Hi everyone! I am thinking about doing either a MBA or DBA to hone my skills and knowledge of the business world. I have a niche market and have done pretty good at it. I work with nonprofits and businesses that are serving veterans. I am a veteran myself and have found that I have a knack for developing innovative strategies to help these orgs improve the quality of their service and increase participation. I have a non business Masters already. I do not want to work for a fortune 500 business. I want to be the best at what I do. I like research and I like to roll up my sleeves too! What would be better a MBA or DBA or maybe even no degree? Thanks!
Well, I am a veteran as well and I am doing both. I am finishing up my MBA now and then rolling into a DBA program in September. I didn't think you could skip the MBA enroute to a DBA but I may be wrong. I know some PhD's that don't require a master's degree first but have not noticed that in the DBA programs I have looked at. I think I came across a MBA/DBA combo program that had some extra classes not normally covered at the DBA level.
Of the two, I'd do the DBA, since you already have a masters. Since you like research, you'd pick up most of the business knowledge you would get in an MBA along the way as you worked toward your DBA. If you mostly want to be the best at what you do, then focussing your thesis research on that specific area would seem like a good choice.
Without knowing more, I think no degree would be better. You say your goal is to increase your knowledge of how the business world works, and you'd get that from working in business, not in school. Also, your Master's in not in a business field, but what field is it in, exactly?
I cant imagine what utility a DBA would have. I am in business world and I have never hired anyone saying a DBA was a pre-requisite. In fact , if I saw DBA on a resume it would make me severely question whether the applicant was able to be effective in business.So if the choice an MBA or DBA I would suggest MBA- and not from a "name" school, but from schoolwhere professors appear active in current business world.Of coouse "doing business" the best teacher , but an MBA can provide you some general understanding of specific areas and "talk the lingo" to decision-makers at potential clients.
I am wondering what type of jobs you hire and what are the pre-requisite? So, if you saw a DBA on the resume you are making a decision base on three letters? What about the whole resume and the candidate experience, does that count for something? Normally, a DBA will be a person that have an extensive work experience, and want to match this experience with education, in this case a DBA. This sounds like a University of Phoenix pitch. :scratchchin:
Maybe a doctoral degree would sound more impressive for a consultant but I wonder if it needs to be a DBA. Maybe Organizational Psychology or even Leadership would work just as well?
Thank you for all the great feedback! So it sounds like a three way split between MBA, DBA and no degree. Also-the idea of a totally different degree altogether was stated~ More info about my grad degree. I have a MFA in Art & Anthropology of Art. Yup believe it-My area of study is in post combat veteran culture and archetypal symbolism. I have started a couple Doctorate programs only to be very disappointed with the amount of generic knowledge and overall quality of the institutions. I didn't want to confuse things by bringing these aspects into the question I posed to the thread but maybe it gives a better picture of things. I have been looking at a completely self directed Doctorate program of which I would create a program on symbolic veteran culture. You may be scratching your head-and I wouldn't expect anything but that from most. My angle is very simple I know veteran culture because I am a combat veteran who is knowledgeable about all sorts of nuance and useful things that pertain to the organizations that seek to assist them. Whether this is through the need to improve a veteran customer service or product designed for them--I help with the process 8). I love to learn & I love to watch a program develop or a service improve. Unfortunately there isn't a whole bunch of veteran oriented degrees that are not contained within a silo realm of knowledge. My niche is very much an interdisciplinary endeavor! It includes all sorts of different realms (education, service/product design, disability, health, benefits, marketing, etc...). I create my own work-I am 100% certain that I am not going to work for a company or the government. Again-I thank you for your excellent insight into my scenario! Thanks!
I agree that an MBA from a top school would have more utility than an DBA from an online non ranked school for managerial positions. A DBA would have utility for teaching positions and for those positions that require specialized technical knowledge such as operations, finance, accounting or IT. A general DBA from an online non ranked school is practically just dressing on a resume. I don't see it can hurt but it won't have much impact in my opinion. A consultant might benefit from the DBA provided that the program is specialized. If the OP wants to work for top consulting firms.
