Introduction

Designing is, obviously, a key activity in design-oriented problem solving. In the business and organizational field designing means social system design: you design actions or new roles, relations and processes to be executed by people who operate in organizations in systems of existing roles, relations and processes.

We all have a certain understanding of engineering design. However, intuitively we feel that social system design is different. This is true, there are significant differences. At the same time there are also significant similarities. Because at present engineering design is more developed than social system design, these similarities mean that we can learn a lot from engineering design for social system design. Therefore we will give, in Sections 12.2–12.5, some general design theory for designing material artefacts. By ‘general design theory’ we mean design theory, independent of the particular artefact being designed (for further details, see van Aken, 2005b).

In Section 12.6 we discuss social system design using the general design theory of the previous sections, but also showing the significant differences between material and social system design. These derive largely from the way the design is realized, but these fundamental differences also reflect on the nature of the design to be made, the way it is to be made and the ways in which the design is represented. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the paradigmatic starting points involved in social system design. These paradigmatic starting points concern conceptions on the nature of (material or social) reality, the nature of knowledge we can get on this reality and the methods we can use to acquire this knowledge (Guba and Lincoln, 2000).

Designing Material Artefacts: Designs and Designing

The Design

The first question, then, is: what is a design? A design can be defined as a model of an entity-to-be-realized, as an instruction for the next step in the creation process. This entity can be an object or a process. The model can take various forms, such as a drawing or a set of drawings, but can also have various other forms, such as a text, a flow chart, a scale model, a computer 3D representation and so on.

Introduction

The start of a field problem-solving (FPS) project can be the most difficult part, as is the case for many things. Where do you start when you are uncertain about access to an organization and are unfamiliar with its operations and the challenges it faces? This chapter offers guidance in this process and helps to approach these difficulties step by step. Though these suggestions do not guarantee a smooth ride, they may help to make this first phase more effective.

The first phase of the FPS project includes intake and orientation, as well as the definition of a business problem. Business problems are not given, but need to be defined in interactions with stakeholders. In terms of a consulting project, this should be regarded as part of the contracting phase. In a problem-solving project, the problem definition is based upon intake meetings and orientation activities. The intake usually consists of one or two meetings with company representatives, and results in a written preliminary project proposal including an initial assignment. During the orientation you gather and analyse more information about the problem context, so that you can further develop the content of the preliminary proposal into a final proposal. Although during the intake the student is typically not an in-house trainee yet, orientation may be conducted on an in-house basis, but this is not really required.

This chapter will continue with discussing intake and orientation activities, and then turn to the definition of a problem as part of a problem mess (see Section 4.3 on the concept of problem mess) and the formulation of an assignment and research approach. Finally, the chapter offers suggestions for the content of a final project proposal.

The intake usually starts with initial contact with a company representative, exploring the possibilities of an FPS project. The choice as to the company to be approached can be based on a number of factors. Students or their supervisors may have had prior contact with the company. Interest in the company may also be based on an external exploration. In either case, the prospects of gaining the interest of a company are higher if one proposes a specific – but not too narrowly defined – topic for a potential project. If the contact is successful, an appointment for a first meeting is made.

The Timing of Change Plan Design

Usually a student field problem-solving (FPS) assignment is terminated by formal go/no-go decision-making by the principal of the project on the proposed solution for the agreed problem and on the associated change plan. Typically this is done in a management meeting of the organization or department concerned. Sometimes this will be done in an ordinary management meeting, sometimes in an extraordinary management meeting, for which also stakeholders from outside the management team are invited. This decision-making may involve some amendments in the proposed solution and change plan.

Your assignment termination is not the termination of the improvement project for which you have played such a key role. After the decision is made on your solution and change plan, the intervention step of the problem-solving cycle is taken – that is, the actual change process is executed. Your objective was not to make a sophisticated solution design, but to create, through your (sophisticated) solution design, your change plan and the created organizational support for both, the best possible conditions for a successful intervention, resulting in the desired performance improvement. Your designs are not ends, but means to create performance improvement.

The change plan, proposed by you, specifies the various actions to be taken after a go-decision to make the solution ‘work’, the people that are to execute these actions, and the people that should get involved in the change process. Decision-making on this organizational change involves the authorization of the change plan (after possible amendments) and the formal assignment of people to the planned actions by the managers responsible (normally according to the proposals in the change plan).

The above implies that you have to make a change plan before the formal go/ no-go decision-making and not after this decision-making as a kind of optional extra. The change plan provides essential information to the decision-makers to make a go/no-go decision as it makes clear what a go-decision will involve in terms of time and staffing, and possibly money.

In fact, change planning should start right at the beginning of the project. Every business problem is embedded in a political-cultural environment, of which the student consultant forms a part. The mere fact that you have entered the organization in order to work on a certain problem has an impact straight away, among other things because it increases the awareness and perceived importance of the problem in question.

