Using Design Thinking to improve Strategic Decisions KEYWORDS: design thinking, cognitive bias, confirmation bias, strategic decision making
Field of research Human cognitive limitations affect strategic decision-making. One of such effects is emergence of cognitive biases, deviations from rationality in judgment (Gilboa, 2011). These biases can negatively influence an organisation's capability to capture and utilize new ideas, thus inhibiting innovation. They include focusing illusion, confirmation bias, and endowment effect that appear when decision makers use their initial beliefs or hypotheses in making decisions (Das, 1999). Researchers have documented different strategies for mitigating cognitive biases – and many of them overlap with the ones emphasised in design thinking (Liedtka, 2014).
Name / Surname
Research gap
Ekaterina Kotina
Research so far does not offer any specific “recipes” for cognitive biases mitigation, and investigation of how design-thinking methods influence the biases mitigation process will help to contribute to this field of study.
Research aim and questions
Research field/area
Design cognition research: design thinking, strategic decision-making
Methodology
Supervisor
Prof. Mikko Koria Dr. Sharon Prendeville
yr1
The aim of this research is to study the impact of design-thinking methods on the effectiveness of strategic decision-making in innovative companies working on commercialization of high-technology R&D projects via IP registration and exploitation. The main research question is as follows: can focusing illusion, confirmation bias and endowment effect biases be identified, categorized and mitigated with the help of design thinking in the collaborative sensemaking stage of strategic decision-making?
yr2
yr3
The case study method will be utilized for investigation of: 1) how the biases manifest themselves in the sensemaking stage of strategic decision-making process, and 2) is there any evidence that these biases can be mitigated by design-thinking methods. There will be 4 cases evaluated: • Case 1: Research Institute in London that provides high-tech engineering services and participates in different privately and publicly funded research projects. The organisation is now interested in commercialising its IP. • Case 2: Biotechnology SME from Russia that works with industrial plant biotechnology and is interested in commercialisation of existing IP and finding partners for establishment and commercialisation of new R&D projects. • There is also the opportunity to obtain some quantitative data from surveys about strategic decision-making and use of design-thinking tools in a large array of start-up companies.
Research process The research process will be divided into 5 respective parts: literature review (2017), case evaluations (20172018), conceptual framework (2019).
Bibliography Das, T.K., Teng, Bing-Sheng (1999). Cognitive Biases and Strategic Decision Processes: An Integrative Perspective. Journal of Management Studies, 36(6), 757–778. Gilboa, I. (2011). Making Better Decisions – Decision Theory in Practice. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc. Liedtka, J. (2014). Perspective: Linking Design Thinking with Innovation Outcomes through Cognitive Bias Reduction. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 32(6), 925–938.