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J.B. Klitsie
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As the aviation industry has become more complex and uncertain, we need to teach aviation topics with different pedagogical approaches: making the educational setting interdisciplinary and more design-and user-driven. We developed a design curriculum to address emerging complexity around air travel journeys and piloted the curriculum at a major research university in the Netherlands. Novice students in engineering, design, and social science programs in the Future of Airport minor on campus engaged in a quarter-long design course centered on the seamless air travel experience. The course aims to teach students how to approach the complexity of an airport and the stakeholders involved and design for people in transit. Data were collected from the results of work in document format (project progress reports and final deliverables) from thirty-five student teams who collaborated with aviation industry sponsors to develop solutions to address complex system-level industry design challenges. We classified the detailed project brief and outcomes by different innovation levels (product, service, system, or socio-technical), and examined the design methods implemented by each team over the design process. Our discussion is divided into (D1) trajectory of levels of innovation traveled during the project execution, (D2) descriptive reflection on overall selecting design methods, (D3) design method selection dynamics over design phases in complex problem domains, and (D4) challenges of offering a design approach to novice engineering students, drawn from the reflection by course coordinators and coaches on the course structure and contents.
...
As the aviation industry has become more complex and uncertain, we need to teach aviation topics with different pedagogical approaches: making the educational setting interdisciplinary and more design-and user-driven. We developed a design curriculum to address emerging complexity around air travel journeys and piloted the curriculum at a major research university in the Netherlands. Novice students in engineering, design, and social science programs in the Future of Airport minor on campus engaged in a quarter-long design course centered on the seamless air travel experience. The course aims to teach students how to approach the complexity of an airport and the stakeholders involved and design for people in transit. Data were collected from the results of work in document format (project progress reports and final deliverables) from thirty-five student teams who collaborated with aviation industry sponsors to develop solutions to address complex system-level industry design challenges. We classified the detailed project brief and outcomes by different innovation levels (product, service, system, or socio-technical), and examined the design methods implemented by each team over the design process. Our discussion is divided into (D1) trajectory of levels of innovation traveled during the project execution, (D2) descriptive reflection on overall selecting design methods, (D3) design method selection dynamics over design phases in complex problem domains, and (D4) challenges of offering a design approach to novice engineering students, drawn from the reflection by course coordinators and coaches on the course structure and contents.
Overcoming the Valley of Death in a Service Organisation
Designing Innovation Implementation
Large and mature organisations, with their access to knowledge, capital and customers, are perfectly positioned to walk the road from invention to innovation; to turn promising breakthrough technologies and creative concepts into profitable and scalable business opportunities. However, these organisations rarely generate winds of creative destruction and instead start-ups disrupt them at an increasing pace (Anthony et al., 2018; Elsbach & Stigliani, 2018). Large and mature organisations struggle to innovate sustainably, in part because of their rigid organisational structures and processes that maintain the status quo (O’Reilly & Binns, 2019). To overcome this, organisations increasingly deploy ‘innovation hubs’. Innovation hubs are partially independent physical and managerial spaces intended as safe havens for exploratory activities. Examples of hubs are Xerox's’ PARC and Google X ‘the Moonshot Factory’. These are spaces where innovators find freedom to challenge the status quo and where there is space to consider alternatives, to experiment and to learn. Innovation hubs fuel the discussion of “what might be”.However, if organisations want to transform their business, they need to go beyond generating thought-provoking concepts. They need to implement promising concepts and integrate them with the rest of the organisation. Scholars call this gap that exists between concept generation and implementation the ‘Valley of Death’ (from heron: VoD) (Markham et al., 2010). It is crucial that organisations resolve issues related to the VoD if they want to reap the benefits of innovation. However, innovation implementation is a relatively under-examined field (Baer, 2012).Innovation implementations scholars predominantly focus on the proposed concepts. Questions arise, such as are the ideas ‘good’ enough? Are they ‘radical’? Do they serve an actual need? Alternatively, the innovator becomes the focal point of the study. There are stories (in both popular and academic writing) in which one well connected, head strong champion heroically shepherds an innovative concept into realisation, in resistance to incumbent forces. But it is risky for organisations to bet their future survival on the presence, capabilities and ultimately, success of lone champions who succeed despite organisational circumstances, not because of them (Dougherty & Hardy, 1996). Especially since failing to implement innovations often stems from factors beyond the control of champions8(Goepel et al., 2012). Thus, in this research, I take an approach to explore what organisational conditions help innovators to mitigate the VoD and achieve implementation.As a designer, I particularly focus on the relationship between design practices in innovation and the VoD. The Design Council states that design practices can mitigate the VoD (Kolarz et al., 2015). Others suggest they may actually aggravate the issue (Carlgren et al., 2016a). Recently, scholars have noted that designers need