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2013/2014  KAN-CM_T96  Design in business: Perspectives on design management

English Title
Design in business: Perspectives on design management

Course information
Language English
Exam ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Semester
Course period Spring
Changes in course schedule may occur
Friday 08.00-10.35, week 6-15, 17
Time Table Please see course schedule at e-Campus
Max. participants 40
Study board
Study Board for MSc in Economics and Business Administration
Course coordinator
  • John Christiansen - Department of Operations Management (OM)
Main academic disciplines
  • Innovation and entrepreneurship
  • Management
  • Organization
  • Corporate and Business Strategy
Last updated on 23-10-2013
Learning objectives
The course will provide the participants with a base for understanding the various aspects of design and the different perspectives on managerial challenges related to management of design and design processes.
  • Understand how managers and organizations constantly design products, processes and structures.
  • Identify the different views on how to understand and manage design in organization and as related to products and services.
  • Have knowledge about different theories and models on design and design management
  • Reflect on different ways companies can manage their design of new products and services to stimulate innovation activities, and the implications of different choices
  • Be able to identify implications of different ways of addressing a given design challenge
  • Be able to argue for use of a specific theory or model and reflect on it's application
  • Reflect and compare across the different perspectives, theories and models
Examination
Oral exam based on written 48 hour home assignment:
Examination form Oral exam based on written product

In order to participate in the oral exam, the written product must be handed in before the oral exam; by the set deadline. The grade is based on an overall assessment of the written product and the individual oral performance.
Individual or group exam Individual
As design processes are considered the outcome of relations and processes involving multiple actors the written report is prepared in small groups with 2-3 members in each.
The oral exam is individual and the final grade is based on the written assignment and the oral discussion. The oral exam and the discussion at the exam is based on the written report, but can include elements from all parts of the course.
Size of written product Max. 10 pages
Individuals have max 10 pages. With 2 members in groups max 10 pages. 3 members in group gives max 15 pages.
Assignment type Report
Duration
Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
20 min. per student, including examiners' discussion of grade, and informing plus explaining the grade
Grading scale 7-step scale
Examiner(s) Internal examiner and second internal examiner
Exam period May/June
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Description of the exam procedure
The assignement will be made available to participants online. The assignement deals with a contemporary issue related to management of design and how to use design in a company. Students are given 48 hours to produce a written report. The report is prepared in small groups with 2-3 students in each. The assignment might for example be based on a case that illustrates some of the challenges that companies and managers face. How can companies use design as a comptetetitive element in their business and for their services and products? What are the challenges? What are the possible solutions? Etc.
Course content and structure
Background
As a starting point the course will discuss how design makes a difference and where we can identify good and interesting design. The course will provide examples from leading Danish companies on how they work with design, and there will be guest lecturers that present cases on how companies have worked with design. As design is an important element in innovations, there will also be examples that show how this happens in practice. Design incolves creativity. How can we stimulte creativety in design thinking? How can we manage creativity?

Design is today considered involved in all kinds of human activity. Companies design products and services to be delivered on the market. Managers design business processes, organizational structures and information systems to have efficient internal processes. Companies try to become and/or stay competitive by presenting newly designed innovations on the market and use design processes that makes it possible to not only follow the market but lead the market development. Design involves not only professional 'designers' - we are all involved in design and design thinking. So how can we understand and work with the challenges of managing design and design processes in companies?

Course structure
The course will strat by identifying the many meanings of design and what design thinking has been in the past, and how we can use the notion of design to understand managerial issues in companies. Next, different views or perspectives on management of design will be identified and used to structure the discussions. For example design can be studied as: product design, craft design, engineering design, organizational design. Third, a number of theoretical lenses or paradigms that we have identified in past research on management of design will be used to discuss and analyze how a specific design challenge in an organization or company can be addressed based on a certain view on what design and design management is.
Teaching methods
A mix between at least one design-workshop in the CBS-studio facilities, lectures, case-based discussions, content analysis of journal articles and small assignments that will support the learning objectives of the course and improve the analytical skills of students on different aspects of management of design. When possibile practitioners involved in design management and design processes from industry will provide real life cases and examples.
Expected literature
Heskett, J (2005) Design: a very short introduction. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
 
Lockwood, T. (2008) Building Design Strategy: Using Design to Achieve Key Business Objectives; Alleworth Press: New York 

Andersom, P. and Tushman (1990). Technological discontinuities and dominant design: a cyclical model of technological change, Administrative Science Quarterly, 35 (4): 604-633                  
  
Christiansen, J. K., Varnes, C. J., Gasparin, M., Storm-Nielsen, D., & Vinther, E. J. (2010). Living twice: How a product goes through multiple life cycles. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 27(6): 797-827. 
  
Callon, M., Méadel, C., & Rabeharisoa, V. (2002). The economy of qualities. Economy and Society, 31(2): 194-217. 
                      
Dell’Era C. and Verganti,. R. (2009). Design Driven Laboratories: Organization and Strategy of Laboratories Specialized in the Development of Radical Design Driven Innovations”, R&D Management, 39 (1): 1-20, 
  
Hargadon, Sutton I (2000). Building an innovation factory, Harvard Business Review, May-June. 
 
  
Hertenstein J., Platt , M. J., Veryzer R. (2005). The Impact of Industrial Design Effectiveness on Corporate Financial Performance, Journal of product innovation management; 22:3–21 
  
Krishnan, V. Ulrich K. (2001). Product Development Decisions: A Review of the Literature, Management of Science, 47 (1), January: 1-21 
  
Leonard, D. A., and Rayport. J (1997). Spark Innovation Through Empathic Design. Harvard Business Review75, no. 6 (November-December 1997): 102-113. 
  
Raisch, S., Birkinshaw, J., Probst, G., & Tushman, M. L. (2009). Organizational ambidexterity: Balancing exploitation and exploration for sustained performance. Organization Science: 20(4), 685. 
  
Randall, Ulrich (2007) user design of customized products, Marketing Science: 26, (March- April): 268- 280 
  
Verganti, R. (2003) “Design as brokering of languages. The role of designers in the innovation strategy of Italian firms”, Design Management Journal, 14 (3): 34-42. 
  
Veryzer R, (2005) The Roles of Marketing and Industrial Design in Discontinuous New Product Development,Journal of Product Innovation Management; 22:22–41
Last updated on 23-10-2013