The department of management at Iowa State University has proposed a change to the major.

That change includes splitting management into two separate tracks: managerial leadership and entrepreneurship. The change would allow students to choose a track that would focus more closely on their interests and professional goals than a general management degree.

This change is a result of merged research on leadership and organizational behaviors. The proposed restructuring will go through the College of Business and university curriculum committees.

Russell Laczniak, professor and chair of marketing, said that in the past two years, there has been a large influx of students pursuing a management degree.

“We have been motivated by trying to think about ways in which we can add to the value of education of people at Iowa State,” Laczniak said.

The decision to revamp the opportunities available to management students was made at a departmental retreat last fall. The faculty hopes to have the change in effect by either the fall or spring of the 2014-15 school year.

“Students can start taking courses in these areas and start structuring their major so that when these changes become official, they can just slide in,” Laczniak said.

Howard Vanauken, professor of management, has been instrumental in the design of the proposed entrepreneurial track, said Laczniak. Vanauken said that this track will give students the skills, opportunities and perspectives to consider entrepreneurship.

Vanauken also said that much of the current education is focused on students becoming employees, while this track will prepare them to be employers.

“It’s a different set of skills and to a large extent, the attributes of entrepreneurship are embedded in the ‘American dream,’” Vanauken said.

He said that these attributes include being in charge of your own life, being independent and having the ability to take risks and be rewarded.

“Americans historically tend to be a very independent people, and entrepreneurship embraces all of those attributes,” Vanauken said.

Scott Thellman, senior in agricultural business, is one such entrepreneur. He is a first-generation farmer who started Juniper Hill Farms with a couple thousand dollars that he had in high school.

As a student, he now manages five acres of certified organic vegetables and about 900 acres of hay and alfalfa on a farm that is 270 miles away in Lawrence, Kan. Juniper Hills manages two full-time employees and seasonal help.

He saw a demand, had an interest in farming and decided to pursue it.

“There was a lack of a ‘hay guy’ in the area,” Thellman said.

He said the venture started as a summer job and has evolved into a thriving business that has doubled in size every year for the past four years.

“I wasn’t a result of entrepreneurial education,” he said. “I just did it.”

Thellman hopes that the entrepreneurship track of the management major will include real-life experiences with teachers that have started businesses.

“Entrepreneurship isn’t really by a book,” Thellman said.

James Summers, assistant professor of management, has been working on developing that leadership track.

In his communication with recruiters, he said they have talked about a lack of soft skills. These are the interpersonal skills that are important in business, such as teamwork, communication, negotiation and cooperation. The leadership track will focus on these types of skills.

The management department sees management as an ideal second major to complement a primary field of study.

“Usually people are hired as managers of something,” Laczniak said. “They’re usually not hired just as manager.”

Laczniak said that this track system will give an opportunity for students to match their skills with the skills that they need to progress within an organization or to start their own.

New faculty will accompany these changes. Patrick Kreiser, a professor at Ohio University, will start as an associate professor of management at Iowa State in fall 2014.

“His skills in entrepreneurship can really help us,” Laczniak said.

Jake Holwerda, who is finishing his doctorate at Cornell, has also been hired for fall 2014. A third faculty member will be hired, but has not been decided upon yet.

“We are confident that it’s going to work well,” Laczniak said. “We’re confident that students will be excited about it.”