A competency framework for Bachelors and beyond

20th DMI: Academic Design Management Conference Inflection Point: Design Research Meets Design Practice Boston, USA, 22-29 July 2016 A competency framework for Bachelors and beyond Jan-Erik BAARSa and Sarah RÜEDI*b a b The Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts; The Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts Businesses struggle to deliver a consistent customer experience across a broad and complex number of touch points: succeeding requires coordination of functionally diversified departments, which is a challenge to many organizations. The authors propose a coordinated approach to overcome departmental silo thinking, in which visionary leadership anchors customer-focused purpose and installs design management to integrate the function of design into the core competency of the business. Design managers, in this solution, require skills equivalent to an evolved role of design management. To determine, which abilities design managers need to successfully integrate functional units the authors developed a competency framework. Fourteen competencies, grouped in four clusters contributed to this framework. The clusters are: managing the design process; mediating business value; building a creative environment and connecting and convincing others. To test the significance of the individual competencies practitioners were asked to rate the relevance of the competencies in effectively overcoming diversification. To ‘disseminate purpose’ was rated most important, followed by ‘aligning design processes with business objectives’, as well as the ability to ‘remain self-motivated and open-minded’ when dealing with others. The study revealed that specific competencies are relevant in integrating functional departments in support of delivering holistically designed customer experiences. Furthermore, the results provide valuable insights for curriculum development in educational programs, which are focused on the development of professionals equipped for the evolved role in design management. Keywords: Design Management, Organizational Integration, Design Management Roles, Design Management Competencies, Design Management Education, Curriculum Development * Corresponding authors: Jan-Erik Baars | e-mail: jan-erik.baars@hslu.ch; Sarah Rüedi | e-mail: s.ruedi@gmail.com Copyright © 2016. Copyright in each paper on this conference proceedings is the property of the author(s). Permission is granted to reproduce copies of these works for purposes relevant to the above conference, provided that the author(s), source and copyright notice are included on each copy. For other uses, including extended quotation, please contact the author(s). JAN-ERIK BAARS AND SARAH RÜEDI With customers demanding holistically designed customer experiences across numerous touch points organizations have recognized the need for effective cooperation and coordination between functional departments. The transition towards greater integration and collaboration across functionally diversified units – whose expectations, approaches and goals differ distinctly from each other – however, continues to remain problematic for most organizations. Additionally, the traditional departmentalized structure combined with the tendency of employees to strongly identify with their individual functional units stand counter to the possibility of organizations becoming cooperative and integrated. A solution proposed by the authors is to combine an evolved role of design management together with a purpose based leadership style and supporting structures and processes to overcome one of the dominant challenges facing organizations today: functional departmentalization, also described as diversification. The objective of this paper is to outline a coordinated solution to free organizations from functional departmentalization and consequently become more effective in offering and delivering holistic customer experiences. More specifically, the authors will highlight the importance of design management in assisting the integration of functional units in organizations. As a result, a description of the knowledge, skills and abilities required for the design management role will be presented. Finally, the effect of an expansion in the role on design management educational programs will be explained. Change to experiential society The ubiquity of technology and the digitalization of products, services and channels have changed the nature of products and services customers’ want and desire. Consumers, who are increasingly hard to segment and grasp, are using technology as an enabler for the experiences they want to create, and not for the function they offer. This desire for holistic experiences indicates a broad and complex number of touch points must be synchronized. In response to the change in consumer demands businesses are compelled to transform their operations into an integrated, collaborative and agile organization. However, currently many businesses have departmentalized structures, processes, methods and tools, as well as corporate cultures that make it difficult to convert into an integrated organization. These businesses, which are predominantly structured around functions, behave in a machine-like fashion – a feature of a diversified organization structure (Glasl, 1997). The advantage of diversified structures is that businesses can effectively maintain oversight and control over their operations and departmental results. A drawback of this approach is the tendency for operational and functional units to become alienated from the business’s overall vision and purpose: diversification drives functional departments to develop an own purpose, often accompanied by their own mission statements and business targets that reflect the specific contribution of their function – and not of the larger whole. The result is silo-thinking. Organizational wide purpose building To overcome the symptoms of diversification many businesses have set up initiatives, like