Skip to main content

Design Thinking as an Agile Panacea? Towards a Symbiotic Understanding of Design Thinking and Organizational Culture

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Agile Imperative

Part of the book series: Dynamics of Virtual Work ((DVW))

Abstract

This chapter seeks to explore the role of organizational culture in employing design thinking as an agile management tool and to reflect upon the benefits and challenges of doing so. The authors highlight the issue that the most difficult underlying task if design thinking is to succeed is to organize for self-organization and show that design thinking cannot be employed successfully if the organizational culture does not allow for such an agile management approach. Such a managerial approach is also most likely to be contingent upon an appropriate organizational culture. The chapter thus posits that the ‘one size fits all’ premise in terms of design thinking is unlikely to hold true in managerial practice.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Amabile, T. M., Barsade, S. G., Mueller, J. S., & Staw, B. M. (2005). Affect and creativity at work. Administrative Science Quarterly, 50(3), 367–403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beck, K., Beedle, M., van Bennekum, A., Cockburn, A., Cunningham, W., Fowler, M., et al. (2001a). Manifest für Agile Softwareentwicklung. http://agilemanifesto.org/iso/de/manifesto.html. Accessed 31 Aug 2018.

  • Beck, K., Beedle, M., van Bennekum, A., Cockburn, A., Cunningham, W., Fowler, M., et al. (2001b). Prinzipien hinter dem Agilen Manifest. http://agilemanifesto.org/iso/de/principles.html. Accessed 31 Aug 2018.

  • Bénabou, R., & Tirole, J. (2003). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The Review of Economic Studies, 70(3), 489–520.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benkler, Y. (2002). Coase’s Penguin, or, Linux and the nature of the firm. The Yale Law Journal, 112(3), 369–446.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brynjolfsson, E., & McAfee, A. (2016). The second machine age. Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castells, M. (1996). The rise of the network society. Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chesbrough, H. W. (2003). Open innovation: The new imperative for creating and profiting from technology. Harvard Business School Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, R. G. (1994). Perspective: Third-generation new product processes. The Journal of Product Innovation Management, 11(1), 3–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corsten, H., Gössinger, R., Müller-Seitz, G., & Schneider, H. (2016). Grundlagen des Technologie- und Innovationsmanagement. Vahlen.

    Google Scholar 

  • D’Aveni, R. A. (1994). Hyper-Competition. Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Danner-Schröder, A., & Müller-Seitz, G. (2017). Qualitative Methoden in der Organisations- und Managementforschung: Ein anwendungsorientierter Leitfaden für Datensammlung und -analyse. Vahlen.

    Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48(2), 147–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Etzioni, A. (1968). The active society: A theory of societal and political processes. Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fayol, H. (1949). General and industrial management. Pitman Publishing Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gioia, D. A., & Chittipeddi, K. (1991). Sensemaking and sensegiving in strategic change initiation. Strategic Management Journal, 12(6), 433–448.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gomez, P., & Probst, G. J. B. (1989). Organizational closure in management: A complementary view to contingency approaches. Cybernetics and Systems: An International Journal, 20(4), 311–320.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayek, F. A. v. (1976). Individualismus und wirtschaftliche Ordnung. Neugebauer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Häusling, A. (2018). Agile organisationen: Transformationen erfolgreich gestalten—Beispiele agiler Pioniere. Haufe Lexware.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heinlein, K., & Weiss, W. (2017). Innovationskultur von Morgen – Zukunft gestalten im Zeitalter des digitalen Wandels. In V. Lingnau, G. Müller-Seitz, & S. Roth (Eds.), Management der digitalen Transformation (pp. 245–258). Vahlen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hilgers, D., Müller-Seitz, G., & Piller, F. (2010). Benkler revisited—Venturing beyond the open source software arena? ICIS 2010 Proceedings Paper 97. St. Louis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howe, J. (2006). The rise of crowdsourcing. https://www.wired.com/2006/06/crowds/. Accessed 5 Sept 2018.

