5.0 Conclusion
5.1 Conclusion
This study set out to explore the changing role of design in business and society and investigate what the strategic use of design means for the future of business strategy. The aim of this research project was to develop a functional framework for businesses to become design-driven by integrating design into the overall corporate strategy.
Design is a process and a mindset for solving complex contemporary problems in a purposeful way. A critical review of professional and academic literature showed that design balances analytic and intuitive thinking and may give rise to valuable and innovative solutions. Design is therefore considered to provide great value and benefits to business strategy, and has been adopted as a strategic resource in organisations across industries. As companies make the shift toward design-driven strategy, they become better equipped to survive in today’s unpredictable business environment despite disruptive technological developments and rapidly changing customer behaviour. Still, becoming a design-driven organisation is a challenging process as it often involves a complete transformation of the organisation’s operating model. Organisational change is hard and requires careful consideration of how to communicate the vision and lead the change efforts, while empowering employees for action and embedding the changes in the organisational culture.
Interviews with ten industry professionals uncovered their lived experiences with the implementation and use of design in their organisations. Their learnings and perspectives showed that the shift toward design-driven business strategy is achievable with trial and error. The top management must be fully dedicated to making the necessary structural and strategic changes throughout the organisation, and everyone in the organisation must be made accountable for the user experience. The research found that effective leadership in the shift toward design-driven business strategy means providing employees with the freedom and consent to be the vehicles for change; to be proactive, to experiment and to take the lead. When successful, the use of design as a strategic perspective can benefit organisations and deliver impressively positive outcomes.
The findings in this study are the result of interpretive research methods and thematic analysis. These methods are comparable to the way designers use iterative steps and non-linear thinking to gain insights and interpret findings to explore problems and generate possible solutions.
5.2 Limitations of study
As with many research studies, more informative results could have been obtained with a larger sample size. However, there are no specific rules for determining an appropriate sample size in qualitative research (Collis and Hussey, 2014, p.131), and thus the sample size in this study reflects the time frame and the objectives of the research.
As purposive and snowball sampling was used to hand-pick participants with experience of using design strategically, achieving diversity in the age group, gender and the ethnicity of participants was given less priority in the sampling. Unfortunately, this resulted in a predominance of male participants between the ages of 30 and 50. While the uniform sample is a limitation of the study, the researcher considers the sample selection to be shaped by the dominance of men in senior positions in digital and tech-related industries. Consequently, the sample is nonetheless representative of the population.
The sample consists of ten Nordic companies from within a variety of industries and does not aim to represent a reality for all types of organisations. Consequently, the data provides a limited foundation for generating theories about how any organisation can implement and use design as a strategic business resource.
Finally, while the research participants used the mindset and methods of a designer in parts of their practices, not all of them defined it as design. Possible reasons for this can be a lack of awareness regarding the design terminology or a reluctance to aligning their practices with the concept of design.
References
Collis, J. and Hussey, R. (2014). Business research. 4th ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
© Nadine Ramsberg, 2018
Hyper Island — MA Digital Management
Industry Research Project
