Abstract
The contribution of design is often regarded as providing a relieving service that delivers aesthetic competence at the end of a product development process. Previous studies have shown that industrial design consultancies aspire to be a strategic resource in their client firms, and that the focus of design is becoming increasingly intangible. The claim is that the competencies of the designer can be used to enhance innovation and the strategic process in client firms. At the same time, studies indicate that industrial design consultancies have a problem getting commissioned and paid for the intangible parts of their service. This indicates a problem in communicating the contribution of enabling design services to client firms. A literature study was conducted regarding the characteristics of design (thinking), its methods and processes. The purpose was to put these characteristics into the context of symbolic-interpretive influenced organizational development by comparing them with the properties that is argued to form the basis for sensemaking theory as described by Weick in 1995. The aim of the paper is to contribute to the understanding of enabling design service.
Keywords
organizational development, design, sensemaking
Citation
Eneberg, M. (2012) Enabling Design Service Facilitating Interand Intra-Organizational Sensemaking, in Israsena, P., Tangsantikul, J. and Durling, D. (eds.), Research: Uncertainty Contradiction Value - DRS International Conference 2012, 1-4 July, Bangkok, Thailand. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2012/researchpapers/34
Enabling Design Service Facilitating Interand Intra-Organizational Sensemaking
The contribution of design is often regarded as providing a relieving service that delivers aesthetic competence at the end of a product development process. Previous studies have shown that industrial design consultancies aspire to be a strategic resource in their client firms, and that the focus of design is becoming increasingly intangible. The claim is that the competencies of the designer can be used to enhance innovation and the strategic process in client firms. At the same time, studies indicate that industrial design consultancies have a problem getting commissioned and paid for the intangible parts of their service. This indicates a problem in communicating the contribution of enabling design services to client firms. A literature study was conducted regarding the characteristics of design (thinking), its methods and processes. The purpose was to put these characteristics into the context of symbolic-interpretive influenced organizational development by comparing them with the properties that is argued to form the basis for sensemaking theory as described by Weick in 1995. The aim of the paper is to contribute to the understanding of enabling design service.