to consider implementation issues if they want to contribute to resolving organisational and society-level challenges (Dorst, 2019b; Norman & Stappers, 2015). In this thesis, I consider different conceptualisations of design in an innovation context (as problem solving and as inquiry) and shed light on the role of design in mitigating the VoD.Research DesignI performed this study using an action research approach (Reason & Bradbury, 2008a) in collaboration with a large heritage airline ‘FlyCo’ (kept anonymous for privacy reasons). FlyCo finds itself in a competitive landscape. Weighted down by large labour forces, considerable and long-term capital investments, and legacy management structures, FlyCo faces a battle to remain airborne while competing with both low-cost entrants (e.g., EasyJet) and high-quality ‘Gulf’ behemoths (e.g., Emirates). It operates in (for safety and security), a highly regulated and increasingly commoditised industry, which makes achieving innovation difficult yet rewarding. In response, FlyCo started an ambitious ‘architectural transformation’ (Safrudin et al., 2014) in which ‘design thinking’ was a central pillar to deliver a more customer-centred and cost-efficient service. This transformation required that FlyCo adjust its organisation to implement innovation projects more effectively. This situation provided a solid launching pad for this study. The research objectives, combined with the needs of FlyCo, informed the following main research question:How can design catalyse innovation implementation at a service organisation?Over a 14-month period, I embedded as an action researcher at ‘FlyCo’. I engaged employees from different levels of FlyCo to conduct actions as part of reflective, collaborative research cycles. The research contained three action research cycles (ARCs). Each ARC was performed in collaboration9with a distinct set of stakeholders and with different research aims. In the first ARC, my efforts focussed on building a network and an understanding of FlyCo and the VoD phenomenon. In ARC 2, the focus moved towards investigating conditions that contribute to a VoD with a focus on the role of design practices. In ARC 3, the focus again shifted towards how design interventions in organisational context could contribute to implementation success. Over the research period, I became increasingly immersed in FlyCo as my role shifted from being an outsider to obtaining increasingly influential positions (I became an interim manager in ARC 3 for example), which provided an opportunity to gather a rich dataset.During the embedded period, I employed multiple data gathering methods. Predominantly, I took part in- and observed corporate activities, resulting in 231 temporal observations (events). I captured observations and reflections in field notes, resulting in 426 pages of notes and drawings. Additionally, I gathered internal documents (such as strategies, project proposals, training manuals). Finally, 48 interviews were conducted at multiple intervals during the study. Of these interviews, 17 were semi-structured, audio-recorded, and transcribed, whilst 31 were conversational and recorded via hand-written notes. I initially analysed the data using a visual mapping strategy. Subsequently, a thematic analysis was performed using NVivo software. A breakdown between identified themes and existing literature finally informed a narrative analysis strategy. Together, this data collection and analysis strategy helped to observe nuances in FlyCo's innovation and implementation processes that can evade detection by other ‘outside-in’ research designs.InsightsThe data inform four sets of insights. Extant research on innovation implementation has focussed on product/manufacturing organisations (with historically large R&D departments) that aim to reach additional customers through new/improved products. In this context, managers and scholars noticed that R&D output did not reach controlled stage-gate New Product Development (NPD) processes. But innovation hubs are also increasingly popular at service organisations (Blindenbach-Driessen & Van Den Ende, 2014), which have different (and less structured) innovation processes. The first set of insights describes an exploration and re-conceptualisation of the VoD phenomenon in a service organisation context. I identify three10organisational unit types that contribute to innovation: exploration hubs, support partners and operational units. In this context, the metaphor of a singular ‘valley’ between two contributing units appears erroneous, as implementation challenges exceed the dichotomous relationship between design and production.A deeper investigation into the mechanism that drives the VoD shaped the second set of insights, which highlights the role of institutions, specifically organisational logics. At FlyCo, a constellation of three organisational logics and the absence of a recombination strategy fosters an environment inhibiting resource pooling between organisational units. The three logics inform conflicts on three issues: innovation priorities, innovation processes and problem frames. As logics guide legitimacy judgement, conflicts between logics lead to a Not-Invented-Here attitude from gatekeepers towards concepts from ‘foreign’ logics. Consequently, champions can’t gather the resources needed for implementation and their concepts end in a VoD.The third set of insights describes how 10 barriers contribute to the VoD. I identify four barriers related to organisation properties of FlyCo. A complex and siloed organisation, the absence of a shared service vision, decentralised innovation portfolio management, and a competing internal innovation marketplace stimulate a VoD. Two barriers describe project characteristics related to the VoD: founding problem frames in an inferior domain and proposed solutions with a weak fit with the existing service system. Two process-related barriers highlight how engaging stakeholders late in the innovation process and inadequate communication of project decisions contributes to a VoD. Finally, two barriers describe how the organisational set-up of an exploration hub contributes to a VoD: when there is no ‘Shadow of the Future’ and when hubs have limited access to resources, they struggle to mitigate the VoD.The fourth set of insights explores the relation of design practices with innovation implementation. When viewed as a problem-solving approach, I exhibit how design practices contribute