Design management - Essay Example

Design Thinking in Business Design Thinking Before going into the details of design thinking in business, let’s get a better understanding of what design thinking actually is. Dziersk (2006) defines design thinking in simplest terms as “a proven and repeatable problem-solving protocol that any business or profession can employ to achieve extraordinary results”. It means that design thinking involves such standards and processes which are of extreme importance in solving various business related problems.

Martin (2009) asserts that “design thinking means thinking as a designer would, which is about as circular as a definition can be”. Design thinking is a problem solving process used to find most suitable and most creative solutions for any type of problem in order to get success and produce desired results. The four key stages of design thinking process include defining the problem, considering different solutions to the problem, refining the selected directions, and picking and applying the selected solution to the identified problem.

The process of design thinking combines various critical factors which are directly involved in the success of any business. These factors include creativity, ingenuity and rationality. All these factors are combined in the process of design thinking in order to find proper solutions regarding different issues, to meet demands of the customers, and to make a business successful in a competitive market.Design Thinking in BusinessTalking about design thinking, let’s also discuss the role of decision thinking process in the success of any business.

Not a single business can achieve success and market domination without implementing appropriate decision making and problem solving methods and processes. These two processes act as pillars for the foundation of any business. If any of these important factors is ignored, success of the business can never be achieved. Design thinking is one of these processes and is widely used as a repeatable problem solving protocol in order to achieve extraordinary and progressive results for various businesses.

Design thinking not only helps an organization in exploring the future of the organization in a competitive market but also helps in detecting and minimizing the risks related to the businesses. Hambrose (2010) asserts that “design thinking - shorthand for the role of design in a business - allows an organization to explore the future, test innovations and minimize risk cheaply”. Today most companies and organizations make a great use of decision thinking approach because it not only helps the companies in innovating and finding new ways of doing businesses but also helps in shifting the vision of the managers towards new styles of carrying out the business activities.

Design thinking is a great approach towards any business because it enables the management to create new solutions and ideas regarding problem solving and various business operations. If a company gets a complete and strong hold over decision thinking, it surely achieves market domination and other long-term business advantages. So it can be said that decision thinking process not only helps a company in finding most appropriate solutions to the problems but also helps in getting edge over the rivals.

ReferencesDziersk, M 2006, Design Thinking. What is That?, viewed 25 March 2010, Hambrose, H 2010, Design thinking can give a business the edge over its rivals, viewed 25 March 2010, Martin, R 2009, What is Design Thinking Anyway?, viewed 25 March 2010,