incubators, startups or spin-offs. With these new organizational (sub-)units, businesses have attempted to overcome departmental behaviour by constructing integrated structures from the outset. Also new methodologies have been used to counter the effects of departmentalization: methods like Design Thinking, Scrum or Human Centered Design have been adopted to develop organizational readiness business wide. These approaches allow businesses to generate new insightful propositions that deliver holistic customer experiences, which are favoured by customers. Design methods, in particular, which are focused on delivering empathic, insightful and responsive customer experiences as an overarching business goal, have proven to be a strong factor in integrating departments and units. Design methods are able to ‘articulate’ the purpose of a business, either through prototypes or visualizations and, as a result, support the collective understanding of the business’s common goal. For this reason designers are increasingly hired into organizations and subsidiaries and design service providers are given assignments way beyond the ‘normal’ design tasks, supporting business in strategy development, business management and vision creation. Even classic business consultants are adding design competency to their offering. An alternative solution to the calcifying effect of diversified structures is to initiate deliberate and widespread change management activities. Commencing with the core of the business, Sprenger (2004) calls for a radical change in how leadership is applied. Visionary leadership, which develops a collective purpose and clarifies the ‘why’ of employees’ (collective) task (Sinek, 2011) would replace a leadership doctrine that is based on an ‘omnipotent management’. Glasl and Lievegoed (2004) support this view and regard such a development as a ‘natural’ step towards the creation of an integrated organization, in which employees 2 A competency framework for Bachelors and beyond develop a high level of ‘intrinsic motivation’ in their desire to support an overarching business goal. As a consequence a spirit of co-ownership amongst employees develops, which promotes united efforts to collaboratively contribute to this organization wide vision. According to Glasl (1997) the purpose of any businesses is to generate (mutual) value by serving the customer. Furthermore, the realization of this goal demands a commitment organization wide. Implementation of a fully integrated customer centric organization begins with leadership, whose task is to take deliberate actions that centre the efforts of the entire organization on the customer. In coordination with these leadership actions three separate sub-systems develop (Glasl, 1997): a cultural sub-system; a social subsystem and a technical-instrumental sub-system (figure 1). The cultural sub-system describes the business ‘raison d'être’. It translates the common business purpose into relevant core values and principles and operates as the foundation for all entrepreneurial activities. A social sub-system enables individuals to work in a collaborative environment responding with agility to the changing needs and desires of customers. Finally, a technical-instrumental sub-system, characterized by methods and tools, allows a high level of self-adjustment and agility to support the implementation of the business purpose to deliver holistic and coherent customer experiences. Organizational sub-systems Leadership level Cultural sub-system Values, mission, strategies, leadership Structural level Social sub-system Structures, functions, collaboration, atmosphere Instrumental sub-system Procedures, processes, resources, offerings Implementation level Figure 1 The organizational sub-system. Source: Glasl (1997). In combination with this leadership directed approach (Glasl, 1997; Sprenger, 2004) a corresponding customer focused method, such as Design Thinking, would ensure the transfer of customer centricity throughout the organization. Design Thinking develops an empathic understanding of the customer to create relevant and agile solutions and facilitates the incorporation of business purpose into and across functional units. Design Thinking processes and tools would emerge to steer all strategies and behaviours alike, on fulfilling the business’s sole purpose – to serve the customer. The role of design management in driving integration Assuming the adoption of a customer-focused purpose, with a fitting leadership style and supporting structures and methodology, the effective coordination of customer focused solutions creation remains to be solved. Required is an expert, who assists management in synchronizing holistic and coherent customer experiences across the organization. This describes the role of a design manager. Design management, over the last 30 years, has been instrumental in developing appropriate processes and methods that can integrate design into the core competency of a business. Following the notion that design is a business function, involving the skill of articulation or form-giving (seen design) as well as the skill of decision making in design (Mintzberg & Dumas, 1991), many aspects of design doing have surfaced over the last decades, and increasingly with the digitalization of businesses and channels. Over the same period design management has evolved from predominantly managing the demand and supply of design services related to development and innovation towards addressing the design ‘readiness’ of an organization. Rather than being a mere facilitator and broker of design services and activities design management is now developing into a task field, in which design managers are either an enabler / facilitator or a developer of design competencies within businesses and organizations. With today’s businesses focusing on delivering holistic customer experiences (Pine & Gilmore, 2011) – rather than ‘just’ products – also the function of design is converging into a sub-activity of ‘experience design’ that involves various