Cornell University is offering an innovative new program that will allow geeky coders to become suave business leaders,

Next spring, the university’s Johnson Graduate School of Management will launch a one-year M.B.A. designed to give engineers and software developers a grounding in management skills. The combination is crucial, employers say, as information technology shifts from a back-office function to a core business strategy.

While the school is investing only a “modest” amount in the venture, officials say, the program, part of Cornell’s New York City tech campus, is reimagining the M.B.A., dropping monthslong lecture courses in favor of learning by doing.

Cornell went directly to startups and tech companies such as LinkedIn Corp. and Deloitte Services LP for advice on what to teach. Faculty and staff asked employers about the skills they are struggling to find, and how a person might go about acquiring those skills, says Doug Stayman, associate dean for M.B.A. programs at Johnson. As a result, the proposed curriculum—expected to be approved next month—will include courses on software development, and leadership instruction will have a special focus on persuasion.

Unlike a traditional M.B.A., where courses last a semester, faculty will teach subjects such as design thinking and digital marketing in short bursts. Those will be followed by hands-on work exploring a startup project or pitching in on a company-sponsored assignment. Business students will work alongside engineering and computer-science students to prepare them for the group dynamic of life in technology.

Cornell already has graduate-degree programs in engineering and computer science under way at its temporary quarters in Google’s Manhattan office building. The campus, which will have a permanent home on Roosevelt Island, is part of a city-backed effort to cement New York as a tech hub.

The M.B.A. students will spend the first part of the year on Cornell’s main campus in Ithaca, N.Y., taking summer courses in accounting, strategy and finance, with the rest in Manhattan. In January, they will spend a few weeks in Israel pursuing a hands-on project and learning about the regional tech industry.