to mitigating implementation issues by fostering more holistic concepts and an innovation process with engaged and aligned stakeholders. However, as an inquiry process, design practices contribute to a VoD when projects are reframed such that the aspired value shifts. A VoD then appears in two situations: if the new working principle requires new stakeholders (not part of the founding problem frame) to become involved, or if not, all involved stakeholders accept the new frame. In11addition, I deployed design practices to create new organisational infrastructure which fosters innovation implementation success. These practices inform a sense of shared ownership and novel organisation designs, but they also introduce challenges that require further investigation.Contributions and GuidelinesOne principal contribution to literature is the reconceptualisation of service innovation implementation. Instead of three sequential phases, ‘elaboration’, ‘championing’ and ‘production’ (Perry-Smith & Mannucci, 2017) are three reiterating micro-processes. These micro-processes constitute two innovation-to-implementation process streams. In one process stream, innovation teams solve ‘innovation challenges’ (Dougherty & Hardy, 1996) through concept elaboration and production. In the other stream, championing in the organisation sphere aims to solve ‘innovation-to-organisation challenges’ (Dougherty & Hardy, 1996). In line with this conceptualisation, I propose to define the VoD in this context as ‘when concept development terminates because champions fail to gather the required resources for further development because of innovation-to-organisation challenges’.Second, I propose a classification of three types of organisational units involved in innovation. In service organisations, achieving innovation requires mitigating gaps between (1) explorative units, (2) support resources, and (3) operational units. I challenge whether the dichotomous conceptualisation of a VoD does justice to the complexities of achieving alignment for reform within service organisations.The findings add to a growing body of knowledge that considers the role of institutions in realising (service) innovation. I add that, besides on an ecosystem level, organisational level ‘Logics matter when coordinating resources’ (Edvardsson et al., 2014) in service innovation. I identify three issues where misalignment between organisational logics hampers innovation implementation: innovation priorities, innovation processes and problem frames. I propose that besides contextual, spatial, and organisational boundaries (Antons & Piller, 2015), organisational logic boundaries can trigger a Not Invented Here attitude.Insights from this study suggest a complicated relationship between design innovation and the successful implementation of these innovations, which I call the ‘Design Implementation Paradox’. Design principles and practices related to experimentation, experiential learning, and embracing12diversity contribute to implementation success. Practices related to embracing diversity, user-centricity and materialisation contribute to resolving innovation-to-organisation challenges and mitigating logic conflicts, and thus to implementation success. However, design can also contribute to a VoD when reframing leads to a shift in the stakeholder field or when champions cannot convince involved stakeholders of a new frame. This study represents an initial exploration into this relation, but more research is needed.The final contribution to theory is 10 organisational barriers identified that contribute to the VoD in a service organisation. For example, by exhibiting how an internal innovation ‘marketplace’ encourages competing behaviour as opposed to collaborative behaviour, which hinders innovation implementation.The insights inform six guidelines for managers, specifically for those who shape organisational conditions, to design organisational infrastructure that promotes innovation implementation. These guidelines describe organisational infrastructure that contributes to mitigating the VoD:1. To resolve innovation-to-organisation problems, service organisations can use innovation hubs because this infrastructure facilitates the required social dynamics.2. To avoid a Not Invented Here attitude, the infrastructure of these innovation hubs can promote institutionalisation and legitimisation of innovation concepts.3. To motivate aligned innovation processes and ‘implementable’ concepts, the infrastructure of these hubs must act as a ‘shadow of the future’.14. To align decisions making across organisational units, a service vision - which describes what value the organisation wants to create in the future - should be formulated and shared.5. To ensure alignment between resource allocation and the innovation vision, and to spot potential VoD issues, centralised innovation portfolio management can be applied.6. To align the innovation portfolio with the current technological and organisational system, the service system-fit framework can be applied.1 An example of such infrastructure is when incentives of innovation hubs relate to implemented innovations, not merely proposed concepts.13This research emphasises the need to study implementation in design research, if designers aim to realise societal impact. Design education needs to adjust to fit the more strategic role that design is assuming. If design is indeed going ‘beyond design’ (Dorst, 2019b) to contribute to solving the world challenges, then we need to go beyond teaching future designers how to generate innovative interfaces, products, and systems. We need to teach them how to contribute to implementation and, ultimately, impact. This implies assuming a broader understanding of design, offering students tools and skills to become more sensitive to organisational context and helping them understand what influences implementation and what strategies they may pursue to achieve implementation. This requires a realisation that the road to implementation is paved with team players and that besides being great pitchers, designers need to learn how to knock the ball out of the park.Above all, this research emphasises the limits of the ‘rogue innovator’ narrative and provides principles for organisational leaders of service organisations that face transformation to mitigate their dependence on innovation champions and instead design organisational infrastructure that facilitates innovation implementation.
...
