Design thinking: Guidelines for organizations

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to iterate proposed functional guidelines for the assertive practice of the design thinking approach in organizational environments, and therefore to promote innovation. Considering the statement that contextual conditions directly influence innovation, three specific functional guidelines-Design conductive formalization, Responsible hierarchical presence, and Integrative functional differentiation-go through a qualitative validation. Theory triangulation is conducted through semi-structured interviews with ten experienced professionals who practice design thinking in organizational environments. After consensual assessments and value judgements through Likert scales from the interviewed participants are formalized, the functional guidelines are iterated, and it is proposed that for the practice of design thinking in organizational environments to be effective: (1) organizations must count on an ecosystem that encourages creativity and experimentation in order to stimulate employees' engagement to continuous learning in a result oriented manner; (2) organizations must promote generative sessions where collaboration and hierarchy neutralization happen counting on the presence of facilitators that make sure objectives are reached according to the businesses' purposes; (3) organizations must contemplate human-centered work that is integrative and heterogeneous in order to increase the assertiveness of proposed solutions due to the diversity, knowledge and perspectives of everyone involved.