Design thinking and change management

: the case of a Portuguese retail company

Abstract

Several companies find in Design Thinking a way of obtaining a competitive advantage and, thus, to assure a privileged position in the marker. Despite the approach’s attractiveness and broad acceptance, little is known about the challenges a firm will face when trying to implement it, heavily based as it is in a creative process. The present study tries to identify some of the factors that shape the way the implementation process occurs, and, also, how do they conduce to a situation of change management - i.e., how do they reveal the necessity for managing the problems emerging from a situation of change and, consequently, looking for solutions capable of, at the same time, provide valid answers to concrete problems, while also echoing the specific demands of this approach. From the review of the latest literature, there seems to be a consensual inclination to dismiss this issue. The present study tries to answer the following research question “How does DT influence change management?”. In order to answer this investigation’s main question, it was understood that the focus on a single case study was preferable. This study presents the perspective of a Portuguese multinational firm, comprising the result of three different interviews to members of the organization who have been connected to the department of innovation. The case study revealed that not all of the identified factors have a negative influence on DT’s implementation and that, considering their (potential) impact in the final result, an extra attention should be paid to the efforts of change management so as to assure that the application of the approach is processed as smoothly as possible.

Date of Award	13 Jul 2017
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Ricardo Alexandre Morais (Supervisor)