Large and mature organisations, with their access to knowledge, capital and customers, are perfectly positioned to walk the road from invention to innovation; to turn promising breakthrough technologies and creative concepts into profitable and scalable business opportunities. However, these organisations rarely generate winds of creative destruction and instead start-ups disrupt them at an increasing pace (Anthony et al., 2018; Elsbach & Stigliani, 2018). Large and mature organisations struggle to innovate sustainably, in part because of their rigid organisational structures and processes that maintain the status quo (O’Reilly & Binns, 2019). To overcome this, organisations increasingly deploy ‘innovation hubs’. Innovation hubs are partially independent physical and managerial spaces intended as safe havens for exploratory activities. Examples of hubs are Xerox's’ PARC and Google X ‘the Moonshot Factory’. These are spaces where innovators find freedom to challenge the status quo and where there is space to consider alternatives, to experiment and to learn. Innovation hubs fuel the discussion of “what might be”.However, if organisations want to transform their business, they need to go beyond generating thought-provoking concepts. They need to implement promising concepts and integrate them with the rest of the organisation. Scholars call this gap that exists between concept generation and implementation the ‘Valley of Death’ (from heron: VoD) (Markham et al., 2010). It is crucial that organisations resolve issues related to the VoD if they want to reap the benefits of innovation. However, innovation implementation is a relatively under-examined field (Baer, 2012).Innovation implementations scholars predominantly focus on the proposed concepts. Questions arise, such as are the ideas ‘good’ enough? Are they ‘radical’? Do they serve an actual need? Alternatively, the innovator becomes the focal point of the study. There are stories (in both popular and academic writing) in which one well connected, head strong champion heroically shepherds an innovative concept into realisation, in resistance to incumbent forces. But it is risky for organisations to bet their future survival on the presence, capabilities and ultimately, success of lone champions who succeed despite organisational circumstances, not because of them (Dougherty & Hardy, 1996). Especially since failing to implement innovations often stems from factors beyond the control of champions8(Goepel et al., 2012). Thus, in this research, I take an approach to explore what organisational conditions help innovators to mitigate the VoD and achieve implementation.As a designer, I particularly focus on the relationship between design practices in innovation and the VoD. The Design Council states that design practices can mitigate the VoD (Kolarz et al., 2015). Others suggest they may actually aggravate the issue (Carlgren et al., 2016a). Recently, scholars have noted that designers need to consider implementation issues if they want to contribute to resolving organisational and society-level challenges (Dorst, 2019b; Norman & Stappers, 2015). In this thesis, I consider different conceptualisations of design in an innovation context (as problem solving and as inquiry) and shed light on the role of design in mitigating the VoD.Research DesignI performed this study using an action research approach (Reason & Bradbury, 2008a) in collaboration with a large heritage airline ‘FlyCo’ (kept anonymous for privacy reasons). FlyCo finds itself in a competitive landscape. Weighted down by large labour forces, considerable and long-term capital investments, and legacy management structures, FlyCo faces a battle to remain airborne while competing with both low-cost entrants (e.g., EasyJet) and high-quality ‘Gulf’ behemoths (e.g., Emirates). It operates in (for safety and security), a highly regulated and increasingly commoditised industry, which makes achieving innovation difficult yet rewarding. In response, FlyCo started an ambitious ‘architectural transformation’ (Safrudin et al., 2014) in which ‘design thinking’ was a central pillar to deliver a more customer-centred and cost-efficient service. This transformation required that FlyCo adjust its organisation to implement innovation projects more effectively. This situation provided a solid launching pad for this study. The research objectives, combined with the needs of FlyCo, informed the following main research question:How can design catalyse innovation implementation at a service organisation?Over a 14-month period, I embedded as an action researcher at ‘FlyCo’. I engaged employees from different levels of FlyCo to conduct actions as part of reflective, collaborative research cycles. The research contained three action research cycles (ARCs). Each ARC was performed in collaboration9with a distinct set of stakeholders and with different research aims. In the first ARC, my efforts focussed on building a network and an understanding of FlyCo and the VoD phenomenon. In ARC 2, the focus moved towards investigating conditions that contribute to a VoD with a focus on the role of design practices. In ARC 3, the focus again shifted towards how design interventions in organisational context could contribute to implementation success. Over the research period, I became increasingly immersed in FlyCo as my role shifted from being an outsider to obtaining increasingly influential positions (I became an interim manager in ARC 3 for example), which provided an opportunity to gather a rich dataset.During the embedded period, I employed multiple data gathering methods. Predominantly, I took part in- and observed corporate activities, resulting in 231 temporal observations (events). I captured observations and reflections in field notes, resulting in 426 pages of notes and drawings. Additionally, I gathered internal documents (such as strategies, project proposals, training manuals). Finally, 48 interviews were conducted at multiple intervals during the study. Of these interviews, 17 were semi-structured, audio-recorded, and transcribed, whilst 31 were conversational and recorded via hand-written notes. I initially analysed the data using a visual mapping strategy. Subsequently, a thematic analysis was performed using NVivo software. A breakdown between identified themes and existing literature finally informed a narrative analysis strategy. Together, this data collection and analysis strategy helped to observe nuances in FlyCo's innovation and implementation processes that can evade detection by other ‘outside-in’ research designs.InsightsThe data inform four sets of insights. Extant research on innovation implementation has focussed on product/manufacturing organisations (with historically large R&D departments) that aim to reach additional customers through new/improved products. In this context, managers and scholars noticed that R&D output did not reach controlled stage-gate New Product Development (NPD) processes. But innovation hubs are also increasingly popular at service organisations (Blindenbach-Driessen & Van Den Ende, 2014), which have different (and less structured) innovation processes. The first set of insights describes an exploration and re-conceptualisation of the VoD phenomenon in a service organisation context. I identify three10organisational unit types that contribute to innovation: exploration hubs, support partners and operational units. In this context, the metaphor of a singular ‘valley’ between two contributing units appears erroneous, as implementation challenges exceed the dichotomous relationship between design and production.A deeper investigation into the mechanism that drives the VoD shaped the second set of insights, which highlights the role of institutions, specifically organisational logics. At FlyCo, a constellation of three organisational logics and the absence of a recombination strategy fosters an environment inhibiting resource pooling between