Design Thinking as a Strategic Tool in Business - Case Study Example

Design Thinking as a Strategic Tool in Business Student’s Name: Institutional Affiliation: Instructor’s Name: Course: Date: Definition of design thinking According to LOCKWOOD (2009), design thinking is a methodology for modernization that combines both logical and imaginative approaches and calls for collaboration within an organization. On the other hand (MARTIN 2009), described design thinking as a discipline that approach sensitive business activities within an organization with modern design knowledge to match the needs of the people what emerging technology and what an organization can produce to concert into customer value and presenting opportunities over a given period of time. In other words, design thinking is a problem solving technique due to changes in technology and attitude of the customers in an organization. Introduction Big companies throughout the world such as Toyota, coca-cola, Nike, Google and Chevrolet just to mention a few are seeking competitive advantage through design and innovation. Some developing countries such as china and Korea are currently investing in education systems that emphasize innovation, most of them investing in design schools (BROWN & KATZ, 2009). Challenges for design leaders This segment of the essay focus on the challenges that design managers in various organizations and leaders will need to go through in future. It is essential to know about the future in that today’s designers, design leaders and design managers are involved in the process of developing the future of the organization. There are some main challenges faced by organizations that include: perspective from around the world; collaborative design a way to make it all works; innovation thinking and relationship design and design transformation the mismatch between design pushers and pullers. Perspectives globally Design management is a little older as a profession than design leadership. However, both of them need to learn from each other and in the environment in which they operate. Research indicates that the usefulness of the design in future will always determine the difference between success and future. According to LOCKWOOD (2009), design leaders must look for ways of bringing teams working together to develop integration and synergy between design and business to achieve customer relevance. The designers success have nor always been led by designers in an organization (BROWN & KATZ, 2009). Design management within a given organization can be irrelevant without design leadership, business without design leadership and vision will always die (GIUDICE & IRELAND, 2014). It has been also found that design leaders must demonstrate that design creates a positive return on investment, measured in terms to which the business relates. Design as a business strategy needs personal responsibility on all board directors for the quality of their products, services, process and facilities. Design is a spine that supports industry, innovation and social wellbeing. It is therefore a high time for the governments to acknowledge design education strategy as a vital toll to the future of the global economy (LIEDTKA & OGILVIE, 2011). Each of the above perspectives from various researchers represents a powerful insight into the world of design leadership. Because of technological changes around the world, these perspectives give us more clues as to how design must change so that it conforms to the needs of those who want to use it. For a clear understanding of the long term effectiveness of design in business and society, this essay aims at shading more light on how this can be achieved (GIUDICE & IRELAND, 2014). Design should be transformed to meet the demand of the people around the world as a way of maintaining difference and uncovering hidden customers. Body In the current world, marketing organizations should do more than appeal to an undifferentiated mass market. As a matter of fact, organizations must develop tactics on how to deliver services and good to specific customers. In order to give specific customers what they need, the organizations have to discover how those individuals live (CAMERON & SPREITZER, 2012). The behavior of the customers is controlled by some surrounding factors within the context such as culture, politics, physical and situational surroundings, language, character and history. The product usage and circumstances in which they are required is what determines the demand of the products within which aspirations are conceived (MARTIN & CHRISTENSEN, 2013). Ethnographic market research provides the designer an opportunity to know how his/her products or services are being used and how the products benefit the society (CERASALE & STONE, 2004). The observers who act on behave of the designer at the ground level must seek to understand the reason as to why the consumers act the way they act, and how the consumers make sense of what they do for themselves and for the others. Due to globalization and technology, some information is collected from the social media such as twitter and Face-book to know what the customers like and mark the demands that if not met, may jeopardize the success of design (BROWN & KATZ, 2009). Culture is communication through stories such as those told by the parents ton their children on how to be self discipline. People experience many things in life and during their leisure time, they organize them into stories. In the world, almost all the communities have shared culture passed from one generation to the next through stories that explain how the world operates, and hence give explanations on why people behave the way they behave (CAMERON & SPREITZER, 2012). The observation team giving information the designers have to elicit such stories. Deciding for example, what type of product one will purchase to feed an infant depends upon culturally based norms and values about how infants should be fed at a specific age and the time expected to change the food. Design thinking as a strategy touches most of the activities we all understand but that are overlooked by more conservative problem-solving practices. Design affects human lives in various ways in that some of the products like clothing directly affect human life (LOCKWOOD, 2009). Design thinking relies on our capability to be instinctive, to recognize patterns, to develop ideas that have emotional meaning as well as functionality expressing ourselves practically rather than using symbols. There is no organization that would like to run a business based on