Worlds in the Making: Design, Management, and the Reform of Organizational Culture

• Design is part of the organizational culture reform movement in management.
• Design thinking is an ambiguous term with four distinct meanings.
• Creative inquiry involves distinct moments of reflection and action.
• Design is grounded on a principle of the quality of experience.
• Experience is found in the unity of the individual with an environment.

The introduction of design and design thinking into the management of organizations is at an early stage. Most of the research and applications of design have focused on attitudes, skills, methods, and techniques. These have been applied to tactical issues of the development of products and services, issues of organizational operations, and issues of the vision and strategy of organizations. But there is a principle that distinguishes design as a practice of management from other schools of management over the past century. That principle focuses on the quality of experience for all of those served by organizations, whether for-profit, not-for-profit, or governmental organizations. The design movement in management aims at organizational culture reform. It is profitable for organizations, but it also serves a deeper purpose in enhancing the lives of individuals. At its best, the design movement seeks to bring innovations—sometimes radical innovations—to organizations that have to adapt to new circumstances of economic competition, social expectation, and cultural understanding. This is the challenge to design anticipated decades ago by the famous designer George Nelson, when the tactical uses of design in product development was the center of attention. The new extension of design deeper into organizational culture offers the possibility of significant consequences.