Teaching design thinking in business schools

• Design thinking represents an important skill to be acquired for today's business environment.
• Core characteristics of design thinking are presented.
• A scaffolding consisting of six phases is offered to facilitate design thinking pedagogy.
• Guidance is provided for navigating the uncertainty and ambiguity in the design thinking process.
• Learning takeaways noted by students completing design thinking projects are provided.

Incorporating design thinking in the business curriculum can provide students and instructors with a framework for dealing with unstructured problems and for managing the innovation process. However, many business students, like many business professionals, experience confusion and frustration when engaging in design thinking projects for the first time. This paper provides guidance for faculty who are considering incorporating design thinking projects into their business classes. For such projects, the complex, iterative process of design thinking is structured to include six phases: problem finding, observation, visualization and sense making, ideation, prototyping and testing, and the design of a business model enacting the innovation. Guidance is provided to the instructor for managing the activities and challenges faced in each of these phases. The Appendix summarizes this information in a practical format for the instructor.