feeling, inspiration and intuition. However, overreliance on the rational and the analytical can be also very dangerous (BROWN & KATZ, 2009). As a business concept, design strategy is therefore a set of principles that can be applied by diverse people to various problems. Currently, most of the progressing companies globally do not enlist designers to make an already developed idea more attractive but they encourage designers to develop ideas at the outset of the development process. In the past, companies used to reflect on the existing innovations to improve them to the next step (MOOTEE, 2013). Currently, design has been taken as a strategy by using game changing tactic whereby the products and services are developed from a unique point of view. A competent designer is the one who improves on existing products, but an interdisciplinary team of skilled design thinkers are the ones who have an ability of tackling more complex problems (BROWN & KATZ, 2009). Design strategy has been changed due to globalization from industrial manufacturing to knowledge creation and service delivery because it acts as a center of economic activity. Innovation and design thinking has therefore no longer a tool of introduction of new physical products but include services, entertainment forms and interactions as survival strategy. Designing in 21st century has become very important to be left to designers only due to natural evolution from design doing to design thinking that drives the business in various ways and at various capacities (LIEDTKA & BENNETT, 2013). Design thinking is basically an exploratory practice and hence the journey is nonlinear iterative. When the process is done in the right manner, the results will be positive making unexpected discoveries along the way. Finding where design thinking leads are very essential for any organization that wants to proceed. The ongoing process in the organization for example in a school can be integrated with the discoveries from design thinking without disruption (BROWN & KATZ, 2009). Organizations normally undergoes any meaningful upgrade from design thinking and this does not mean they have to undergo system reset in that the main aim of design thinking is to be used as a strategy to boost what exists. A good team of self thinkers in an organization should be prototype from day one and self correcting along the way in order to make the strategy to be realistic within the expected time frame (CERASALE & STONE, 2004). Organizations that face design thinking strategy for the first time will always feel chaotic because it is an open ended, iterative and open mind process. The project implemented trough design thinking strategy makes sense after sometimes thus achieving results that are different from the tradition of the organization. Due to this reason, the company must educate all the members on the changes that might come with the design thinking (CAMERON & SPREITZER, 2012). It is always advisable to take experimental approach in that this will result in collective ownership of the strategy hence, enable the team to learn together. The overlapping space of innovation in an organization brought about by design thinking can be solved by setting boundaries. The good mark of a designer is the willingness to embrace constraints that come along new innovations from design thinking as a strategy. As a matter of fact, without constraints design cannot take place. The foundation of design thinking is the willingness and enthusiastic acceptance of the competing constrains along the way. There are various types of constraints that a team of design thinkers can go through during innovation implementation hence, the primary stage of design process is to discover important constraints and establish a framework for evaluating them (BROWN & KATZ, 2009). What makes sense to the customers in an organization must be given priority as well as what is going to be part of sustainable business model within an organization. A good designer will always harmonize all the constraints to avoid conflict of interest. Human factors and technology are very essential things in the current world to address when developing good design thinking. Conclusion In conclusion, the concept of design thinking as strategic tool in business is very essential concept that can make a business of any organization to flourish in the current world. The impact of design thinking in the world today is that no organization is working without design thinking. The design thinkers in organizations are learning to navigate between and among them in a creative way. The main role of the design thinkers in business is to carry the idea from concept to reality. Design thinking has beginning, middle, and an end. The culture of the people living in a specific society and trust is prioritized by the design thinkers to ensure they produce what the customers want. Technology has made design thinking to be a priority in every organization because of globalization. A high creative energy should therefore have limits, clarity and direction for design thinking to meet its goals. References BROWN, T., & KATZ, B. (2009). Change by design: how design thinking can transform organizations and inspire innovation. New York, NY, HarperCollins Publishers. https://www.overdrive.com/search?q=1E4441D9-FC50-48D7-B4B3-7A63E0A1A7F1. CAMERON, K. S., & SPREITZER, G. M. (2012). The Oxford handbook of positive organizational scholarship. New York, Oxford University Press. CERASALE, M. V., & STONE, M. (2004). Business solutions on demand: transform the business to deliver real customer value. London, Kogan Page. http://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=7869. GIUDICE, M., & IRELAND, C. (2014). Rise of the DEO: leadership by design. LIEDTKA, J., KING, A., & BENNETT, K. B. (2013). Solving problems with design thinking: 10 stories of what works. LIEDTKA, J., & OGILVIE, T. (2011). Designing for growth: a design thinking tool kit for managers. LOCKWOOD, T. (2009). Design thinking: integrating innovation, customer experience and brand value. New York, NY, Allworth Press. MARTIN, R. L. (2009). The design of business: why design thinking is the next competitive advantage. http://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=36319. MARTIN, R. L., & CHRISTENSEN, K. (2013). Rotman on design: the best on design thinking from Rotman magazine. Toronto, University of Toronto Press. MOOTEE, I. (2013). Design thinking for strategic innovation: what they can't teach you at business or design school. http://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=56278. Read More