organisational units. The three logics inform conflicts on three issues: innovation priorities, innovation processes and problem frames. As logics guide legitimacy judgement, conflicts between logics lead to a Not-Invented-Here attitude from gatekeepers towards concepts from ‘foreign’ logics. Consequently, champions can’t gather the resources needed for implementation and their concepts end in a VoD.The third set of insights describes how 10 barriers contribute to the VoD. I identify four barriers related to organisation properties of FlyCo. A complex and siloed organisation, the absence of a shared service vision, decentralised innovation portfolio management, and a competing internal innovation marketplace stimulate a VoD. Two barriers describe project characteristics related to the VoD: founding problem frames in an inferior domain and proposed solutions with a weak fit with the existing service system. Two process-related barriers highlight how engaging stakeholders late in the innovation process and inadequate communication of project decisions contributes to a VoD. Finally, two barriers describe how the organisational set-up of an exploration hub contributes to a VoD: when there is no ‘Shadow of the Future’ and when hubs have limited access to resources, they struggle to mitigate the VoD.The fourth set of insights explores the relation of design practices with innovation implementation. When viewed as a problem-solving approach, I exhibit how design practices contribute to mitigating implementation issues by fostering more holistic concepts and an innovation process with engaged and aligned stakeholders. However, as an inquiry process, design practices contribute to a VoD when projects are reframed such that the aspired value shifts. A VoD then appears in two situations: if the new working principle requires new stakeholders (not part of the founding problem frame) to become involved, or if not, all involved stakeholders accept the new frame. In11addition, I deployed design practices to create new organisational infrastructure which fosters innovation implementation success. These practices inform a sense of shared ownership and novel organisation designs, but they also introduce challenges that require further investigation.Contributions and GuidelinesOne principal contribution to literature is the reconceptualisation of service innovation implementation. Instead of three sequential phases, ‘elaboration’, ‘championing’ and ‘production’ (Perry-Smith & Mannucci, 2017) are three reiterating micro-processes. These micro-processes constitute two innovation-to-implementation process streams. In one process stream, innovation teams solve ‘innovation challenges’ (Dougherty & Hardy, 1996) through concept elaboration and production. In the other stream, championing in the organisation sphere aims to solve ‘innovation-to-organisation challenges’ (Dougherty & Hardy, 1996). In line with this conceptualisation, I propose to define the VoD in this context as ‘when concept development terminates because champions fail to gather the required resources for further development because of innovation-to-organisation challenges’.Second, I propose a classification of three types of organisational units involved in innovation. In service organisations, achieving innovation requires mitigating gaps between (1) explorative units, (2) support resources, and (3) operational units. I challenge whether the dichotomous conceptualisation of a VoD does justice to the complexities of achieving alignment for reform within service organisations.The findings add to a growing body of knowledge that considers the role of institutions in realising (service) innovation. I add that, besides on an ecosystem level, organisational level ‘Logics matter when coordinating resources’ (Edvardsson et al., 2014) in service innovation. I identify three issues where misalignment between organisational logics hampers innovation implementation: innovation priorities, innovation processes and problem frames. I propose that besides contextual, spatial, and organisational boundaries (Antons & Piller, 2015), organisational logic boundaries can trigger a Not Invented Here attitude.Insights from this study suggest a complicated relationship between design innovation and the successful implementation of these innovations, which I call the ‘Design Implementation Paradox’. Design principles and practices related to experimentation, experiential learning, and embracing12diversity contribute to implementation success. Practices related to embracing diversity, user-centricity and materialisation contribute to resolving innovation-to-organisation challenges and mitigating logic conflicts, and thus to implementation success. However, design can also contribute to a VoD when reframing leads to a shift in the stakeholder field or when champions cannot convince involved stakeholders of a new frame. This study represents an initial exploration into this relation, but more research is needed.The final contribution to theory is 10 organisational barriers identified that contribute to the VoD in a service organisation. For example, by exhibiting how an internal innovation ‘marketplace’ encourages competing behaviour as opposed to collaborative behaviour, which hinders innovation implementation.The insights inform six guidelines for managers, specifically for those who shape organisational conditions, to design organisational infrastructure that promotes innovation implementation. These guidelines describe organisational infrastructure that contributes to mitigating the VoD:1. To resolve innovation-to-organisation problems, service organisations can use innovation hubs because this infrastructure facilitates the required social dynamics.2. To avoid a Not Invented Here attitude, the infrastructure of these innovation hubs can promote institutionalisation and legitimisation of innovation concepts.3. To motivate aligned innovation processes and ‘implementable’ concepts, the infrastructure of these hubs must act as a ‘shadow of the future’.14. To align decisions making across organisational units, a service vision - which describes what value the organisation wants to create in the future - should be formulated and shared.5. To ensure alignment between resource allocation and the innovation vision, and to spot potential VoD issues, centralised innovation portfolio management can be applied.6. To align the innovation portfolio with the current technological and organisational system, the service system-fit framework can be applied.1 An example of such infrastructure is when incentives of innovation hubs relate to implemented innovations, not merely proposed concepts.13This research emphasises the need to study implementation in design research, if designers aim to realise societal impact. Design education needs to adjust to fit the more strategic role that design is assuming. If design is indeed going ‘beyond design’ (Dorst, 2019b) to contribute to solving the world challenges, then we need to go beyond teaching future designers how to generate innovative interfaces, products, and systems. We need to teach them how to contribute to implementation and, ultimately, impact. This implies assuming a broader understanding of design, offering students tools and skills to become more sensitive to organisational context and helping them understand what influences implementation and what strategies they may pursue to achieve implementation. This requires a realisation that the road to implementation is paved with team players and that besides being great pitchers, designers need to learn how to knock the ball out of the park.Above all, this research emphasises the limits of the ‘rogue innovator’ narrative and provides principles for organisational leaders of service organisations that face transformation to mitigate their dependence on innovation champions and instead design organisational infrastructure that facilitates innovation implementation.