aspects of orchestrated design-doing and thinking. As already described by Gorb and Dumas (1987), design also encompasses decision making (silent design), which is at the core of a design manager’s role to support organizational integration. As a consequence, the function of design management is 3 JAN-ERIK BAARS AND SARAH RÜEDI evolving towards a role of orchestrating an organization’s effort to conceive and render those customer experiences. Defining the evolving role of design management The role shift from being primarily function oriented towards an organization orientated position mirrors the change in design activities and their execution from a predominantly functional approach, towards a more integrated approach that can support holistic experience delivery. By overcoming the boundaries of silothinking and functional departmentalization, the role of design management is eventually able to connect the function of design with the purpose of the organization. Proposing a second dimension of design management Although the role is instrumental in assisting organizations to transform it does not fit with the current design management role description. Typically, the role has focused on the management of design resources at varying levels of complexity within organizations on the level of operations, tactics and strategy (Mozota, 2003). The authors suggest expanding this role in order to reflect the enlarged spectrum in design management. To capture the design related activities a second dimension was created to incorporate the design context (figure 2). This dimension represents the variety of design management roles, whose responsibilities include not only executing design tasks, but also enabling and directing the function of design. Figure 2 Role dimensions in design management. Source: Baars (2016). With the additional design context element, the original definition that design management is predominantly an aspect of line management dealing with the resources in an organization to achieve corporate objectives is expanded to include the activity of ‘design’, which also can take place at all management levels within an organization, in line with the description of Mozota (2003). The function of design cannot be restricted to a mere application of design skill on artefacts and touch points, but can be regarded as a process, for instance in the application of a method like Design Thinking – and regardless if it is described from a rational standpoint (Simon, 1969) or from an action-oriented standpoint (Schön, 1983) – becomes a crucial aspect for any business doing. In connecting the two dimensions, the role of design management becomes less specific and management oriented and provides a larger variety of roles that correspond to the diversity in design activities within organizations. Whereas in the one-dimensional view of design management leadership roles would centre on operational or functional leadership, new business realities and demands – resulting from organizational change – require leadership roles in design as well. This added focus generates greater complexity and a multi disciplinary view, but allows design to be represented and integrated throughout all aspects of the organization. With the adoption of this approach design management encompasses both the complexity of the managerial context (where the role is applied) as well as the function or activity of design (what is aimed at). By combining both dimensions into one role field the breath and width of the evolved design management role is captured. Thus the roles are represented at each level of the organization and in each function of design, but 4 A competency framework for Bachelors and beyond are distinguished by the responsibility and complexity within the managerial context as well as in the breath and depth of competencies associated with the design function. Figure 3 shows a possible division of the two dimensions, indicating three areas of focus per axis yielding nine possible design management roles. All roles would be encompassed in the field of design management. Structural level Management context Leadership level Implementation level manager leader visionary planner organiser developer implementer coordinator integrator Design context Executing level Enabling level Directing level Figure 3 Design management roles. Source: Baars (2016). From the nine roles there are six additional functions to those commonly identified in a one-dimensional model of design management. The extra roles incorporate competencies associated with the function of design across the three levels of the managerial context. To provide an example of how these roles differ depending on the design context the various roles at the structural level of management are defined. The roles described are planner, organizer and developer. Planner: activities focus on executing the task of design at a structural level of management • The design manager (DM) planner coordinates several design activities within an organization - either in defining the design tasks and setting up design teams at an organizational level, or in combination with sourcing relevant design specialists. It is the responsibility of the design planner to ensure design execution is provided. Organizer: activities focus on enabling design at a structural level of management • The DM organizer mediates between various parties related to design. On the side of a design supplier, design managers assume the role of account management by establishing the appropriate briefing and requirements, leading to a design resource plan. Also the DM organizer aligns the processes between design and other functions. Developer: activities focus on directing the design function at a structural level of management • The DM developer aims to develop design into an organizational competence by infusing design methodologies as a common process and thinking. This can be within business organizations, where the design developer takes a position of an internal consultant or