Best Online Doctorate in Organizational Leadership Degree Programs 2025

Badge for BEST ONLINE DOCTORATE IN ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP

By Dr. James Barham
Reviewed By Chloe Dembski

Updated: Nov 25, 2024

Find top-ranked online doctorate in organizational leadership degrees for students seeking careers as professors, research leaders, and government consultants.

Key Takeaways

A doctorate in organizational leadership will broaden your opportunities especially if you plan to work in high-level positions in universities, colleges, private businesses, and nonprofit organizations.
With the online doctorate in organizational leadership, you will be prepared for various management positions across different industries. Most professionals holding this doctorate often pursue advanced careers as development and training managers.
If you’re looking for flexibility and convenience while maintaining your full-time job, an online Ph.D. is the best option since this will allow you easy access to resources, courses, faculty, and fellow students.

Table of Contents

Top 10 Online Organizational Leadership Doctorate Degrees in 2025

University of Southern California
Baylor University
Liberty University
+1
Nova Southeastern University
–1
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
+1
National University
–1
Keiser University
California Baptist University
+2
A.T. Still University
+4
Wilmington University
–2

2025 Ranking Update

Our Influence Ranking Engine™ leverages machine learning to track the real-world influence of colleges and universities over time. Below you’ll see which schools gained or lost ground for the 2025 school year.

In 2025, the top ten schools in our ranking of the best online organizational leadership doctorate degrees saw a fair amount of movement. A.T. Still University gained the most ranking positions as the university is enhancing its online Doctor of Health Sciences (DHSc) program to better serve students interested in organizational leadership. The program now offers a Leadership and Organizational Behavior certificate, providing specialized training in leadership principles and organizational dynamics.

Additionally, ATSU has expanded its online course offerings, allowing students to complete the degree entirely online, providing greater flexibility for those balancing work and personal commitments. These improvements reflect ATSU’s commitment to delivering a robust and accessible education for online learners.

Featured Programs

Best Online Doctorate in Organizational Leadership Degree Programs

Career Outlook for Students with Organizational Leadership Degree

Go to Degree Finder tool

Organizational Leadership

Degree Level: Doctorate

Location: The U.S. (Private Schools)
Avg. Cost of Degree*: $11,390
Avg. Expenses*: $18,305
Avg. Starting Salary*: $143,133
Avg. Cost Recoup Time**: 6 years
Job Growth: 7.70%
Number of Jobs: 2,696,000
* denotes ‘annually’
** denotes ‘at 15% of annual salary’

Career Salaries

Career	Job Growth	Avg. Salary
Architectural and Engineering Managers	5.52%	$165,370
Natural Sciences Managers	7.49%	$157,740
Financial Managers	16.51%	$156,100
Human Resources Managers	6.51%	$136,350
Managers, All Other	5.75%	$133,560
Training and Development Managers	7.41%	$125,040
Actuaries	21.85%	$120,000
Fundraising Managers	6.02%	$119,200
Industrial Production Managers	2.87%	$116,970
Medical and Health Services Managers	28.54%	$110,680

Top Industries

Industry	Avg. Salary
Architectural and Engineering Managers	$165,370
Natural Sciences Managers	$157,740
Financial Managers	$156,100
Human Resources Managers	$136,350
Managers, All Other	$133,560
Training and Development Managers	$125,040
Actuaries	$120,000
Fundraising Managers	$119,200
Industrial Production Managers	$116,970
Medical and Health Services Managers	$110,680

Data from The Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Department of Education College Scorecard, The Department of Education NCES, and The Council for Community and Economic Research.

Doctor of Organizational Leadership: What The Graduate Program is All About

Organizations in every industry need well-educated and skilled professionals that demonstrate exceptional educational leadership and similar strategic leadership skills. For leaders to attain the experience and skills necessary to thrive, earning a Ph.D. in organizational leadership is a must.

A doctorate in organizational leadership online program will equip leaders in nonprofit administration, postsecondary education, and private business to reach their potential.

Most doctorate programs in organizational leadership have a higher standard for acceptance. Most programs will require that you hold a master of arts degree first before admission. Some Ph.D. programs will combine courses for a Ph.D. and master’s degree, which can accommodate high-achieving professionals who only hold a bachelor’s degree.

Common Courses in an Online Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership Program

Organizational Design: This course explores the competitive and dysfunctional aspects of leadership, procedure, workflow, and structures in systems that encourage strategic advantages for effective and innovative organizations. Prospective students can examine divisional, functional, and matrix organizations to instill creative advantages across varying organizational settings.

Educational Law and Finance: Prospective students in this online Ph.D. in organizational leadership course will focus on existing issues with postsecondary, secondary, and primary learning institutions. This will also teach students how to properly forecast financial projections, assess the financial standing of an organization, or negotiate innovative and effective financial solutions.

