, sales, management...lots of things you can do with it.

 

The Fresno campus of Alliant International University offers a 3 year Psy.D in Organizational Development. It is expensive, around $65K, but it does look interesting. I'm not exactly sure what the utility would be other than perhaps consulting and maybe some teaching?

http://www.alliant.edu/wps/wcm/connect/website

 

Yes, let's address the concept of utility: what can you do with this degree? The whole issue surrounding APA versus non-APA is all about the ability to obtain licensure. Usually a license to practice psychology is given for clinical or counseling psychology. This makes it possible for one to actually be called a practicing psychologist and receive the benefits of licensure, which includes reimbursements from the state for seeing clients who use insurance to pay for these services. So one can practice as a psychologist with an APA degree. But with a non-APA Psych degree, including PsyD and PhD, you can be a consultant: you can be a life coach (executive coach in some circles), organizational consultant, Human resources consultant, conflict management consultant. You can teach at many 4-year universities and community colleges and teach online. You can land a great HR job in employee relations, compensation/benefits, recruiting...you can be a training director, work at an assessment center, so many things you can do! And an hourly rate as a consultant can certainly rival the hourly rate a a counselor, and possibly even more opportunities because it's the world of business.

 

This is not my thing but it seems to me that Kirk has made some good points about the utility of such a degree. I went to the APA website and did a bit of reading about accreditation and it looks like a program such as this couldn't be accredited by APA even if they wanted. It looks like it's all about clinical/counseling/school psychology. Anyway, I've been told that there are a lot of states where having a degree from an APA accredited program is not necessary for licensure. Maybe one of our members has a listing of states that require APA accreditation for licensure.

 

I registered immediately after finding this thread after (extensive) googling for this info and your site popped up.

After working as a parole officer for several years, I enrolled in the university of the rockies program regarding the psy.d in criminal and justice studies.

I'd like to develop programs that would assit youthful offenders in the inner city where I work. In your opinions, will this degree assist me in gaining credibility to obtain grants to fund these programs?

I'm 45 years old and want to start the next chapter of my life doing something constructive- meaning to intervene before criminal behavior begins.

Can we teach with a psy.d in most states? And finally, does anyone have a link to what states require schools to be APA certified to allow for licensure?

My first post here and it's rather lengthy, I apologize. I can't find the above answers anywhere!

 

I'm still trying to wrap my head around a Psy.D. (practitioner degree) that is not clinical in focus. The program does look interesting however, and I'm going to do some more research on my end to see if it might meet my needs.

Regarding your questions - I think in general that there will be some questions from people as to why your PsyD is in a non-clinical field. Of course, these questions will only come from people who know (or care) about the difference between the PsyD and PhD. In 1973 the APA (American Psychological Association) at its Vail conference, created and endorsed the PsyD as a method of providing applied training for psychologist to function as practitioners. On the other hand, the PhD in psych was meant to continue on with a primary focus on research, although there are still a number of PhD programs and practitioners out there. See here for more info on the history of the PsyD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_of_Psychology

In respect to your question regarding teaching - I see no reason why you could not get a job teaching (non-clinical) psych courses - either online or on campus. However, most non-clinical psych courses are taught by PhDs, rather than PsyDs. You will need to compete and distinguish yourself from the PhDs.

I think this degree would provide an excellent background for working with inner-city youths. Of course, without a license in psychology or social work, you won't be able to counsel these children, but with your background as a parole officer combined with a PsyD, you should be well positioned to work with others to develop assistance programs.

Good luck! Please let us know how you make out with this program. I for one, would be very interested in learning more.

 

As others have stated, I'm interested to hear more about these new Psy.D. programs. I have read many rants coming from APA luminaries who think the Psy.D. is an abomination; too little grounding in the theoretical traditions of personality psychology for their tastes...