Design as Management approach

Design as Management approach

Design as Management approach Juliana Bach. MA Candidate. Integrated Design Master Program Kรถln International School of Design. Cologne, 2012

This is a proposal for a field research phase of my Master thesis study, whose general objective is to propose a model of design adoption as administrative approach. Therefore, I will investigate cultural and inter-relational factors that influences the adoption and maintenance of design as an approach to business management.

Thus, I would like to visit your company and conduct some interviews concerning the Design as process and organization structure. This may need 3 to 5 meetings on several days. All informations of course will be held confidentially and used only for scientific purposes of my Master thesis.

As advantages, this research study can benefit your company with a thorough, qualitative, focused, and impartial study, specifically about its context. Besides it contribute to Design scientific development.

Identify successes and problems in design as process adoption will contribute to the development and dissemination of an administrative culture more suited to innovative activity, more focused on humanity and with more benefits for companies that dominate it.

Research proposal

Design as management approach

This field investigation aims to confront the theories studied in an extensive literature review – on matters of design thinking, design management and management by design – with its practical application in the context of organizations.

Innovation has figured in major business publications as a decisive factor in the search for competitiveness between companies, products and services. In this context, the design stands out among the main processes responsible for innovation, especially when considering innovation in assigning values and ​​ meanings.

Through Design Management, Research & Development and Brand Management, design achieved strategic status in business management. Another discourse that turns prominent in recent years is that of Design Thinking. The use of design approach for complex problems solution is an example of its usage in contexts where the results are intangible, ie, when there will be no physical evidence or industrial product at the process end, like in services planning.

Accordingly, for the internalization of the innovation process as

organizational culture is proposed as a key strategy the adoption of the design modus operandi in organization´s everyday life, promoting a shift from decision-based management (analytical) for a design based one (abductive).

In this context, the performance of multi-disciplinary teams is of particular interest, especially those in which the designers act as mediators, facilitators and in leadership roles. These cases illustrate the demand for designers to occupy broader and more dynamic roles in organizations.

These changes in organizational structures; which sometimes require new professional profiles sometimes have to adapt to new profiles and new ways of thinking, also generates changes in the academy, which finds itself compelled to offer more general and trans-disciplinary training to future professionals.

Research Project

Object of study

The overall objective of this research is to propose a model for adoption of design as management approach, investigating inter-relational and cultural factors that influence - pushing or opposing - the adoption and maintenance of design as an approach to business management.

As the object of study were selected companies providing consulting services relating to innovation in products, processes or research - that have design as methodological approach.

This project also aims to bring reflections on the relationship among design and other professional activities; and approximate design practice to business core, operating significant exchanges among professionals of design, management, marketing, among others.

The Field Study stage objectives are: Objective 1: Identify the dynamics of cultural and inter-relational issues that influence the relationship between design activities and management.

Objective 2: To identify design thinking adoption or non- adoption, deliberate or not deliberate, in business management.

Objective 3: Identify potential opportunities and obstacles in adopting design thinking approach to management.

Besides, the chosen companies are those which hold design graduated professionals in leading roles, mediating projects and administering resources, both in tactical and strategic spheres of the organizations, crossing the very borders of operational design scope.

Research’s characterization The research should follow a qualitative approach, interpretive and non-experimental, since the main objective is the investigation of the dynamic factors that influence the relations - approach, removal, overlay - of design and management activities .

It is sought to emphasize the description and interpretation of social and professionals meanings unveiled, assigned to the interaction between the previously mentioned professional activities.

Therefore, data attainment must be descriptive, by direct and interative contact of the researcher and the situation object of study.

Research techniques

Schedule

Participant Research: studying the company in loco.

The research schedule will depend very much on the companies aperture to the investigatin. The aim is to get allowance to observe and interview employees, and limited time to interview CEO’s and senior managers.

The research will be conducted following the case study method, which procedures will be semistructured interviews, focus group and observation. Such research provides openness to new discoveries, emphasizes the totality of the situation and requires simple procedures, conforming to this project proposal.

The semi-structured interviews consist of open conversations with the professionals involved in innovation process, not strictly follow a script, but with some key issues to be addressed. In addition, it is proposed to carry out one or more focus group sessions, bringing together some participants to discuss topics proposed by the researcher.

Is estimated to take three up to five days of research in your company, among the month of August 2012.

Benefits to participating organizations The general purpose of this research is to identify how design thinking can bring benefits to business management. Assuming that the studied company uses design thinking in their daily operations, field research seeks to identify what is and what is not working in this process. So the company can benefit from a thorough, qualitative, directed and impartial study, specifically about its context.

After the data analysis phase, recommendations will be proposed to overcome the obstacles, to improve management efficiency in general and for companies to become more easily focused on design, also at the administrative level.

Besides these, is possible to enumerate other advantages that make it attractive for organizations to collaborate with an academic research:

- Get closer to academic institutions: universities and academic research centers generate knowledge.

Partnerships between business and universities to facilitate this knowledge to be shared between the parties.

The company relies on the investigative and creative environment of the academy and the academy draws on the experiences in the real practical environment.

In general, this bilateral process is advantageous since the company contributes to the academic research with real data and is supplied with theory, new concepts and ideas aiming to contributing to social development. In the case of this project, the company benefits directly from the research results, being able to apply the knowledge generated immediately, improving its practices and approaches.

- Submit the company to the observation of outsider, whose aim is to improve the business model, the company can provide valuable insights for their own evolution. Brings to light observations of an impartial spectator with a fresh perception, distance normally lacking in the professionals involved in the daily processes.

Design as a creative process expands its borders Managing by design appears as an alternative administrative approach to the analytical classic model . This new approach to management is centered on humanity, considering social, environmental, economic and cultural factors.

Identify successes and problems in its adoption will contribute to the development and dissemination of an administrative culture more suited to innovative activity, more focused on humanity and with more benefits for companies that dominate it.

Thank you!

Juliana Bach juliana@kisd.de +49 17632951821