Design Thinking as Knowledge Work

Transcription

1 Design Thinking as Knowledge Work EPISTEMOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS AND PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS Anna Rylander 8 October 2009

2 WELCOME TO THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY! Knowledge as the holy grail in management studies during 90ʼs and 00ʼs (knowledge as source of competitive advantage, knowledge work, knowledge management, knowledge-intensive firms) Goal of the 2000 Lisbon agenda is to make the EU the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010.

3 EPISTEMOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES IN MANAGEMENT STUDIES The influential heritage of Taylorʼs Scientific Principles of Management (1911); management as engineering in epistemology in general, the kind of knowledge usually discussed is propositional knowledge, also known as "knowledge-that" as opposed to "knowledge-how." (Wikipedia)

4 KNOWLEDGE WORK AND KNOWLEDGE- INTENSIVE FIRMS Knowledge-intensive firms create value by solving clientsʼ problems through the direct application of knowledge (Sheehan 2005) Dependence on highly qualified people to solve problems in a creative way Design firms excluded because of construction of knowledge

5 KNOWLEDGE-INTENSIVE FIRMS AND CONSTRUCTIONS OF KNOWLEDGE KIFs are first of all firms which make intensive use of and/or generate knowledge in the discursive mode (Schreyögg an Geiger 2007) analytic, intellectual and theory-guided activtites /.../ practical skills, the ability to use the body and creative talents crucial in arts, crafts and sports for example are not necessarily best understood in terms of knowledge (Alvesson 2004)

6 DESIGN THINKING AND DESIGN FIRMS Less obsessed with the notion of knowledge closer to discourses on innovation Design Thinking implies approaching managerial problems as designers approach design problems (Dunne and Martin 2006) Focus on the nature of problems rather than organizational challenges

7 DESIGN THINKING AND CONSTRUCTIONS OF KNOWLEDGE Design attitude where designers relish the lack of predetermined outcomes (Boland and Collopy 2004) Integrative and emphatic designers are knowledge brokers Designers think with their hands and have conversations with drawings Predominantly visual and embodied Practice-based learning predominant in design schools

8 CONSTRUCTIONS OF KNOWLEDGE WORK AND DESIGN THINKING WITHIN THE LITERATURE Dominant constructions of Knowledge Knowledge Work Intellectual (embrained), theory-guided Design Thinking Practical (embodied), reflection-in-action Problem Tame/Science Wicked/open-ended Identity (social) Celebrating rationality (counteracting ambiguity) Celebrating creativity (embracing ambiguity) Dominant sensemaking modes Verbal (interactions with people) Visual (interactions with physical objects as well as people)

9 PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: KIFs and design firms face the same fundamental challenge: Solving complex problems creatively under uncertain and ambiguous conditions Different constructions of knowledge entails: Limited resources for sensemaking and problem-solving Constraining identities Communication issues Consequences for practitioners? Opportunities for cross-fertilization?

10 A SHIFT TOWARDS DESIGN KNOWLEDGE IN MANAGEMENT? From Knowledge Economy to Innovation Economy? Innovation as user-driven, open and introduces services New trends in management studies addressing increasingly complex, abstract, diverse and rapidly changing environments, e.g.: From value chains to value networks or ecosystems, process-based view of organizations, agile methodologies, aesthetics, embodied turn, practice turn (e.g. strategy-as-practice) From Design Science to Design Thinking

11 OPPORTUNITIES FOR RESEARCH Design Thinking as bridging concept What is, really, that is so special about design? What are the new or different infrastructures? What can management learn from Design? Insights from organization studies Insights from KIF literature to build upon? Organizational (social) identity, organizational learning and knowledge transfer (i.e. organization of knowledge work)