Rutgers University has a rich body of courses that are fundamental to leadership instruction. These courses typically serve only the departments in which they were instituted. The minor gathers those courses into a curriculum that provides the expertise that students need to successfully assume a leading role in an organization. Coupled with practical experiences, these courses embrace a set of theoretical principles without which the practice of leadership becomes mere show.
Unifying the theoretical and practical elements of organizational dynamics, the minor ensures that the students' academic background contains a component that potential employers can recognize as immediately valuable to their organizations. As such, the program complements the instruction offered in Rutgers' professional schools and offers important curricular options to students seeking degrees in Arts and Sciences.
By design, this program is academically rigorous and demanding. In turn, it offers functional flexibility. Students who minor in Organizational Leadership may pursue any major field of study. Moreover, the program prepares students to make important contributions in organizational leadership both in the private and public sectors, in corporate, legal, not for profit, community, or governmental organizations.
For its theoretical segments, the minor draws from the specialization of the School of Arts and Sciences, and from departments in the Rutgers Business School and the School of Communication, Information, and Library Studies. For its practical components, the minor utilizes the expertise of Rutgers Career Services and the existing systematization of Rutgers student organizations.
Every aspect of the minor concentrates on cultivating and enhancing capabilities that are indispensable to good leadership in any organizational setting. The theory courses, for example, cultivate the following capacities:
- formulating an ethically responsible vision that promotes organizational excellence,
- understanding change: how it occurs, when it is needed, and how it affects a group, and
- persuading individuals and groups to work toward a common goal.
The courses designated for the theoretical component provide ample opportunity for students to attain and perfect these three basic leadership capacities within a coherent plan that incorporates both the knowledge acquired through diverse majors and the breadth attained through the requirements of the college. Many of the course options for the theoretical component of the minor fulfill general education requirements and count for departmental credit. Because it regroups already existing courses, the program maximizes the benefits of those courses.
In order to ensure the coherence of the program, the theoretical courses will be supplemented by a series of extra curricular programs. The central aim of these events is to give students the opportunity to meet with their cohorts and to apply their knowledge of organizational leadership. The extracurricular component also ensures that the students remain active, collaborative learners. In this respect, the very pursuit of leadership expertise enhances the students' entire education.