In this article, we highlight that going from service design to organisational designing means switching from complicated to complex problems. We show how designers can reframe complicated problems to uncover the deeper, complex issues that caused the problems. Solving complex problems, however,
requires a different approach. ...
requires a different approach. ...
In this article, we highlight that going from service design to organisational designing means switching from complicated to complex problems. We show how designers can reframe complicated problems to uncover the deeper, complex issues that caused the problems. Solving complex problems, however,
requires a different approach.
requires a different approach.
'Not Invented Here’
Organizational Misalignment as a Barrier to Innovation Implementation in Service Organizations
To build and sustain the legitimacy of design as an approach to service innovation, we need an improved understanding of how and why service organizations fail to implement design-led service concepts. As service innovation implementation requires the synchronous interplay of service operators, customers and indirect stakeholders, challenges exceed the dichotomous relationship between design and production that informs much of the existing knowledge. In this study, we aim to diagnose what
organizational conditions function as barriers to innovation implementation in the context of a large service organization. We present findings from a 14-month action research study. The first author immersed himself in a large airline and engaged with employees from different levels of the organization to conduct actions as part of reflective, collaborative research cycles and to perform formal and conversational interviews. We find that implementation requires collaboration between three instead of two
organizational units: (1) an exploration hub; (2) a support partner and; (3) an operational unit. We reveal how conflicting organizational logics between these units obstructs implementation, not at a specific hand-over moment, but throughout the innovation process. Misalignment between units regarding what constitutes a legitimate priority, design approach and project scope results from these conflicts. This misalignment informs a not-invented-here response from units whose resources are required for implementation. We suggest that managing misalignments between organizational units requires institutional work in various layers of the
organization and that organizations take a risk when they leave the challenge of managing these conflicts completely to individual champions. ...
organizational conditions function as barriers to innovation implementation in the context of a large service organization. We present findings from a 14-month action research study. The first author immersed himself in a large airline and engaged with employees from different levels of the organization to conduct actions as part of reflective, collaborative research cycles and to perform formal and conversational interviews. We find that implementation requires collaboration between three instead of two
organizational units: (1) an exploration hub; (2) a support partner and; (3) an operational unit. We reveal how conflicting organizational logics between these units obstructs implementation, not at a specific hand-over moment, but throughout the innovation process. Misalignment between units regarding what constitutes a legitimate priority, design approach and project scope results from these conflicts. This misalignment informs a not-invented-here response from units whose resources are required for implementation. We suggest that managing misalignments between organizational units requires institutional work in various layers of the
organization and that organizations take a risk when they leave the challenge of managing these conflicts completely to individual champions. ...
To build and sustain the legitimacy of design as an approach to service innovation, we need an improved understanding of how and why service organizations fail to implement design-led service concepts. As service innovation implementation requires the synchronous interplay of service operators, customers and indirect stakeholders, challenges exceed the dichotomous relationship between design and production that informs much of the existing knowledge. In this study, we aim to diagnose what
organizational conditions function as barriers to innovation implementation in the context of a large service organization. We present findings from a 14-month action research study. The first author immersed himself in a large airline and engaged with employees from different levels of the organization to conduct actions as part of reflective, collaborative research cycles and to perform formal and conversational interviews. We find that implementation requires collaboration between three instead of two
organizational units: (1) an exploration hub; (2) a support partner and; (3) an operational unit. We reveal how conflicting organizational logics between these units obstructs implementation, not at a specific hand-over moment, but throughout the innovation process. Misalignment between units regarding what constitutes a legitimate priority, design approach and project scope results from these conflicts. This misalignment informs a not-invented-here response from units whose resources are required for implementation. We suggest that managing misalignments between organizational units requires institutional work in various layers of the
organization and that organizations take a risk when they leave the challenge of managing these conflicts completely to individual champions.
organizational conditions function as barriers to innovation implementation in the context of a large service organization. We present findings from a 14-month action research study. The first author immersed himself in a large airline and engaged with employees from different levels of the organization to conduct actions as part of reflective, collaborative research cycles and to perform formal and conversational interviews. We find that implementation requires collaboration between three instead of two
organizational units: (1) an exploration hub; (2) a support partner and; (3) an operational unit. We reveal how conflicting organizational logics between these units obstructs implementation, not at a specific hand-over moment, but throughout the innovation process. Misalignment between units regarding what constitutes a legitimate priority, design approach and project scope results from these conflicts. This misalignment informs a not-invented-here response from units whose resources are required for implementation. We suggest that managing misalignments between organizational units requires institutional work in various layers of the
organization and that organizations take a risk when they leave the challenge of managing these conflicts completely to individual champions.