coach, supporting various functional units with design strategy support or through instructing the implementation of designthinking methods. This application of responsibilities also operate in design agencies where the design strategist create relevant insights through design research methodologies, supporting the projects in design know how, dealing with complex services such as innovation, branding or interaction. Design management as a field As demonstrated in the role descriptions of organizer and developer, design managers are responsible for activities related to the wider context of design. These experts act as integrators supporting attempts of a diversified organization to assimilate design across the entire corporate structure: either as a provider or broker of services rendered by external specialists, as mediator of design thinking methods or as a facilitator in cross-departmental and multi-disciplinary activities. Responding to this enlarged set of design management roles that meet organizational demands related to design, the authors propose to define design management as a field of competence that addresses various 5 JAN-ERIK BAARS AND SARAH RÜEDI functions, and not as a stand-alone function. This field can be compared to a competency area like business management, which comprises various business functions and roles, like marketing, accounting, controlling or communication. The Competency Framework for Design Managers Despite the variety of the activities involved in design management there is a common set of knowledge, skills and abilities required to successfully perform in any of the roles. Additionally, there are specific skills and abilities needed depending on the position of the role within the managerial and design context. Together these common and supplementary abilities have been combined to identify a set of design management competencies. According to Zingheim and Schuster (2009) competencies offer a relevant description of design management, because competencies describe the roles people perform, rather than their tasks or responsibilities. A competency-based description includes technical competencies that relate to the role’s knowledge and skills, as well as behavioural competencies that include personal and attitudinal factors (Hessami & Moore, 2008). Competencies, therefore, offer a complete representation of the total knowledge, skills and abilities required to perform a role. As displayed in the proposed competency framework (Rüedi & Baars, 2016) design managers need to be proficient in four clusters of competencies (figure 4). The clusters of competencies represent the knowledge, skills and abilities relevant to the role within a managerial context as well as within a context of design. It is notable that the competency framework uses the same two dimensions featured in the enlarged role spectrum for design managers. Along the horizontal axis lies the design context, whereas the vertical axis describes the managerial context. The choice to use the same two dimensions to describe the competencies allowed an overlay of the competencies onto the roles they underpin. In this approach the competencies are aligned and represent the knowledge, skills and abilities expected in an individual role. From the four clusters of competencies two clusters describe management competencies relevant to the organization (blue), whereas two clusters are associated with the design context (green). The fist quadrant (manage the design process) describes competencies needed to connect individuals to a task in design, while the second area (mediate business value) are filled with those that connect design tasks to the purpose of an organization. A third quadrant describes the competencies, which connect individuals to the function of design (create a creative environment), whereas the last section features those that connect the function of design with the purpose of the organization (connect and convince others). Figure 4 The Competency Framework for Design Managers. Source: Rüedi and Baars (2016). 6 A competency framework for Bachelors and beyond The first competency cluster, “Managing the design process”, is built around the design manager’s ability to define the design brief. The DM captures the activities in design and communicates directly and clearly to designers, marketers and business managers. In order to define the tasks in design, DMs must then be able to plan and coordinate the demand side (clients, commissioners etc.) with the delivery side to scope the activities in a design project. This comes along with a thorough understanding of how to plan design activities and structure them in a way that they can generate valuable outcomes. Enabling between different sides with different interests requires a high degree of self-steering and determination and the ability to engage parties in decision-making and adherence. This ability is crucial when coordinating the task in design within projects where the execution need to meet standards and pre-set targets. “Mediating business value“ is the second design management competency cluster that reflects the DM’s ability to connect the design task with an organizational target or intention. Whereas design tasks themselves can be self-contained, the creation of business value through design can only be generated if they are clearly aligned to business objectives. DM’s need to be able to translate business objectives into design demands relating to process, activities, resources and deliverables. This requires a high degree of context sensitivity since the involved stakeholders generally have diverse expectations related to outcome and value. The ability to mediate between interests and to organize transactions between the involved parties is a crucial competency to achieve tangible and valuable design results. The competency cluster “building a creative environment” describes the ability to connect individuals with the function of design. This cluster is built around the manager’s ability to build a creative