Design Thinking as a Tool of Organizational Learning

Abstract

Design has evolved beyond the creation of individual objects. The change in business paradigm is based on a revolutionary rethinking of the role of design: from a tool of product aesthetic decoration at the final stage of development design transforms into a tool of creation of new value for the consumer. Organizations now strive to learn to think like designers and apply design principles to new product and organizational development. Design thinking research has traditionally focused on the practical aspects of using design tools and organizing the design thinking process. In the context of organizational learning, internal organizational consequences of design thinking and its impact on the development of individual and organizational competence remain understudied. The purpose of the article was to explore the role of design thinking as a tool for enhancing organizational competence. It is shown that the sequence of design thinking stages corresponds to the full cycle of knowledge management, starting from the identification and capture of new knowledge to the verification of the viability of the proposed solutions. This allows participants to receive quick feedback and immediately assess the effectiveness of the proposed solution, which has a positive learning effect. Participation in design projects becomes an important tool of organizational learning due to: better understanding of consumer needs; practical mastery of technology-specific design thinking methods that can be used in other projects; experience of interaction with consumers (stage of empathy, co-design and prototype testing); experience in generating ideas and prototyping them; formation of a designer way of thinking, characterized by a combination of intuitive, analytical and abductive thinking. Deeper, systematic learning, which results in the formation of design competencies at the organizational level, occurs when theoretical generalizations based on the empirical experience of design thinking go beyond the boundaries of the studied object. Further research could be aimed at developing a deeper understanding of the managerial and organizational implications of experiential learning in design projects.