-when hiring and you receive 100 to 200 resumes it is necessary to prioritise how may and whom one interviews. To me when I see DBA on resume I wonder if the person's goal is not really teaching, and also how "real-world" is their approach. doesnt mean they wot be hired. but no, never have we said a DBA is a pre requisite for a job.- yes i prefer teachers with real world business experience than some academic. during my MBA it was frustrating dealing with academics who werent active in business- thus their theories could sound nice on paper but in practcie were not helpful. -accounting in particular ( i have been a controller,cfo, and managed both) i really cant imagine doctoral level study of accounting as anything more important than experience and track record of accomplishment.
I agree. However, if I were to hire a forensic accountant consultant and someone came with a PhD or DBA in forensic accounting, I would see this as an advantage over someone with only a BS provided that the PhD has extensive working experience. It is just a selling point but it cannot replace a proven record. My point is that a general DBA has almost no impact unless it is from a top school. I see a lot of people doing general DBAs from low profile online schools, I really don't see the point unless the company is paying for this and the professional only is looking for self improvement. I have a DBA and few masters degrees, I agree that a DBA makes your CV look too academic. In my case, I remove my DBA if I need to apply for work that only requires a BS. I have noticed that if I leave my DBA, I get very few calls.
By reading your posts it looks like you are quite good at what you are professionally doing. As a sole practitioner the main question is going to be if you want to expand your practice horizontally or vertically. If you want to go for the horizontal diversification of your services (i.e. broadening) I would suggest either a general MBA (maybe even with some residency - in your business enhancing your professional network should always be good) or a Masters specifically oriented on consulting oriented issues e.g. MSc Business Analysis & Consulting (Distance) - University of Strathclyde . Something like this should help you to become more familiar with classic consulting tools, frameworks, etc. If you want to go for a vertical expansion (i.e. go deeper) my suggestion would be a UK PhD. All you need to find is an advisor who makes a good fit to your research idea and you can exclusively zoom in on that project without getting sidetracked by generic coursework. You could emphasize the Anthropology angle and stretch it to the Ethnography direction. That would make you look adjustable to many qualitative methods oriented researchers esp. in the organizational sciences. On the DBA discussion: I suspect that most clients of you are going to be small and mid tier businesses were most likely nobody has heard of these 3 letters. My choice would be to go either for your top state school's executive MBA (networking and general business knowledge) or a UK PhD where you can just work on your area of interest.
Thanks for your Comments! Thanks everyone-and especially Woho for the last feedback insight. I think that i would like to go deeper and not broader with my knowledge. I have checked out the Intercultural Open University PhD program and think that it would be the venue of my choice. My realm really is the study of veterans as a culture an applied manner. The business realm just seemed to be a natural fit for the type of work I am doing. Marketing ethnography is especially relevant to my area of practice. These are all big terms but I basically am a problem solver and get things done. My methods are unconventional I will be the first to admit. Let me give you a glimpse into what I am doing right now to show my activities. Maybe you all have seen this before-I am just doing what I do so I am like a fish in the water and am blind to my own environment. July/Aug Activity List: 1. Finish the development and start the implementation a of complete ecommerce integration for a Veteran organization. (webstore, memberships, marketing, networking for funding, payment processing etc...) 2. Exhibit my own Veteran Artwork at a Regional Hospital 3. Start rough draft for a book on veteran post war reintegration that I was awarded a grant for 4. teach the resource section of a veteran coaching program at a state university and write the content. So I guess I am pooling everyone's knowledge here-does this look like academic or business type stuff? Your thoughts and insight are most appreciated!
I think in your case an MBA would be enough.Since you are a veteran and have the knack for helping the orgs, business consulting services could be easy for you.But if you are looking more into research, you should stick to DBA.But as you are already proficient in the field and have a non business masters,it is not necessary to have an MBA.