Companies are organised to fulfil two distinctive functions: efficient and resilient exploitation of current business and parallel exploration of new possibilities. For the latter,
companies require strong organisational infrastructure such as team compositions and functional structures to ensure exploration remains effective. This paper explores the
potential for designing organisational infrastructure to be part of fourth order subject matter. In particular, it explores how organisational infrastructure could be designed in the
context of an exploratory unit, operating in a large heritage airline. This paper leverages insights from a long-term action research project and finds that building trust and shared
frames are crucial to designing infrastructure that affords the greater explorative agenda of an organisation. ...
companies require strong organisational infrastructure such as team compositions and functional structures to ensure exploration remains effective. This paper explores the
potential for designing organisational infrastructure to be part of fourth order subject matter. In particular, it explores how organisational infrastructure could be designed in the
context of an exploratory unit, operating in a large heritage airline. This paper leverages insights from a long-term action research project and finds that building trust and shared
frames are crucial to designing infrastructure that affords the greater explorative agenda of an organisation. ...
Companies are organised to fulfil two distinctive functions: efficient and resilient exploitation of current business and parallel exploration of new possibilities. For the latter,
companies require strong organisational infrastructure such as team compositions and functional structures to ensure exploration remains effective. This paper explores the
potential for designing organisational infrastructure to be part of fourth order subject matter. In particular, it explores how organisational infrastructure could be designed in the
context of an exploratory unit, operating in a large heritage airline. This paper leverages insights from a long-term action research project and finds that building trust and shared
frames are crucial to designing infrastructure that affords the greater explorative agenda of an organisation.
companies require strong organisational infrastructure such as team compositions and functional structures to ensure exploration remains effective. This paper explores the
potential for designing organisational infrastructure to be part of fourth order subject matter. In particular, it explores how organisational infrastructure could be designed in the
context of an exploratory unit, operating in a large heritage airline. This paper leverages insights from a long-term action research project and finds that building trust and shared
frames are crucial to designing infrastructure that affords the greater explorative agenda of an organisation.
Overcoming the Valley of Death
A Design Innovation Perspective
In large organisations, innovation activities are often located in separate departments, centres or studios. These departments aim to produce prototypes of solutions to the problems of operational business owners. However, too often these concepts remain in the prototype stage: they never cross the valley of death to become implemented.
A design approach to innovation is presented as a solution to the problem. However, practice shows that teams that use this approach nevertheless encounter this problem due to the larger infrastructure of the organisation they are part of. This research aims to explore which factors contribute to the valley of death for design innovation. Additionally, this paper presents first insights into how design practices help to mitigate this phenomenon.
An embedded multiple case study at a large heritage airline is used to study this phenomenon. A thematic analysis of the data finds that organisational design, departmental silo’s and dissimilar innovation strategies contribute to the valley of death. The issues with resource-assignment that result from these factors are displayed. Last, materialization, user-centeredness and holistic problem-framing are indicated as practices that help to mitigate this problem. ...
A design approach to innovation is presented as a solution to the problem. However, practice shows that teams that use this approach nevertheless encounter this problem due to the larger infrastructure of the organisation they are part of. This research aims to explore which factors contribute to the valley of death for design innovation. Additionally, this paper presents first insights into how design practices help to mitigate this phenomenon.
An embedded multiple case study at a large heritage airline is used to study this phenomenon. A thematic analysis of the data finds that organisational design, departmental silo’s and dissimilar innovation strategies contribute to the valley of death. The issues with resource-assignment that result from these factors are displayed. Last, materialization, user-centeredness and holistic problem-framing are indicated as practices that help to mitigate this problem. ...
In large organisations, innovation activities are often located in separate departments, centres or studios. These departments aim to produce prototypes of solutions to the problems of operational business owners. However, too often these concepts remain in the prototype stage: they never cross the valley of death to become implemented.
A design approach to innovation is presented as a solution to the problem. However, practice shows that teams that use this approach nevertheless encounter this problem due to the larger infrastructure of the organisation they are part of. This research aims to explore which factors contribute to the valley of death for design innovation. Additionally, this paper presents first insights into how design practices help to mitigate this phenomenon.
An embedded multiple case study at a large heritage airline is used to study this phenomenon. A thematic analysis of the data finds that organisational design, departmental silo’s and dissimilar innovation strategies contribute to the valley of death. The issues with resource-assignment that result from these factors are displayed. Last, materialization, user-centeredness and holistic problem-framing are indicated as practices that help to mitigate this problem.
A design approach to innovation is presented as a solution to the problem. However, practice shows that teams that use this approach nevertheless encounter this problem due to the larger infrastructure of the organisation they are part of. This research aims to explore which factors contribute to the valley of death for design innovation. Additionally, this paper presents first insights into how design practices help to mitigate this phenomenon.
An embedded multiple case study at a large heritage airline is used to study this phenomenon. A thematic analysis of the data finds that organisational design, departmental silo’s and dissimilar innovation strategies contribute to the valley of death. The issues with resource-assignment that result from these factors are displayed. Last, materialization, user-centeredness and holistic problem-framing are indicated as practices that help to mitigate this problem.
Overcoming the Valley of Death
A Design Innovation Perspective
In large organisations, innovation activities are often located in separate departments, centres or studios. These departments aim to produce prototypes of solutions to the problems of operational business owners. However, too often these concepts remain in the prototype stage: they never cross the valley of death to become implemented.
