Question

Demonstrate your understanding of Design thinking, also refer to as managing as designing, by first defining what it is; then, discussing how this way of thinking is similiar to or different from the traditional planning, orgainizing, leading and controlling (POLC) model

Answer 1

Design thinking is a 5 step process

Involving five phases—Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test

While the traditional POLC Model is a 4stage process involving

Planning, Organizing, Leading, Controlling.

Managing as designing can be described as Design thinking of non-linear, iterative process that teams use to consider consumers, question assumptions, redefine problems and develop creative concept and test solutions.

First step is to Get an empathetic understanding of the problem trying to solve, generally by user testing. Empathy is key to human-centered design practises, such as design thinking, because it helps to put aside own assumptions about the environment and gain real insight into users and their needs.

It is similar to POLC Framework in the following ways

• Defining Organization Vision & Mission
• Setting Goals & Objectives
• Strategizing
• Plan of Action to Achieve Goals

All these in the planning phase are similar to the first two steps of design thinking i e Emphasizing and Design.

• Next is the ideation phase which involves organized way of searching for alternatives to conventional thinking this is similar to Organizing step of POLC.

The Leading step involves Motivation, Coordination and communication to design a New prototype idea.

Finally the the controlling is the phase where reviews evaluation standards and procedures are maintained.

This is similar to final and 5th step Testing of Design thinking.