Design Science for Business Management

Abstract

This issue of the Journal of Integrated Design and Process Science explores the connection between design science and business management. The relationship may not be obvious since it is rather subtle in some instances. However, the nature of problems that design science is confronted with is analogous to the nature of problems business management tackles. Both design science and business management, are concerned with open ended solutions rather than closed solutions and one correct answer. Also, both disciplines’ approach to finding solutions is process oriented. The process may involve taking two steps forward and, after finding the outcome not satisfactory, taking one step back – simply because there may be not just one correct answer but rather several answers differing in quality. Creativity and the selection of one of a variety of options constitute the essence of product design; consequently, exploring the connection between design science and business management can benefit both of these complex disciplines and also enhance the innovation of organizations. The first paper in this issue is entitled “Towards Formalizing and Formulating the Successful Organizational Innovation Process.” The authors, while pointing out the importance of innovation as the main factor of successful organization, present the application of a design model to a model for innovation processes. The model is able to separate two aspects of innovation, namely, the innovation process and the organizational innovative behaviour. Furthermore, the Axiomatic Theory of Design Modelling is used to analyse the organizational innovation process from a design point of view. The paper demonstrates clearly that strategic planning methods (business management) are similar to product design methods. At Concordia University in Montreal, it was shown that Design Thinking can be used as a basis for organizational innovation change (de Guerre et al., 2013). The organization on which the study was performed was the School of Extended Learning. The change process that resulted had four phases, namely, Connect, Innovate, Design, and Implement. The resulting organization (School of Extended Learning) had innovation design and Design Thinking fused into the organizational infrastructure. The second paper, “Engineering Design as Hearing,” uses the metaphor of “Hearing” to approach the teaching of design. The author presents the pedagogical challenges and opportunities related to the introduction of design into the engineering curricula, pointing out the differences between open-ended problem/solution sets (central to design) and closed problem/solution sets. By nature, the open-ended sets typical for design are more vague and abstract. Therefore, the use of metaphor is particularly effective for