A design approach to innovation is presented as a solution to the problem. However, practice shows that teams that use this approach nevertheless encounter this problem due to the larger infrastructure of the organisation they are part of. This research aims to explore which factors contribute to the valley of death for design innovation. Additionally, this paper presents first insights into how design practices help to mitigate this phenomenon.
An embedded multiple case study at a large heritage airline is used to study this phenomenon. A thematic analysis of the data finds that organisational design, departmental silo’s and dissimilar innovation strategies contribute to the valley of death. The issues with resource-assignment that result from these factors are displayed. Last, materialization, user-centeredness and holistic problem-framing are indicated as practices that help to mitigate this problem. ...
A design approach to innovation is presented as a solution to the problem. However, practice shows that teams that use this approach nevertheless encounter this problem due to the larger infrastructure of the organisation they are part of. This research aims to explore which factors contribute to the valley of death for design innovation. Additionally, this paper presents first insights into how design practices help to mitigate this phenomenon.
An embedded multiple case study at a large heritage airline is used to study this phenomenon. A thematic analysis of the data finds that organisational design, departmental silo’s and dissimilar innovation strategies contribute to the valley of death. The issues with resource-assignment that result from these factors are displayed. Last, materialization, user-centeredness and holistic problem-framing are indicated as practices that help to mitigate this problem. ...
In large organisations, innovation activities are often located in separate departments, centres or studios. These departments aim to produce prototypes of solutions to the problems of operational business owners. However, too often these concepts remain in the prototype stage: they never cross the valley of death to become implemented.
A design approach to innovation is presented as a solution to the problem. However, practice shows that teams that use this approach nevertheless encounter this problem due to the larger infrastructure of the organisation they are part of. This research aims to explore which factors contribute to the valley of death for design innovation. Additionally, this paper presents first insights into how design practices help to mitigate this phenomenon.
An embedded multiple case study at a large heritage airline is used to study this phenomenon. A thematic analysis of the data finds that organisational design, departmental silo’s and dissimilar innovation strategies contribute to the valley of death. The issues with resource-assignment that result from these factors are displayed. Last, materialization, user-centeredness and holistic problem-framing are indicated as practices that help to mitigate this problem.
A design approach to innovation is presented as a solution to the problem. However, practice shows that teams that use this approach nevertheless encounter this problem due to the larger infrastructure of the organisation they are part of. This research aims to explore which factors contribute to the valley of death for design innovation. Additionally, this paper presents first insights into how design practices help to mitigate this phenomenon.
An embedded multiple case study at a large heritage airline is used to study this phenomenon. A thematic analysis of the data finds that organisational design, departmental silo’s and dissimilar innovation strategies contribute to the valley of death. The issues with resource-assignment that result from these factors are displayed. Last, materialization, user-centeredness and holistic problem-framing are indicated as practices that help to mitigate this problem.
In order to become more innovative, corporations are increasingly turning to design-driven innovation capabilities. These capabilities are dynamic: they influence the way companies run their business and how companies create, capture and deliver value. Building design capabilities has proven difficult, given the tacit nature of design practice and the conflicting reasoning style of abduction that allows for the creative leap. However, if these enterprises don’t improve, they are in danger of losing their
ability to add value to the market. This may result in loss of market-share, which may lead to job destruction and the loss of valuable knowledge as communities of practice fall apart. This paper describes an iterative design process in which a tool was developed to determine which design-driven innovation capabilities a company is lacking. The tool started as a theoretical framework and was subsequently developed by prototyping with innovation managers from several large corporates. This paper contributes a ne
w ‘dynamic capabilities view’ on design and innovation and a practical approach to implementing design in large firms.
...
ability to add value to the market. This may result in loss of market-share, which may lead to job destruction and the loss of valuable knowledge as communities of practice fall apart. This paper describes an iterative design process in which a tool was developed to determine which design-driven innovation capabilities a company is lacking. The tool started as a theoretical framework and was subsequently developed by prototyping with innovation managers from several large corporates. This paper contributes a ne
w ‘dynamic capabilities view’ on design and innovation and a practical approach to implementing design in large firms.
...
In order to become more innovative, corporations are increasingly turning to design-driven innovation capabilities. These capabilities are dynamic: they influence the way companies run their business and how companies create, capture and deliver value. Building design capabilities has proven difficult, given the tacit nature of design practice and the conflicting reasoning style of abduction that allows for the creative leap. However, if these enterprises don’t improve, they are in danger of losing their
ability to add value to the market. This may result in loss of market-share, which may lead to job destruction and the loss of valuable knowledge as communities of practice fall apart. This paper describes an iterative design process in which a tool was developed to determine which design-driven innovation capabilities a company is lacking. The tool started as a theoretical framework and was subsequently developed by prototyping with innovation managers from several large corporates. This paper contributes a ne
w ‘dynamic capabilities view’ on design and innovation and a practical approach to implementing design in large firms.
ability to add value to the market. This may result in loss of market-share, which may lead to job destruction and the loss of valuable knowledge as communities of practice fall apart. This paper describes an iterative design process in which a tool was developed to determine which design-driven innovation capabilities a company is lacking. The tool started as a theoretical framework and was subsequently developed by prototyping with innovation managers from several large corporates. This paper contributes a ne
w ‘dynamic capabilities view’ on design and innovation and a practical approach to implementing design in large firms.