Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 April 2022
The first step in any problem-solving episode is representing the problem, and to a large extent, that representation has the solution hidden inside it. (Richard Boland and Fred Collopy, Managing as Designing, 2004, p 9)
This chapter shows the role of design in catalysing an exploration of the problem space. First, I share and discuss how design approaches can be used to explore how public interventions are experienced by citizens and business, drawing on highly qualitative research methods from ethnography and anthropology.
Second, the chapter considers how managers, through various types of interplay with the design approaches, reflect about the challenges they are facing, and the types of questions they ask themselves and their staff. This I call questioning assumptions. I consider two central themes: how do these managers think about the problem space from the outset – sometimes before they choose to engage with design? Further, as they begin to collaborate with designers, how do design approaches influence their thinking?
Third, I analyse the extent to which the managers draw actively on the design research, typically field-work among end-users (citizens) or among staff at the ‘front-stage’ interaction level, to leverage empathy. Again, I build the analysis from the patterns emerging from the empirical material I have collected. What is the role of design practices, including highly qualitative ‘emphatic’ data, as well as visualisation tools? How do the design approaches bring citizens’ experiences into play, and how do managers consciously, strategically use this knowledge to start to catalyse organisational change? In this analysis I consider the interplay between the exploration of user interactions, on the one hand, and the ensuing challenging of pre-existing assumptions across the wider organisation, on the other hand.
Fourth, I interpret and discuss the findings concerning management engagements by drawing on theoretical perspectives from design and governance research, respectively. This leads to an analysis of the kinds of activities associated with design approaches in the public sector, focusing on problem exploration.
I conclude, fifth, by summing up this empirically grounded account of how design is applied, across the cases studied, as a set of distinct methodologies and tools for exploring the problems faced by public managers and their organisations.
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