The transformative role of service design – a case study of a public library
Abstract
Using a wider context of a growing role of service design (SD) in different change processes, the aim of this article is to explore the transformative role of service design on two levels: organizational and societal. We investigated a transformation process of a public sector organization – a public library, showing how service design can be a vehicle of organizational and societal changes. We were able to map 3 cycles of transition that have been gradually expanding the visions, theories of change, mindsets, and new ways of designing in the organization, helping to achieve more and more agency in transforming, first the organization, and then local community. The article contributes to the growing body of knowledge connecting design with change. It also creates a more in-depth understanding of how SD can become a vehicle for transformation in a public sector organization.
Keywords
service design; transition design; organizational change; public organization
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3384/ecp203001
Citation
Starostka, J., Morelli, N.,and de Götzen, A.(2023) The transformative role of service design – a case study of a public library, in Carla Cipolla, Claudia Mont’Alvão, Larissa Farias, Manuela Quaresma (eds.), ServDes 2023: Entanglements & Flows Conference, Service Encounters and Meanings, 11-14th July 2023, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. https://doi.org/10.3384/ecp203001
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
The transformative role of service design – a case study of a public library
Using a wider context of a growing role of service design (SD) in different change processes, the aim of this article is to explore the transformative role of service design on two levels: organizational and societal. We investigated a transformation process of a public sector organization – a public library, showing how service design can be a vehicle of organizational and societal changes. We were able to map 3 cycles of transition that have been gradually expanding the visions, theories of change, mindsets, and new ways of designing in the organization, helping to achieve more and more agency in transforming, first the organization, and then local community. The article contributes to the growing body of knowledge connecting design with change. It also creates a more in-depth understanding of how SD can become a vehicle for transformation in a public sector organization.