Strategic Management of Nonprofit Organizations: This course focuses on nonprofit organizations and ways to integrate strategic practices and oversee valuable organizational resources to remain on track with the success and progress of a specific organization. Students will study the different techniques used to improve the longevity, sustainability, and efficiency of nonprofit organizations.

Collaborative Leadership and Partnership: Degree seekers enrolled in this course will develop a deeper understanding of the theory behind partnerships, and the various management techniques used in collaborative relationships across different organizational settings. You will also learn more about organizational stewardship.

Leadership Theory and Practice: This course focuses on the many leadership theories across workplace settings and organizations. It helps students understand the major factors of leadership theories so they can easily evaluate and analyze leadership practices. They will also learn more about the many types of leadership practices and what makes one an efficient leader in different settings.

Top Jobs with the Online Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership

School Administration: When you have a career in school administration, you will embrace your leadership skills completely. Why? Because aside from overseeing how your school/school district is performing, you will also work with the management, decision-making, operations, and efficiencies of the organization.

Some of the jobs you can find in this field include working as a deputy director, development manager, business intelligence analyst, instructor, and services administrator.

Human Resources: The leadership skills you gain in your online Ph.D. organizational leadership program will come in handy especially when you decide to pursue your career as a human resource manager. In this job, you will do the planning, coordinating, and directing of an organization’s functions, big and small.

Jobs in this field include:

subject matter expert
human resources manager
adjust instructor
applications engineer
associate professor
human resource analyst

Diversity Management: As a diversity manager, leadership skills are of paramount importance. It is their responsibility to ensure diversity is promoted and employed within the company. Some potential jobs include diversity and inclusion manager, outreach and community development manager, inclusion and diversity program specialist, and diversity manager for inclusion initiatives.

Non-Profit Administration: Leadership skills play a crucial role for non-profit administrators because they of the necessity of wearing many different hats such as management, fundraising, communications, planning leadership, strategizing, marketing, problem-solving, and anything that comes across your desk.

Jobs in the field include working as a:

test administrator
social media manager
student advisor
systems administrator
grants administrator
education programs administrator

Frequently Asked Questions About Organizational Leadership Degrees

Working professionals who aspire to research principles of leadership or teach at the advanced degree level can pursue their doctorate in organizational leadership. Whether students aim to work in academia, business, or government, all sectors need highly qualified individuals to improve organizational operations and strategic execution.

Students can choose from a number of organizational leadership programs based on individual needs, including programs that offer a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), or a Doctor of Business Administration. Whether online or on campus, students will study psychological theories of leadership and motivation, human diversity and ethics, and organizational transformation.

Most programs require 45 to 60 credits, which can take between four and five years to complete.

After graduating, students can seek careers as professors, research leaders, and government consultants.

Learn more about what you can do with a master’s degree in business administration (MBA).

How do we determine the best online organizational leadership doctoral degree programs?

Methodology

Pursuing your degree online doesn’t mean you need to settle for an inferior school. Today, most universities and colleges offer online degrees, and many respected schools are seeing significant growth in their numbers of online students.

The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great. This is why influence — i.e., the academic impact of faculty and alumni associated with a school — gets at the heart of what is truly best in education. The combined influence score of a college or university’s top academic influencers is the best indicator of academic excellence. For our online degree rankings, we focus on the academic influence of faculty and alumni in the specific disciplines we’re ranking.

If you are serious about finding the best online colleges, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching, and whether their graduates themselves are advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence. Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Influence, as measured by our InfluenceRanking engine, provides a ranking that is free from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.

Online Degree Frequently Asked Questions

If this is your first time taking an online course, the experience may require some adjustment. While you’ll generally learn the same content and take the same exams as your on-campus peers, the medium will likely require you to manage much of this experience independently. You’ll be accountable for your own time management, your ability to harness the technology at your fingertips, and your ability to focus on the lectures, lessons, and assignments at hand. This means you’ll need to create a suitable workspace for yourself, maintain a realistic schedule, and take it upon yourself to build relationships with your instructors and classmates. With online college, your goal is to find a balance between independence and engagement.

No. The only part of online education that’s easier is actually getting there. Taking the commute out of the equation means getting to class should be a lot more manageable. But that’s where it ends. In general, your online courses will incorporate the very same materials, concepts, and testing methods as would a traditional classroom.

And in many cases, you’ll even have the same instructors as your on-campus counterparts. In fact, if you are adjusting to the experience of independent learning or working with remote learning technology for the first time, online college may even be a little more challenging for you. For a few insights on how to manage this new experience, check out our 10 Tips for Adjusting to School Online.

Accreditation is especially important when it comes to online college. This is because the online education landscape is a mix of highly-reputable institutions and less-than-reputable for-profit schools. Accreditation gives you the power to differentiate between the two. Accreditation is a stamp of approval from an independent accrediting agency which indicates that a college or university is meeting standards of quality, credibility, and currency. School-wide accreditation falls into two major categories: regional and national accreditation. Regional accreditors generally hold jurisdiction only over schools in the states comprising their region, whereas national accreditors hold jurisdiction over schools in all states. Regional accreditation is widely regarded as a more rigorous standard of quality and credibility than national accreditation.

Attending a college or university which is not regionally accredited could limit your opportunities. When seeking an online education, we strongly recommend that students opt for regionally accredited schools. Regional accreditation ensures eligibility for federal loans and grants, ensures your college credits can be transferred between schools, and ensures that your degree credits can be accepted if you wish to earn an advanced degree.

As long as your online college degree is regionally accredited, you should have little difficulty transferring most of your credits or credentials to another regionally accredited undergraduate school. Every school carries its own standards and procedures for granting a transfer. In many cases, you will be required to navigate a bureaucracy in which some of your credits will be transferred and others will be jettisoned. However, provided that you have attended an online school with the proper regional accreditation, you should have plenty of options for transfer.

In most cases, as long you graduate from a well-regarded, regionally-accredited online college, prospective employers won’t look sideways at your degree. In fact, unless you attend an exclusively online college or university, there will likely be no specific indicator on your degree, transcript or resume differentiating your school from its brick-and-mortar counterpart. This means that your employer will likely only differentiate between an online and in-person degree if you mention this distinction.

While some employers may express concern about making the adjustment from online education to in-person workplace collaboration, many other employers will view your online degree as evidence of valuable 21st Century professional skills such as independence, self-motivation, time management, and tech savvy.

If you are a student who thrives on the dynamic energy of in-person discussion, who requires the physical surroundings of a classroom to feel engaged, or who considers the social aspects of education to be of equal importance to the actual content of your courses, online education will require some adjustment.

While there is much that can be supplanted or simulated through the online medium, some students may find that there is nothing which can replace the conversation, collaboration, and motivation that occur in an actual classroom setting. As you make the adjustment to online education, one of the biggest challenges you will likely face is overcoming this difference in order to the get the most out of your classes. Fortunately, we’ve got some great Tips for Online Education Beginners.

The advantages of online classes are many. First and foremost, online courses give you the freedom and flexibility to attend class from anywhere that works for you, whether you’re at home, in a coffee shop, or in a quiet conference room at work. In many cases, you’ll also enjoy the convenience of asynchronous learning opportunities-educational experiences that you can complete on your own schedule. This may include pre-taped lectures, ongoing chat-board discussions, and 24/7 access to digital materials. And of course, just as there are some learners who prefer the energy of a live classroom, there are those who learn best when working in their own personal space, free from distractions. If this sounds like you, you might find the solitude of online learning to be a major advantage.

Whether you’re just getting started on your college search, you’re looking for survival tips on your way to a bachelor’s degree, or you’re preparing for the transition into grad school, we’ve got guides, how to’s and tons of other valuable resources to keep you moving forward in your educational journey.

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Best Online Doctorate in Organizational Leadership Degree Programs 2025

Key Takeaways

Top 10 Online Organizational Leadership Doctorate Degrees in 2025

2025 Ranking Update

Featured Programs

Best Online Doctorate in Organizational Leadership Degree Programs

Last Year’s Ranking:

Career Outlook for Organizational Leadership degree at University of Southern California

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Organizational Leadership degree at Baylor University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Organizational Leadership degree at Liberty University

Online Degrees

Concentrations

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Career Outlook for Organizational Leadership degree at Nova Southeastern University

Online Degrees

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Career Outlook for Organizational Leadership degree at Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Online Degrees

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Career Outlook for Organizational Leadership degree at National University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Organizational Leadership degree at Keiser University

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Career Outlook for Organizational Leadership degree at California Baptist University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Organizational Leadership degree at A.T. Still University

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Career Outlook for Organizational Leadership degree at Wilmington University

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Career Outlook for Organizational Leadership degree at Chaminade University of Honolulu

Online Degrees

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Organizational Leadership degree at Cornerstone University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Organizational Leadership degree at Concordia University Ann Arbor

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Career Outlook for Organizational Leadership degree at Columbia International University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Organizational Leadership degree at Johnson University

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Career Outlook for Organizational Leadership degree at Southeastern University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for Students with Organizational Leadership Degree

Organizational Leadership

Degree Level: Doctorate

Career Salaries

Top Industries

Doctor of Organizational Leadership: What The Graduate Program is All About

Common Courses in an Online Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership Program

Top Jobs with the Online Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership

Frequently Asked Questions About Organizational Leadership Degrees

Why get a doctorate in organizational leadership?

What programs are there?

How long does it take to get a doctorate in organizational leadership?

What can you do with a doctorate in organizational leadership?

Online Degree Frequently Asked Questions

What can I expect from an online college course?+

Is online college easier?+

Why does accreditation matter in online college?+

Will I be able to transfer my online college degree?+

Will employers respect my online degree?+

What are the disadvantages of online classes?+

What are the advantages of online classes?+

Resources for Prospective Grad Students