Suggesting the MBA lacks value is somewhat analogous to suggesting a CPA lacks value to an accountant. In some cases the materials learned in an MBA program will barely extend beyond the student's existing knowledge. In other cases, especially for new entries to the business world, the MBA program will help the employee have a broader understanding of the organization as a whole.
The MBA provides a minimum complementary benefit of competitive advantage for position selection and retention. As the number of bachelor's degrees increase in the business marketplace, the MBA degree provides a "weeding" factor that will make a prospective employee more competitive and will make an existing employee paper-qualified to meet the specifications for holding a position.
Respectively, the overall value of an MBA degree lies more in the student's desire to learn and apply new knowledge. Many newer MBA students tend to pursue the title and not the knowledge. Regretfully, these students will fuss about unnecessary classes (classes that challenge the student's ability to think beyond their capabilities) and will reflect the student's lack of learning as an inability to put the displaced knowledge into action. The dedicated MBA will often extract new knowledge from any class and will be able to tweak that knowledge into productive actions.
Relative to an IT-dominant MBA. I chose an MSIS years ago and found that the more focused the degree the more funnelled the perceived value of the prospective employee by the HR department. My MSIS restricted the views of HR personnel to place my abilities in pure IT jobs with no consideration for my other assets. Thus, if IT is your defined place in life then an IT-based MBA should benefit your potential to be hired into a controlling component of the IT field. However, if your desire is to pursue other areas of an organization, a focused MBA could be restricting.
If a person wants to be viewed as more diverse in their perceived capabilities, I believe a more general MBA would be a better starting degree. The more specific discipline area could be pursued later to complement the general MBA degree and to provide the additional paper title and knowledge desired for a mangerial-based IT position. Of course, timing, age, discipline interests, and economics must also be considered in the choice to pursue two graduate level degrees. Also, talking with adminsitrators of the graduate programs to ascertain the potential for acquiring two degrees without pursuing two full sets of degree hours should also be accomplished before consdiering a general MBA complemented with a focused master's degree.