as well as a high performing team structure that allows individuals to collaborate effectively. Here the DM has to be able to unite different perspectives of individuals related to the function of design (which essentially describes how design is applied) and encourage those involved to openly exchange their opinions and experiences. Since design activities require an environment that supports creativity and focus, DM’s need to understand the motivations and motives of individuals in order to encourage constructive discourse that leads to outstanding design solutions. At the same time the DM can facilitate decision-making within the design function, in support to become meaningful in planning and implementation activities. The final competency cluster “connecting and convincing others” captures the DM’s ability to engage those active in design with the organization’s purpose – and vice versa. Design within organizations becomes valuable and meaningful when the function of design is central to shaping the organization’s purpose. The competency to disseminate a goal or vision amongst individuals is essential to translate abstract objectives into functional information for individuals. For this design managers need a high degree of abstraction and the ability to formulate and communicate convincingly. At the same time DM’s need to embrace a holistic view point towards argumentation and perspectives, combined with strong empathy for the motives of those involved, in order to support sense making. With the competencies related to this cluster, DM’s are able to connect the rational side of business thinking with the emotional side of design thinking, allowing an organization to utilize the design function in a most effective way. The four clusters contribute to a general description of the skills and abilities associated with the roles within the field of design management. In contrast, 14 individual competencies provide a detailed view of the knowledge, skills and abilities required. The four clusters, together with the corresponding individual competencies are depicted in table 1. Table 1 Clusters and competencies in The Competency Framework for Design Managers. Source: Rüedi and Baars (2016). Mediate business value Align design process with business objectives (business management) Plan and organize interaction with business (account management) Focus on outcomes and solutions (action orientation) Adapt the communication to the context (context sensitivity) Manage the design process Define the design task: create the Design Brief (design briefing) Coordinate design activities and execution (project management) Maintain a motivated and engaged attitude (self motivation) Connect and convince others Promote a shared vision and purpose (leadership dissemination) Transform abstract ideas into concrete information (sense making) Assume a holistic and outside-in perspective (empathy) Be aware of and understand ones self-image (self awareness) Build a creative environment Build an environment of trust (group collaboration) Unite and share different values and perspectives (team building) Operate out of trust and without prejudice (open mindedness) 7 JAN-ERIK BAARS AND SARAH RÜEDI Research and Results Originally, the clusters of competencies were generated via investigations based on desk research and empirical knowledge of experienced practitioners, but experts’ opinions working in the field were lacking. Hence the authors developed an online questionnaire to find out how professionals in the industry viewed the relevance of the competencies in contributing to the main activities performed by a design manager. The questionnaire consisted of three sections. Section one asked participants to consider the dominant challenge currently existing in their organization. The purpose of these questions was to test the assumption that the main challenge for businesses is organizational diversification. A second part asked respondents to rate the relevance of each competency from the design management competency framework in solving their main organizational challenge. Finally, the last section enquired about the participants’ biographical information. The online survey was uploaded on 14 January 2016 and responses were received for a period of approximately two weeks. 56 managers and other professionals working in manufacturing and development, arts and design, education and consulting participated in the survey. The majority of respondents, who managed from 5 to 15 employees, identified the lack of integration and silo-thinking as the most dominant challenge in their organizations. In analysing the level of relevance of the competencies in solving organizational diversification a pattern emerged, indicating particular competencies were considered more applicable than others. However, a precise comparison between competencies necessitated a numerical score. The NPS®-methodology [Net Promoter Score] (Reichheld & Markey, 2011) was used to calculate a score, to identify the relative strength of the individual competencies in solving the main organizational challenge. Figure 5: Preference ranking of competencies in solving functional diversification. Source: Rüedi and Baars (2016). As seen in figure 5, the competency considered most important in overcoming diversification was the ability to promote a shared vision and purpose (purpose dissemination). This competency was considered almost twice as important (a NPS score of 44%) as the second most highly ranked competency, which is the capacity to align the design process with business objectives (a NPS score of 29%). These findings indicate the critical importance of purpose dissemination when organizations aspire to integrate distinct functional units. Additionally, professionals in the industry place great importance on business management capabilities. The ability to align design processes with business objectives is critical to overcoming silo thinking. With this skill 8 A competency framework for Bachelors and beyond designers are equipped