Re-post: MBA vs. Masters of Design Management

by Nathan Shedroff on October 4, 2007

http://www.designmba.org/blog/archives/2007/10/mba_vs_masters_of_design_manag.html

A question I hear often now is: "what is the difference between an MBA and a Masters in Design or a Masters in Design Management?"

The latter two degrees are fairly common--especially in Europe--but the MBA is brand new and still rare (for now).

A Masters in Design is aimed at training designers to be leading, thoughtful designers. These degrees may include some focus on strategy and business realities (like CCA's new Graduate Program in Design under Brenda Laurel's new leadership), but their concentration is on design.

A Masters in Design Management usually trains designers or other business people in managing the design function within an organization. This department may be subsumed under Marketing, Engineering, Operations, or somewhere else, depending on an organizations' structure, or it may be it's own division. These programs definitely include curricula in managing people within organizations and some business functions.

Instead of leading designers and design leaders, an MBA is a business degree focused on creating business leaders that understand the value design can bring to their organizations. What differentiates the MBA in Design Strategy (or Design MBA, for short) is that it relies on design principles as a direction for innovation strategy so that graduates understand how to innovate within businesses. It's purpose is to help designers and business people from non-design areas, including from the non-profit world, understand how to manage meaningful innovation within an organization and lead with a full understanding of how all parts of an organization must be engaged in order for the company to innovate effectively.