Systems

Gamification in Management: Between Choice Architecture and Humanistic Design

“…Because experience emerges nondeterministically from the process of humans interacting with their environment (Salovaara & Statler, 2019), game design and gamification are inherently open and unpredictable processes—like any design work (Kolko, 2010). But that doesn’t make them futile or arbitrary: they constitute “second order” design, systematically discovering and creating conditions for the emergence of desired activities and experiences (van Bree, 2014). Like other human-centered design methods, this entails empathizing with people’s current experiences; holistically understanding how these arise from people’s current situation; and then iteratively abducting, creating, evaluating, discarding and refining prototype solutions (Kolko, 2010).…”

“…Truly effective managers know how to do the same for their subordinates.” (Amabile, 2011, p. 88) Discovering how is the task of gamification as a humanistic design practice—be it as simple as adding a progress bar to a screen, be it as involved as creating a fair and transparent promotion system. More often than not, this will extend beyond interfaces, IT systems, compensation schemes and business processes into practices, norms, values, and situational frames (Deterding, 2014; van Bree, 2014).…”