Managing as Designing

by Richard J. Boland (Editor), Fred Collopy

Managing as Designing explores "the design attitude," a new focus for analysis and decision making for managers that draws on examples of decision making and leadership in architecture, art, and design. Based on a series of conference papers given at the opening of the Peter B. Lewis Building (designed by Frank Gehry) at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, the book includes keynote speeches from Frank Gehry and Karl Weick.

The premise of this book is that managers should act not only as decision makers, but also as designers. Though decision and design are inextricably linked in management action, managers and scholars have too long emphasized the decision face of management over the design face. In a series of essays from a multitude of disciplines, the authors develop a theory of the design attitude in contrast to the more traditionally accepted and practiced decision attitude.

The book will appeal primarily to scholars of management theory and organization strategy and managers, with many contributions from a variety of academic backgrounds including architecture, sociology, design, history, choreography, strategy, economics, music, and accounting. There is a potential for strong crossover appeal to these groups, especially to those people and groups interested in design and product development.

Genres: Design, Business, Management, Leadership

313 pages, Hardcover

First published July 28, 2004

Reviews

[Jim Razinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of academic papers meant to examine how managers should look at what they do from the perspective of design. I think this is an excellent concept, and there are a number of good take-aways in here, but also a lot of ... well, academic writing. I'll never understand why scientists and academics choose to write so stiffly. My adviser totally did not like my conversational tone I used in my one published paper...so, I rewrote it.

Anyway, as I said, there are good nuggets in here...some harder to find than others, but still there.

[Alexander Van Leadam · Rating 2 out of 5]

The grass typically seems greener on the other side of the fence: designers are told to think more as managers and managers are told to think more like designers. It all depends on which metaphor one's using: problem solving, designing, information processing - there are several options and, as any metaphor, they have their uses and limitations. In this book, the view of design is rather optimistic: it focuses on the directness with which solutions and ideas are generated in design, ignoring the limitations of this generate-and-test attitude. It is fascinated by the disarming simplicity of design thinking, ignoring the naivety, superficiality, ignorance and arrogance that hide behind them. Of course, management can learn from designing, as well as from sports and rhetoric (to name just a couple of examples), but management is something quite different from designing. Rather than looking over the fence, management should focus on what it actually does and how it could do it better with its existing means and approaches. The room for improvement is considerable.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is essentially about interdependence techniques. For example, two of them are:

- Managing with a design attitude: everybody likes to be treated uniquely; every problem deserves a non-universal strategy to tackle with. As a problem solver, managing(or doing everything universally) with a design attitude gives a a unique opportunity to create something new and, thus improve ourselves
- Involve your team/client in reflection process: Most of the time, convincing other people is simply letting the other side see world inside us; understanding other people is just seeing the world inside others. This holds, universally, for design process. You, as a designer, get your client involved in the entire process using that the book referred to as "liquid state". You will let them understand the game, you will allow them to see the thought process of yours, and you will allow them to understand your decision so that you won't get a "surprise" response.

[Louisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book to flick through
Design attitude versus decision attitude.
And "engineering, medicine, business, architecture, and painting are concerned not with the necessary but with the contingent - not how things are but how they might be - in short, with design" ( Herbert Simon).
Also, models as a way to highlight different aspects to design for- to explore possibilities, and (Edwin Hutchins) "thinking is not something done exclusively inside the head, but is often accomplished in interaction with other people and with or tools".

[Kmk · Rating 3 out of 5]

+ This book talks a lot about how design and management can learn from each other and opens up a new discussion

- The book is a bit like a collection of essays from a workshop, with loose content

[Tareq Muhmood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to really dig around the book to find the nuggets that resonated. But when I did.. the nuggets were gold :)

[Michele]

stopping and starting on this one...