to coordinate and support the short and long term goals of a business, and meaningfully contribute to the financial and creative health of an organization. The remaining 3 of the top 5 competencies considered most relevant for overcoming organizational ineffectiveness were all related to an individual’s capability in the area of personal and social skills. Of particular importance was the ability to remain self-motivated even in the face of unpopular decisions or less than optimal working situations. Additionally, being willing to understand, accept and continue to communicate and exchange with colleagues – who may work in distinctly different functional units and possibly coming from dissimilar educational backgrounds with divergent goals and approaches – were considered important. Implications for design management The results from the questionnaire confirmed the authors’ assumption that diversification is a dominant challenge in organization. By assigning roles to go beyond the realm of management into the function of design, design management is becoming a bridge builder between the various functional departments. In businesses where design is active in an organization design management can aid in overcoming the organizational symptoms of silo thinking. Additionally, the study revealed it is through the creation, dissemination and ownership of a meaningful, overriding organizational purpose that functional units are inspired to work collaboratively with each other. It is therefore a design manager’s obligation to disseminate purpose that will guide and provide direction for the organization. Specifically, they must be able to translate and communicate the vision within and across the diversified units. Via consistent and persistent communication, as well as through mediating or sense making connected with the overall goal, functional departments can develop towards a collaborative and integrated business doing. Ultimately, and to a large extent, it is the acceptance and commitment of the organization’s vision, which motivates departments to join forces to achieve a common purpose. Tied to the presence of purpose within functional departments it is actions that transform goals into reality. Design managers must be able to convincingly communicate and interpret the business goals in order to incorporate these objectives into the design processes. Essentially, it is only through successfully coordinating the application of a common and unifying business goal across functions that organizational purpose becomes real. Additionally, personal and interpersonal competencies are needed to fulfil the complex and demanding role of a DM. Design managers need to possess not only task related abilities, but also strong personal and social skills, allowing them to connect and collaborate with others rather than merely instructing them to fulfil a variety of activities. This finding suggests a design manager’s role demands more than just competencies that can be obtained through an educational program: personal maturity, empirical experience and strong reflection abilities provide valuable sources of social and personal learning and development. These practical incidents enable design managers to develop their proficiency in diverse exchanges and interactions, while at the same time delivering superior levels of performance in task and function related design activities. Outcomes of the research associated with the importance of personal and social skills may also indicate a hierarchy of competencies reflecting levels of maturity (figure 6). Starting at the lower left quadrant, where individuals are connected to tasks (project management), design managers may need relevant experiences over time to grow personally and interpersonally enabling the development of leadership and visionary skills. Through experiential learning, role models and mentors a design manager is able to develop the necessary skills to become effective in the upper right quadrant, where the function of design is connected to the purpose of an organization. Subsequently, the two other quadrants are areas of maturity that aim at either management (‘classic’ design management) or design (service design or design strategy). 9 JAN-ERIK BAARS AND SARAH RÜEDI Figure 6 Path of maturity within The Competency Framework for DMs. Source: Baars and Rüedi (2016). Via the path of maturity, which can be overlaid onto the competency framework, industry professionals have access to a model that reveal the type of development required as design managers gain more responsibilities at an organizational and design level. Equipped with the understanding, as well as the representation of the competency, roles and maturity models a valuable template enables supervisors and others the opportunity to identify and plot the skills needed for the variety of design management occupations (figure 7). More specifically, the frameworks can assist human resources in recruiting and selecting professionals through defining sets of competencies relevant for specific roles, belonging to particular occupations. Furthermore, the frameworks can provide basic requirements to measure the performance on assigned sets of competencies associated with an individual’s role. In this case, the frameworks are able to contribute to the development of an assessment tool for evaluation purposes leading to the provision of training and reward distributions. Additionally, the model can act as a canvas to map out career development trajectories. It is through understanding and using the relevant models the authors believe an essential improvement can be made to connect the design management field and competencies to the needs and requirements from the industry. 10 A competency framework for Bachelors and beyond Figure 7 Design management occupations in The Competency Framework for DMs. Source: Baars (2016). Implications for design management educational programs Yet, another implication of the findings is the relevance of the evolving role for curriculum development in design management education programs. With the additional complexity of design added to the management dimension the competencies needed to fulfil a role in design management have shifted. Even when the focus is on a less mature area in the framework (like managing the design process) a multitude of knowledge, skills and attitudes have to be conveyed within an educational program. A design management education therefore needs to connect management with design competencies and as a result requires a faculty, which is positioned next to design and management. But that is not all, additionally people skills need to be practiced and developed. That is why, and as a result of the authors’ enquiry into appropriate design management competencies, that a strong emphasis has to be placed on the development of personal skills, since these are crucial in the role of connecting individuals to purpose and secondly, organizations to design. In order to acquire these skills students need to practice hands on activities in ‘real life’ settings, supported by strong moments of reflection. Design management programs therefore need to create a deliberate balance between conveyance of knowledge and the practice of skills within realistic projects, allowing students to gain relevant levels of competency. This knowledge implies a place where a design management faculty ‘sits’ between the one of management and design and is neither part of one or the other. Additionally, taking into account the strong demand for personal competencies and a thorough understanding of people’s behaviour also suggest the benefit of a link to the discipline of psychology. Conclusion Design management is a field of competency and not a function per se. The demands regarding the role of design management are too diverse to be captured in a one-dimensional approach and require a wider view. A competency model in design management therefore needs to connect management with design on multiple levels catering for a variety of roles that reflect the demands in (business) organizations. As a consequence education programs in design management are recommended to follow suit. The programs have to focus on maturity requirements related to the roles and ideally lay a thorough competency foundation that support design managers’ eventual development. Next steps Looking ahead based on reflection, the authors acknowledge that the findings, despite their relevance for design management professionals in industry and education, represent an initial investigation. The quantitative study was limited in its capacity to substantially prove the relevance of the proposed design management competencies in solving organizational diversification. Consequently, further research is planned. The goal to gain more meaningful insights and understanding into the organizational relevance of the competency and role frameworks requires in-depth qualitative research. Participants in this study are expected to come from agencies and corporations. Additionally, after the consolidation of the qualitative outcomes, the authors plan to test the applicability of the frameworks in a well-designed case study, with a prominent, internationally successful organization. 11 JAN-ERIK BAARS AND SARAH RÜEDI References Boland, R. (2004). Managing as Designing. Stanford, CA: Stanford Business Books. Brown, T. (2008, June). Design Thinking. Harvard Business Review, 1-9. Buchanan, R. (1995). Discovering Design: Explorations in Design Studies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Cooper, R. (2005). Process Management in Design and Construction. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing. Dumas, A. & Mintzberg, H. (1989). Managing design/designing management. Design Management Journal, 1(1), 37-43. Glasl, F. (1997). The Enterprise of the Future: How Companies Develop through the Pioneer, Differentiated, Integrated and Associative Phases: Moral Intuition in Leadership and the Organisational Development. Stroud, UK: Hawthorn Press. Glasl, F., & Lievegoed, B. (2004). Dynamische Unternehmensentwicklung: Grundlagen für Nachhaltiges Change Management. [Dynamic Corporate Development: Basics for Sustainable Change Management]. Bern: Haupt Verlag. Gorb, P. (1990). Design Management. London, UK: Phaidon Press. Gorb, P. & Dumas, A. M. P. (1987, July). Silent design. Design Studies, 8(3), 150-156. Hessami, A. G. & Moore, M. (2008). Competence matters more than knowledge. The Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management, 5(4), 387-398. McGowan, H. (2014, Spring). Framing the vision for engagement. Design Management Review, 25(1), 22-32. Mintzberg, H. & Dumas, A. (1991). Managing the form, function, and fit of design. Design Management Journal, 2(3), 26-31. Mozota, B. B. (2003). Design Management: Using Design to Build Brand Value and Corporate Innovation. New York, NY: Allworth Press. Pine, B. & Gilmore, J. (1999). The Experience Economy. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press. Reichheld, F. F. & Markey, R. (2011). The Ultimate Question 2.0: How Net Promoter Companies Thrive in a Customer-Driven World. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press. Rochacka, W. (2010). Insights into Design Management Education in the UK: Lessons to be Learned. Retrieved on March 31, 2015 from http://www.designophy.com/article/design-article-1000000102-insights-into-design-management-educationin-the-uk.lessons-to-be-learned.htm Schippmann, J.S. (1999). Strategic Job Modelling. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum Schön, D. A. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. New York: Basic Books. Simon, H. (1969). The Sciences of the Artificial. Cambridge, UK: M.I.T. Press. Sinek, S. (2011). Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. London, UK: Portfolio. Sprenger, R. K. (2004). Trust: The Best Way to Manage. London, UK: Cyan. Zingheim, P. K. & Schuster, J. R. (2009). Competencies replacing jobs as the compensation/HR foundation. World as Work Journal, Third Quarter, 18(3), 6-20. 12