Preparing Managers for Turbulent Contexts: Teaching the Principles of Design Thinking

Abstract

Design thinking is a creative practice that sparks managers’ thinking and acting in response to the challenges of shifting consumer preferences, emerging new technological possibilities, and changing business models. The issues for management education, that is, preparing students for future management roles, is how one can teach design thinking to management students to prepare them for turbulent contexts. This article presents a conceptual approach with empirical illustrations for teaching the core principles of design thinking: user focus, problem framing, visualization, experimentation, and diversity. To help future managers develop a design-thinking attitude, we present a structured 1-hour approach that, first, introduces the design-thinking process (understand, observe, define point of view, ideate, prototype, and test); second, links design-thinking principles to the phases of the design-thinking process and the management of turbulences; and, third, zooms in on each of the six phases. We focus on how design-thinking principles—the common denominator of different design-thinking approaches—can foster students’ creativity and innovation as key elements of managing in turbulent times. In addition to presenting the process itself, the article contains instructions for conducting the exercise.