Introduction

In this chapter we are concerned with the search and use of existing scientific knowledge. No two field problem-solving (FPS) projects are identical. At the same time, no business problem is completely different from all other business problems. Given the long history of management research, it is likely that problems that are comparable to your business problem have been studied already. As we have explained, FPS projects benefit from the use of this existing scholarly literature. Although the literature will never provide complete answers, it can offer important input to each of the steps of a problem-solving project.

Literature reviews need to be undertaken with a clear focus and the same methodological rigour as empirical research. Unfortunately, literature reviews in the field of management are sometimes of poor quality. They can be opportunistic and biased by personal preferences, which limits their value for evidenceinformed practice and for the accumulation of knowledge (Tranfield et al., 2003).

Recent years have witnessed a growing concern about the development of methods for the systematic review and utilization of existing research (see, for example, Pawson, 2002a; Denyer and Tranfield, 2006, 2009; Ridley, 2008) and the emergence of dedicated review journals, like the Academy of Management Annals and the International Journal of Management Reviews. The aim of this chapter is to provide an introduction to systematic methods and thereby aid you with your first dive into the literature, which often is an overwhelming experience. In particular, we discuss the development of design propositions through a systematic review of the literature, as proposed by Denyer et al. (2008). A systematic review of the literature enables an FPS project to benefit optimally from existing knowledge on a subject. By focusing on the generation of design propositions through such a systematic review, you can generate an overview of the design knowledge to guide diagnosis and redesign. In addition, systematic reviews may enhance the state of the field of management knowledge by integrating what is fragmented and evaluating what is contested.

In this chapter, we first describe different types of publications. Then we discuss approaches to finding and selecting literature. Finally, we offer guidelines for the integration of findings from a literature review.

Introduction

The main learning experience in field problem solving (FPS) comes from actual problem solving in the field. Nonetheless, there are many advantages to you becoming familiar with the application of the problem-solving methodology of this book on the basis of a number of paper cases and by doing some key exercises. In this way you can enter the field well prepared.

The key element in any FPS is the problem definition, in which the client organization, supported by your work, makes a deliberate choice out of the problem mess the organization faces. You can use the cases in this chapter to train the making of a sound and justified proposal for the problem definition for your project. In the event that an FPS project flounders, the reasons for this often can be traced back to a weak problem definition.

A more comprehensive training exercise is the drawing up of a project proposal, which should contain, among other things, the problem definition and the deliverables of the project. In your actual field project you will have to make your project proposal while you are not yet familiar with this type of fieldwork, nor with the organization and problem in question. Therefore, this is a difficult and risky part of your project. Accordingly, there are many reasons to train this crucial first activity before entering the field.

Section 14.2 gives a possible formulation for the assignment of making a project proposal with some hints for making a sound one, and Section 14.3 gives six cases.

The Assignment Itself

Make a draft project proposal for an FPS project for [name of the company]. This project proposal is the conclusion of the first step of the problem-solving cycle – the problem definition – and provides the directions for the next steps. Usually a project proposal is made on the basis of a number of interviews. For the present assignment, the material for making your proposal is, therefore, a series of summaries of interviews, made during the orientation phase of the project. These interviews were held with important stakeholders in the problem to be addressed.

Objectives and Target Audiences

Marc checks his PowerPoint presentation one last time. He is a bit nervous, and experiences some stage fright. At the same time, he is also quite excited. This afternoon he will get a full hour at the weekly marketing management meeting to present and defend his design for a new medium-term sales planning system.

It was several months ago that Marc, a graduate MBA student, started his internship at the marketing department of a small business unit in industrial measurement equipment, part of a multinational company. At the intake the assignment had looked quite straightforward, but during the orientation stage in the first weeks it proved to be quite a complex one. This was partly due to political tension between corporate headquarters and the struggling business unit and partly to the fact that market research by the marketing department proved to be underdeveloped. After the orientation phase, therefore, the assignment was broadened somewhat. It was not always easy; some people supported his assignment, giving him much time and many ideas, but others were somewhat sceptical, and were reluctant to interrupt their busy schedules to talk with him (especially at headquarters). However, with the strong support of the marketing manager, his principal for the assignment, his company mentor and his academic supervisor, and, furthermore, with the methodological support of the book Problem Solving in Organizations, he had been able to overcome these obstacles. He had carried out a systematic review of the literature on the various aspects of his assignment and had used this as a major input for improvement proposals for market research and for the design of his sales planning system; his design surely is an example of the ‘state of the art’.

Now he is confident that the meeting will be successful and that his design of a solution will be formally adopted. The key participants of the meeting have been briefed by him beforehand on his design, and most seem to support it, including the marketing manager. The only people whose positions he is not sure of are the two market researchers, who keep asking awkward questions. Never mind, though; the die has been cast.