  • Howe, J. (2008). Crowdsourcing: Why the power of the crowd is driving the future of business. Crown Business.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacoby, S. M. (1984). Employing bureaucracy: Managers, unions and the transformation of work in the 20th century. Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeppesen, L. B., & Lakhani, K. R. (2010). Marginality and problem-solving effectiveness in broadcast search. Organization Science, 21(5), 1016–1033.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser, S., & Müller-Seitz, G. (2008). Leveraging lead user knowledge in software development: The case of weblog technology economics of open-source collaboration. Industry & Innovation, 15(2), 199–221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelley, D., & Kelley, T. (2015). Creative confidence: Unleashing the creative potential within us all. Harper Collins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirsch, W. (1997). Kommunikatives Handeln, Autopoiese, Rationalität: Kritische Aneignungen im Hinblick auf eine evolutionäre Organisationstheorie. Kirsch.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lifshitz-Assaf, H. (2018). Dismantling knowledge boundaries at NASA: The critical role of professional identity in open innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 63(4), 746–782.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lingnau, V., Müller-Seitz, G., & Roth, S. (2018). Management der digitalen Transformation: Interdisziplinäre theoretische Perspektiven und praktische Ansätze. Vahlen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luhmann, N. (1984). Soziale Systeme: Grundriss einer allgemeinen Theorie. Suhrkamp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mois, T. (2018). Im besten Fall werde ich ignoriert. Harvard Business Manager, 8(4), 64–70.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morner, M. (1997). Organisation der Innovation im Konzern: Gestaltung von Konzernstrukturen zur Hervorbringung von Produktinnovationen. Gabler.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Müller-Seitz, G. (2014). Von Risiko zu Resilienz: Zum Umgang mit Unerwartetem aus Organisationsperspektive. ZfbF, 66(68), 102–122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Müller-Seitz, G., & Reger, G. (2009). Is open source software living up to its promises? Insights for open innovation management from two open source software-inspired projects. R&D Management, 39(4), 372–381.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Müller-Seitz, G., & Weiss, W. (2019). Strategien zum Umgang mit der digitalen Transformation…aus der Sicht eines mittelständischen „Hidden Champions“. Vahlen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Okhuysen, G. A., & Bechky, B. A. (2009). Coordination in organizations: An integrative perspective. Academy of Management Annals, 3(1), 463–502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plattner, H., Meinel, C., & Weinberg, U. (2009). Design-thinking. Munich: mi-Wirtschaftsbuch.

    Google Scholar 

  • Puranam, P., Alexy, O., & Reitzig, M. (2014). What’s “New” about new forms of organizing? Academy of Management Review, 39(2), 162–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raab, J., & Kenis, P. (2009). Heading toward a society of networks: Empirical developments and theoretical challenges. Journal of Management Inquiry, 18(3), 198–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raymond, E. (1999). The cathedral & the bazaar: Musings on Linux and open source by an accidental revolutionary. O’Reilly.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rubin, K. S. (2015). Essential scrum: A practical guide to the most popular Agile process. Pearson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sambamurthy, V., Bharadwaj, A. S., & Grover, V. (2003). Shaping agility through digital options: Reconceptualizing the role of information technology in contemporary firms. MIS Quarterly, 27(2), 237–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarros, J. C., Cooper, B. K., & Santora, J. C. (2008). Building a climate for innovation through transformational leadership and organization culture. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 15(2), 145–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schein, E. H. (2004). Organizational culture and leadership. Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schreyögg, G., & Sydow, J. (2010). Organizing for fluidity? Dilemmas of new organizational forms. Organization Science, 21(6), 1251–1262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sutherland, J. (2015). Scrum: The art of doing twice the work in half the time. Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sydow, J., Schüßler, E., & Müller-Seitz, G. (2016). Managing inter-organizational relations: Debates and cases. Palgrave.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Tallon, P. P., & Pinsonneault, A. (2011). Competing perspectives on the link between strategic information technology alignment and organizational agility: Insights from a mediation model. MIS Quarterly, 35(2), 463–484.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, F. W. (1911). The principles of scientific management. Harper & Brothers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vázquez-Bustelo, D., Avella, L., & Fernández, E. (2007). Agility drivers, enablers and outcomes: Empirical test of an integrated agile manufacturing model. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 27(12), 1303–1332.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. E. (1979). The social psychology of organizing. Addison Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weick, K. E., & Sutcliffe, K. M. (2015). Managing the unexpected: Sustained performance in a complex world (3rd ed.). Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williamson, O. E. (2000). The new institutional economics: Taking stock, looking ahead. Journal of Economic Literature, 38(3), 595–613.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zidulka, A., & Mitchell, I. K. (2018). Creativity or cooptation? Thinking beyond instrumentalism when teaching design thinking. Journal of Management Education, 42(6), 749–760. https://doi.org/10.1177/1052562918799797.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gordon Müller-Seitz .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Müller-Seitz, G., Weiss, W. (2021). Design Thinking as an Agile Panacea? Towards a Symbiotic Understanding of Design Thinking and Organizational Culture. In: Pfeiffer, S., Nicklich, M., Sauer, S. (eds) The Agile Imperative . Dynamics of Virtual Work. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73994-2_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73994-2_6

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-73993-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-73994-2

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics