Post on 30-May-2018
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
1/26
1
PERSPECTIVES ON DESIGN LEADERSHIP
AND DESIGN THINKING IN THE SERVICE INDUSTRY
Judith Gloppen
Tel: +47 93 08 59 74
Fax: +47 22 99 71 90
judith.gloppen@aho.no
Oslo School of Architecture and Design
Pb 6768 St. Olavs plass, 0130 Oslo
Norway
International DMI Education Conference
Design Thinking: New Challenges for Designers, Managers and Organizations
14-15 April 2008, ESSEC Business School, Cergy-Pointoise, France
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
2/26
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
3/26
3
INTRODUCTION
Figure 1: The Brand Touchpoint Wheel(Voss & Zomerdijk 2007, adapted from Dunn & Davis).
The rise of service innovation
The EU economies are increasingly becoming service economies. As a growing professional and research
field, Service Innovation is widely seen as necessary for improving growth, competitiveness and welfare in
Europe (Rubalcada 2007)1. In this context, design is recognised as an important contributor to an innovative
organisations performance. This is reflected in different domains of education, literature and publications. In
education, joint programmes between business and design schools are being developed to create design-
minded business leaders for the future. Leading proponents of this approach in education are The Rotman
1Rabalcada (2007).
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
4/26
4
School of Management, the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology and Stanfords new
Design School (d.school headed by IDEO founder David Kelly). The centrality of design-inspired
innovation appears in recent research literature (e.g. Utterback et. al 2006) and the Harvard Business Review,
Design Management Review . It is also often aired in a range of popular publications such as theFast
Company Magazine andBusiness Week.
Success in todays markets and future ones depends increasingly upon market leadership via the use of
design. During the years many surveys, conducted by the Design Council in London, among others, support
this view. In Scandinavia, Denmark carried out a survey into the economic benefits of design in 2003.2
This
survey was later followed up by Sweden (2004)3
and Norway (2006).4
Each of these surveys indicated that
business leaders understand the value of design for their organisations and have a positive attitude towards
using design. However, the surveys also indicated that business leaders need to know more about how to use
design. To obtain a full return on investment in design, the role, understanding and enatment of design
leadership and design management is important. Distinguishing differences between design leadership and
design management is also essential to success.
The image with which this chapter (Figure 1) opens points to one means of addressing such connections. It is
drawn from a large service innovation project for the airport express train between Oslo city and the main
national airport Gardermoen, Norway. This project will be presented and discussed as a case later in the
paper.
Main claims & outline
In this paper I look further into the different approaches to design leadership and design management. I relate
this in the latter part of the paper specifically to the service industries and to the emerging needs and
practices of service design concerning design leadership and management. I make two main claims. I support
2Erhvervs- og Boligstyrelsen (2003).
3Stiftelsen Svensk Industridesign (2004).
4Norwegian Design Council (2006).
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
5/26
5
these through citation of research, through mention of published trends, access of models that are in
circulation and may be adapted, and by way of reference to one case about a leading public project involving
design leadership, management and service design in Norway. My first claim is that a holistic understanding
of design leadership is needed with respect to the service industries in order to maximise their efficency and
effect. My second claim is that understanding the centrality of the customer is essential to both the fuller
conceptualisation and the operationalisation of service design.
Part 1: Design leadership & design management
Design
The term design is used in a wealth of contexts with many different meanings. Some of the contexts extend
to: product design, graphic design, fashion design, interaction design, craft design, engineering design,
communication design. In this paper all the disciplines of design are relevant; what is important, however,
are the skills of the professional designers and their methods, processes and way of thinking.
John Heskett suggests that the word design is like love which changes its meaning according to who is
using it, in which context and to whom or what it is directed. In the bookToothpicks and LogosHeskett
illustrates the versatile meaning of the term by the following sentence: Design is to design a design to
produce a design5, showing that design is both a verb indicating action or process, and a noun where
the noun can be understood in three different ways: as a concept of a field as a whole, as a concept or a
proposal and as final outcome or product. Often the different meanings are used interchangeably. In this
paper, the term design, depending on the context, can refer to either of the categories suggested by Heskett.
The activity of designing, in this paper, refer to a user-centered, problem-solving process. As a single
satisfactory definition of design is unlikely, Lawson (2006) suggests that perhaps the act of searching is
5Heskett, J. (2002:5)
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
6/26
6
probably more important than that of finding.6
The same view may be relevant concerning design leadership
and design management.
From design management to design leadership
The term design management originated in Great Britain in the 1960s (Borja de Mozota (2003: 68). At the
time, the term referred to managing relations between a design agency and its clients. Today the language of
design management is changing and design leadership is the new mantra instead of strategic design
management. Design management is used to describe what we in the past called design project management,
while the term design leadership is used to describe a more strategic level related to the vision for how
design could be used within an organisation to achieve corporate goals.
There is no common agreement about this division. For instance,in the Pratt DM program, design
management is defined as the identification and allocation of creative assets within an organization to create
strategic, sustainable advantage. Design Management is design-minded leadership. It is the bridge between
design and business, according to Mary McBride, the Director of the Pratt Institute Graduate Program in
Design Management.7
For Peter Gorb (1990), Design Management is the effective deployment by line
managers of the design resources available to a company in order to help the company achieve its
objectives.8
The splitting of design leadership and design management into two levels is supported by the design
executive searcher, RitaSue Siegel. While design managers optimise resources to implement programs in the
most effective and profitable way, design leaders are concerned with innovation, design and strategy.
Integrating the design thinking process into the other strategies by which an organisation plans to achieve its
goals will improve its competitive position, according to Siegel.9
6Bryan Lawson (2006:33)
7
In Best (2006:200)8 In Borja de Mozota (2003:70)9
In Best (2006:201)
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
7/26
7
In her bookDesign Management, Kathryn Best (2006: 17) uses Mike Crump, Design Manager, British
Airways as a source when stating that managers of design often have to transcend roles and adapt to different
situations. The design leader sets the vision for how design could be used within an organisation, selling the
vision to, and gaining buy-in from, key stakeholders and decision makers. The design manager ensures the
design processes, procedures and internal functions are adding value to the organisation, through a defined
design team or through the internal resourcing of design thinking into and across a range of business units
and projects.
On the question of whether or not there is a real difference between design leadership and design
management, Raymond Turner states that there are significant differences as design management is
essentially reactive while design leadership is essentially pro-active. However, each area of expertise
depends on each other for its relevance to business. Without design leadership, executives do not know
where they are going and without design management executives do not know how to get there, according to
Turner. He states that design leadership is critical to business success for six reasons: 1) It helps to envision
the future. 2) It manifests strategy. 3) It helps direct corporate investment and maximises the return on such
investment. 4) It shapes customer experience and, through that, the reputation of businesses. 5) It is
responsible for creating and sustaining an environment for innovation and 6) It is responsible for organizing
and training for design and innovation within business.10
Bettina von Stamm11
states that design management has several components, not the least the following
three:
Most importantly, the injection of design thinking into organisations; in particular, helpingleaders of organisations understand and appreciate the value and contribution of designers,
design and design thinking.
10Raymond Turners (2002) presentation at the inaugural session of theDesign Leadership Forum organized
by Alto Design Management.11
Best, K. (2006:203)
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
8/26
8
Providing a bridge between designers and non-designers as their values and beliefs are oftenvery different; this includes the management of the designers, internal as well as external.
Aiding the creation of a consistent and coherent representation of an organisation.
In this paper, design leadership is not so much about leading the design discipline, but more about leading
the organisation through design thinking as a leadership philosophy. In accordance with the growing
awareness within many organisations that design is a valuable means to achieve strategic goals and
objectives, there is also a growing desire to understand the methods and ways of thinking that the design
process brings.
Design thinking
Building a future for business in the twenty-first century will require organisation, innovation, direction and
the ability to imagine new possibilities. Designers are able to look at a problem and wonder, what if this
was completely blank and I could start over again? That kind if intelligence is now really necessary. It is a
creative intelligence that enjoys problem-solving and can find opportunities in places where other people
have given up. That is way past strategic that is leadership by design, according to Mary McBride at Pratt
Institute12
Currently, there is much discussion of the term Design Thinking on blogs, in academia and in business.
These discussions are about what design thinking is, where it comes from and, not least, what its relevance is
to business and innovation. One of the key promoters of the concept of design thinking is Tim Brown, CEO
of the influential design company IDEO. According to Brown13
, the shift from design, where the emphasis is
only on the output, to design thinking, where the emphasis is also on the act or the process, has been the
catalyst for change for IDEO. Brown states that design thinking let them focus and work on new problems
where their unique approach can create different kinds of results. However, we should not forget that it is the
12Best, K. (2006:200)
13http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/en/Design-Council/Files/Podcast-Transcripts/Tim-Brown-The-
challenges-of-design-thinking/
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
9/26
9
craft of design that is essential to the outcome. According to Utterback, IDEO has moved beyond products,
services, and customer experiences to an attempt to help companies such as Proctor & Gamble itself to
design a culture to foster greater innovation. The Head of P&G, A.G. Lafley, is now attempting to put design
into the DNA of the company.14
In this paper, the term design thinking relates to the concept of introduction of design methods and culture
into fields beyond traditional design, such as business innovation. The term design thinking has gained
significance as it is being embraced outside of the normal realm of which design might have traditionally
been applied, such as business innovation. Stanfords new Design School, the d.school, based on joint
programmes between business and design, is one of the places where the notion of design thinking has
emerged.
According to Manu (2007) business needs to learn from design how to manage creativity from the inception
of a concept through iterative stages to its implementation in product, systems, and services that are useful
and desirable for a large group of people. Design needs to learn from business how to rigorously analyze the
risks and rewards of any new creative idea, and the tactics that will see it become beneficial to users.15
Margolin and Buchanan16
argue that although design thinking in the contemporary world must be based on
knowledge gained from many fields and disciplines, the core of design thinking remains the ability to
conceive, plan, and present ideas about products.
As part of her PhD Conscious Design Practice as a Strategic ToolS.A.K. Friis studied four front runners
within strategic design. Her study supports the suggestions that the strategic design work include methods
and skills from other fields to a large degree, for instance the application of psychological tools and
ethnographic methods. However, she also found that there seems to be activities and ways of thinking which
are distinct to a design discipline and can be taught and researched by academic methodologies.17
14Utterback, J. et al (2006:8)
15
Manu, A. (2007:243)16 Margolin and Buchanan (1995:xv)17
Silje Alberthe Kamille Friis (2006) Conscious Design Practice as a Strategic Tool. Thesis.
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
10/26
10
In his article Wicked Problems in Design Thinking18
, Buchanan states that the three great expressions of
design thinking in the twentieth century engineering, marketing, and the forms of graphic and industrial
design are distinguished by the modality or qualification of their arguments. Engineers argue from
necessity, marketing experts argue from contingency, and graphic and industrial designers argue from a
vision of possibility.
Design attitude
Boland and Collopy (2004)
19
believe that if managers adopted a design attitude, the world of business would
be different and better. Managers would approach problems with a sensibility that swept in the broadest
array of influences to shape inspiring and energizing design for products, services and processes that are both
profitable and humanly satisfying. They refer to design attitude as a unique mind-set and approach to
problemsolving they experienced by working with the world-renowned architect Frank Gehry. A design
attitude views each project as an opportunity for invention that includes a questioning of basic assumptions
and a resolve to leave the world a better place than we found it. In their opinion, what is needed in
management practice and education today is the development of a design attitude, which goes beyond default
solutions in creating new possibilities for the future.
Design thinking is a term being used today to define a way of thinking that produces transformative
innovation. One of the mantras is: think your way to (innovation) strategy the way a designer would. Boland
and Collopy (2004) propose that a design attitude toward problem solving can help put better ideas and
alternatives on the table for analytical business consideration. They refer to a design attitude that strives to
construct a more satisfying solution than what has so far been proposed as opposed to a decision attitude that
choose from among the alternatives already at hand.
18Buchanan, R. in Margolin and Buchanan (editors) (1995:xiv)
19Boland and Collopy (2004)
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
11/26
11
Another commonly voiced view is to approach your business strategy as a design challenge use designerly
ways of thinking. As a profession, design is evolving from a product-based practice born of the industrial age
to a process driven practice in the information age. Today it is centered on strategic issues of business
transformation. Connected to this transformation, important skills in design thinking are imagination,
creativity, innovation and value creation.
Chris Matthews20
states there are fundamental differences between imagination and creativity. Imagination is
the ability to form images and ideas in the mind, while creativity is the ability to use these images and ideas
to create original services and things. The challenge lies in identifying the potential effects of imagination
fuelled creativity: innovation. Matthews states that successful innovation and value creation requires wisdom
and steps that are both distinct and causally linked to one another and he introduces a four-step programme:
1) Imagination, 2) Creativity, 3) Innovation, and 4) Progress. Imagination is a necessary precursor to
creativity, which in turn propels innovation, which hopefully qualifies as progress. Progress is in this context
defined as movement toward a goal. Sometimes growth opportunities can come from business model
innovations and shake the very core of a company or industry. Whatever the source, innovation drives this
growth, according to Matthews.
The Cox Review of Creativity in Business was commissioned by the British Government in 2005 to
investigate ways in which creative skills might be exploited more fully. The connections between creativity,
innovation and design in the context of the report, was defined and explained as:
Creativity: is the generation of new ideas - either in new ways of looking at existing problems, or of seeing
new opportunities, perhaps by exploiting emerging technologies or changes in markets.
Innovation: is the successful exploitation of new ideas. It is the process that carries them through to new
products, new services, new ways of running the business or even new ways of doing business.
20Matthews, C. (2007) in Manu, A. (2007:223-229)
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
12/26
12
Design: is what links creativity and innovation. It shapes ideas to become practical and attractive
propositions for users or customers. Design may be described as creativity deployed to a specific end.21
Although the Cox report focuses on the things the Government can do to stimulate greater creativity in UK
business, Cox argues in his conclusion that the real messages are for businesses: Competition is going to get
tougher. In the modern world, the only answer is to be more enterprising and more creative, and this has to
come not in response to exhortation but out of enlightened self-interest.22
With reference to the Cox report, it may be comforting to know that according to Nigel Cross, design ability
is possessed by everyone. He states that although professional designers might naturally be expected to have
highly developed design abilities, it is also clear that none-designers also possess at least some aspects, or
lower levels of design ability.23
For Cross (2007), creative thinking is a key aspect of human cognition in the
context of design.24
Boland and Collopys (2004) attitude towards creativity is that creativity is not sufficient for a design attitude
to problem solving, just as it is not sufficient for a decision attitude. In their opinion creativity needs the
guiding energy of a design attitude in order to focus the efforts on results that will be truly innovative and
produce long-lasting organisational improvements. Design is in that sense larger than creativity, according to
Boland and Collopy. Although it may be present to some degree in everyone, design ability seems stronger
in some people than others, and also seems to develop with experience, according to Cross.25
Designers skills
Designers have a particular facility for sketching. Sketching is a practice that, in itself, functions as a
creatively stimulating process and helps designers get into the head of the end user, possibly evoking his or
21Cox, G. (2005:2)
22
Cox, G. (2005:5)23 Cross, N. (2007:38)24
Cross, N. (2007:12)25
Cross, N. (2007:46)
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
13/26
13
her creativity, since it serves as an efficient communication tool. Rapidly made sketches may give the
potential end user a concrete image of the future solution that words alone could never convey.26
Although many industrial designers today want to be innovation drivers or vision-makers, industrial
designers can equally well work as brand builders, design managers, co-ordinators, end-user specialists,
user-interface designers, researchers, product development team members or star designers, according to
Anna Valtonen.27
In the bookHow Designers ThinkBryan Lawson advances the idea that design thinking is a skill. He argues
that it is a a very complex and sophisticated skill, but still one which can be analysed, taken apart, developed
and practised.28
Design is a rigorous, cyclical process of enquiry and creativity. Design processes consist of a
series of methods that are put together to suit the nature of each design project or question. Design processes
are not linear as there are many feedback loops built in to allow for the iterative nature of design and to
accommodate the insights gained at each stage of the process.29
Design thinking and design leadership
Alexander Manu (2007) argues that creativity is the use ofimagination. He also states that all invention
depends on imagination. Before one learns to manage the how, the whatneeds to be conceived. The strategic
creator has the capability to reveal the why - joining the how with the what, the means with the meaning
in the organized exploration of possibility. According to Manu a new type of leader emerges in the process
of fitting business to imagination:
A leader who knows how to discover and learn, and how to manage and inspirediscovery and learnings in others.
26
Utterback, J. et. Al (2006:215)27 Valtonen, A. (2007:308)28
Lawson, B. (2006:15)29
Best, K. (2006:112)
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
14/26
14
A leader who knows how to identify and validate ideas, and transform them into growthopportunities.
A leader who nourishes and triggers the imagination of individuals in teams, and cantransform the result into strategic capital innovations that benefit business, culture and
society.30
Part 2: Service industry & service design
Services as value creation
The EU economies are increasingly becoming service economies, and Service Innovation is widely seen as
necessary for improving growth, competitiveness and welfare in Europe (Rubalcada 2007)31
Service
activities are essential for value creation both in service and manufacturing industries, and service related
innovation is thereby essential for growth and competitiveness in the whole economy.
Voss and Zomerdijk (2007)32
has examined innovation in experiential services. In their report experiential
services are defined as services where the focus is on the experience of the customer when interacting with
the organisation, rather than just the functional benefits following from the products and services delivered.
Industrial designers role in business
Only a few decades ago industrial design was an activity that was fairly unknown to all but the most
pioneering companies. In the early days it was often used on a very operative level, and industrial designers
30Alexander Manu (2007)
31Rabalcada, L. (2007)
32
Chris Voss and Leonieke Zomerdijk (June 2007) Innovation in Experiential Services An EmpiricalView. The report is based on a continuing research programme on experientail services at London Business
School. In particular it draws on a case-study of eight design agencies and nine successful experiential
service providers.
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
15/26
15
constantly had to describe what it was that they did and why their activities would be important for the
company, according to Valtonens33
research into the historical developments in industrial design in Finland.
Figure 2. Different roles for the designer and typical statements on design (Anna Valtonen 2007).
Figure 2, developed by Anna Valtonen, shows the different roles for the designer and typical statements on
design from the 1950s to 2000s. Valtonen found that the first designers that entered industry had previous
success as artists, and hence their role in industry was also that of an artist. By the 90s, designers wanted to
be responsible for designing the entire end-user experience, no longer for only co-ordinating what products
should be produced. In the new millennium, designers want to be innovation drivers, and participate in
creating the corporate vision. They currently participate in the entire process from company vision work to
the market launch of the product.34
Design has developed into a more mature methodology. It is capable of
going beyond the different design diciplines to influence the design of services and experiences.
33Valtonen, A. (2007: 338)
34Valtonen, A. (2007: 307-308)
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
16/26
16
Service design and service innovation
Services have existed and been organised in various forms since time immemorial. Consciously designed
services incorporate new business models, are empathic to user needs and attempt to create new socio-
economic value in society. Service design as a practice aim to provide a holistic service to user. Service
design thinking foster new thinking in service innovation.
A growing number of companies recognize the importance of design-inspired innovation, especially those
that aim to strengthen and maintain a high brand value.35
Design and design thinking are key to innovation.
And so are designers because, by their inclination and training they already have an innovative mind set,
according to Bettina von Stamm36
(In Best 2006:203)
Perhaps the most persuasive advocate for design at the front end of innovation is Tom Kelley, general
manager of the design firm IDEO. Kelleys bookThe Ten Faces of Innovation37
, describes the characters that
companies need to employ in order to innovate; the Anthropologist, the Experimenter, the Cross-pollinator,
the Hurdler, the Collaborator, the Director, the Experience architect, the Set designer, the Storyteller and the
Caregiver. The roles of these ten faces of innovation are relevant for the roles of designers too. Studying
innovation in the service industry facilitates wider reflection on the subject of service innovation.
Voss and Zomerdijk (2007) found that with regard to theprocess of innovation in experiential services, the
research revealed that many innovations were driven by detailed insights into customers; customers
behaviour, needs and preferences. Common techniques were traditional market research, empathic research
to understand customers at an emotional level, trend watching and learning from companies in different
industries. This indicates that experiential innovations are typically customer rather than technology driven,
according to Voss and Zomerdijk.
35Utterback J. et Al (2006:163)
36Bettina von Stamm is Founder, the Innovation Leadersip Forum
37Kelley, T. (2005)
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
17/26
17
In their research Voss and Zomerdijk (2007) discovered that although bothproductandprocess innovation
were observed, significant innovation came from incrementalprocess innovation. In addition, service
innovation was often associated with innovation in business models. This leads to a typology of service
innovation consisting of three areas: product innovation, process innovation and business model innovation.
Rather than product leading process or vice versa, the research indicated that service innovation in general,
not just in experiential services, is an iterative process where product, process and business model innovation
go hand in hand, as revealed in Voss and Zomerdijks findings.
A recent study that was completed as part of Tekes38
programmes Serve- Innovative Services, conducted by
Peer Insight, is based on 12 exemplars where US companies have successfully developed new service
concepts and service business. The research framework used in the research of service innovation is The Ten
Types of Innovation, developed by Larry Keeley, the President of Chicago based Doblin Inc. (See Fig. 3).
Figure: 3: The Ten Types of Innovation. Source: Tekes (2007), adapted from Larry Keeley, Doblin Inc.
The authors of the Tekes report state that as low innovation success rates prove, innovation is a challenging
business. One of the most fundamental traps is to think of innovation too narrowly, to define it merely as the
thingyour firm offers, according to the researchers.
38Tekes is the main public funding organisation for research and development (R&D) in Finland. More
information of the program is available on www.tekes.fi/serve
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
18/26
18
Voss and Zomerdijk (2007) ascertained that innovation takes place in five distinct design areas that directly
or indirectly influence the customer experience: the physical environment, the service employees, the service
delivery process, fellow customers and back office support. Although these areas are relevant to any service,
they generally do not receive the same amount of attention as experiential service designers pay to them, say
Voss and Zomerdijk.
The service journey
The service journey perspective integrates the common distinction between service product innovation and
service process innovation, as a journey has elements of both (Voss and Zomerdijk 2007).Several of the
design agencies and consultancies that specialise in designing customer experiences studied by Voss and
Zomerdijk (2007) used the journey perspective to analyse current experiences and design new ones. Several
firms had developed a technique for mapping customer journeys, among them The Brand Touchpoint
Wheel by Dunn and Davis.
Dunn and Davis39
state that touchpoints can be segmented into three categories that generally represent the
different dimension of a brands relationship with a customer. They are defined as: 1)Pre-purchase
Experience Touchpoints . Typical touchpoints include advertising, word-of-mouth, direct mail and internet.
2)Purchase Experience Touchpoints . Typical touchpoints include direct field sales, physical stores and
customer center contact. 3)Post Purchase Touchpoints. Typical touchpoints include installation, customer
service, customer satisfaction surveys, regular maintenance and reminders of product or service innovations
that are tied to the brand.
Experiential services are often designed from the perspective of the customer journey rather than as a single
product or transaction; the service is seen as a journey that spans a longer period of time and consists of
multiple components and multiple touchpoints (Voss and Zomerdijk 2007). The journey perspective implies
39Dunn, D. and Davis, S. (2005)
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
19/26
19
that customer experience is built over an extended period of time, starting before and ending after the actual
sales experience or transaction. During a customer journey, numerous touchpoints occur between the
customer and the organisation or the brand. These touchpoints need to be carefully designed and managed.
The research by Voss and Zomerdijk (2007) showed that innovation takes place at each of these touchpoints
as well as in the overall journey itself.
From a designer perspective and from an innovators perspective, the customer- or service journey provides
a powerful focus for analysing and designing good customer experiences. Reference is now made to one case
about a leading public project involving design leadership, management and service design in Norway (See
Figures 4-8).
The Airport Express Train Flytoget
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
20/26
20
Figures 4-8: The Oslo Airport Express Train Flytoget(in order of sequence from top). The Brand
Touchpoint Wheel showing frequent departure every 10 minutes; the fastest way to and from the airport;
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
21/26
21
friendly and professional service.; quality control of the functional and emotional experience.; and the
possibility of using a credit card as ticket with the receipt delivered by e-mail.
Flytoget - The Airport Express Train - is a high-speed passenger-train service connecting Oslo the
Gardermoen Airport, launched in 1998. The main target group is airline passengers with 60 % business
travellers and 40% vacation travellers. The Flytoget case illustrates design thinking through holistic design
leadership and design management to create a successful service brand.
The project had the opportunity to completely break association with the railway as being inefficient, old-
fashioned, not to be trusted. And. trustis rather important when you want to be at the airport in time to
catch your plane. Therefore, the Flytoget project required the creation of a new service brand a new way
of thinking in Norwegian railway service. It required a new attitude to transform the business of railway
transportation it required service innovation and it required designerly ways of thinking, as described by
Mary McBride at the Pratt Institute.
Design leadership and design management
On the design leadership level, the vision for the brand Flytoget was to be Norways leading service
company within the transportation industry - the one that airline passengers prefer, and a company both we,
our owners, and the country as a whole can be proud of! The vision was later changed to We shall create
the ultimate airport express train. In Raymond Turners (2002)expression, this is the kind of design
leadership that is needed in order to know where the organisation is going.
The attitude was to use design strategically to communicate the spirit of the vision. The leaders and
managers adopted a design attitude, as referred to by Boland and Collopy (2004) by the injection of design
thinking by the designers working on the project, the top manager and the design project manager. This
injection of design thinking is one of the most important components of design management, according to
Bettina von Stamm (in Best, 2006).
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
22/26
22
The brand positioningstatement was: Flytoget offers the most modern transportation alternative and is the
superior most effective and safest way to go to and from the airport. Every aspect of the transport service
needed to be designed to support this brand position. Further, the service design needed to support the goal
of beingperceivedas a natural part of the flight, and as an harmonious travel experience. The identity
should appeal both rationally and emotionally, both towards the intellect and the subconscious.
What would this mean in terms of customer experience and infrastructure design? What too would it demand
in terms of the qualities and characteristics of each option during the development process? The Airport
Express Train project encompassed virtually every aspect of design: terminals, landscapes, hardware,
interiors, uniforms, information systems and services, transport and infrastructure. On the design
management level, as described by, among others, Gorb (1990), the design resources had to be managed to
achieve the vision.
A Design Guide, explaining the vision and the philosophy, acted as an inspiration for the different parties
involved in the process. At the same time, it gave a common understanding of the brand Flytogets identity
and values, so that the different development projects ended up with a coherent identity.
In order to control contacts between the airport express train and the customers, and to accomplish a
consistent and relevant brand experience, it was critical to identify all possible touchpoints. The leadership
and management of all these touch point projects required a holistic way of thinking. The top management
decided to hire a project manager to develop the brand strategy and to manage all the design projects both
on a design leadership level and on a design management level (and project management level).
Everyone in the organisation was introduced to the brand philosophy and was made to understand that the
brand is the responsibility of every employee and to understand their individual role in bringing the brands
promise to life. To make sure the Airport Express Train service was delivered in the right way, the
organisation set up aservice academy for their service personnel. By including brand awareness training as
part of the recruitment and induction process, we were able to give staff a clear understanding of why things
were as they were.
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
23/26
23
In the drive to be profitable, most organisations share a common goal to be perceived as different and
better than their competitors. Holistic design leadership and management is one way to obtain this goal in the
service industry by integrating service design thinking as a practice aim to provide a holistic service to the
user. In the Flytoget organisation, design thinking and customer focus is still an innovation and leadership
philosophy. This approach supports Voss and Zomerdijks (2007) findings that experimental innovations are
typically customer rather than technology driven. With regards to The Ten Types of Innovation, developed by
Larry Keeley,Flytoget innovated in three areas; Process area (Innovation Process how they organize to
support innovation in the organization) Offering area (Product/Service Performance by leaving every 10
minutes, on time, easy access, luggage control and Customer Service by high level of training of the
service personnel) and the Delivery area (Brand- expressed through efficiency, friendliness, safety and
keeping the impression of always being up to date by implementing relevant innovations and incremental
visual changes, and always improving the Customer Experience is kept up by, among other things, that all
managers and leaders are obligated to travel by Flytoget several times a year to observe, and develop, the
quality and experience of the service product.
The Airport Express Train project was a large project undertaking. However, I maintain that the way of
thinking Design Thinking that it employed is relevant to both small and medium businesses as well. This
is a question of understanding the contextof design and how design thinking touches the customer
experience. The way of thinking and the guiding perspectives for design leadership and design
management - when establishing the transport service, was very much in line with the thinking behind Dunn
& Davis (2005) The Brand Touchpoint Wheel. And, in the Flytoget organization, innovation still takes
place by looking at the different touchpoints as well as of the overall journey experience, on a regular basis.
Part 3: Conclusion
The focus of the present study has been to relate some perspectives on the terms design leadership, design
management and design thinking in the service industry. Understanding the customer experience, and
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
24/26
24
carefully focused design leadership and design effort is essential to manage customer experiences for the
better.
The brand experience recounted in the Flytoget case is delivered by the pre-purchase experience, the
purchase experience and the post purchase experiencethrough the environment, by signage, by frequency of
departure, on time, the train itself and by the people that run the service. The success of the service product
Flytoget , with a customer satisfaction of 93% , a punctuality of 96%, a regularity of 99%, and a result before
taxes of 145 M Norwegian Kronerin 2006, shows that a holistic understanding of design leadership and
design management is needed with respect to the service industries in order to maximize their efficiency and
effect. Flytoget had the worlds highest market share on bringing people to and from an airport in 2006.
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
25/26
25
References
Best, K. (2006).Design Management. Managing Design Strategy, Process and Implementation. Ava Book:
Lausanne, Switzerland.
Boland, R. & Collopy, F. (2004). Design Matters for Management. In Boland, R. & Collopy, F. (Eds)
Managing as Designing. Stanford University Press: Stanford.
Borja de Mozota, B. (2003).Design Management. Using design to build brand value and corporate
innovation. Allworth Press: New York
Cox, G. (2005). Cox Review of Creativity in Business: building on the UKs strengths. HM Treasury.
At: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk./independent_reviews/cox_review/coxreview_index.cfm
Cross, N. (2007).Designerly Ways of Knowing. Birkhuser: Basel.
Dunn, D. & Davis, S. (2005). Creating the Brand-Driven Business: A Roadmap for the CEO. Thexis 2005,
IMH-HSG, CH-St.Gallen, aus Thexis 1.2005
Erhvervs- og Boligstyrelsen (2003).Designs konomiske effekter. (English: The economic effects of design)
At: http://www.ebst.dk/file/1638/designeffekter.pdf [Accessed 3 May 2004]
Friis, S. (2006). Conscious Design Practice as a Strategic Tool. Unpublished PhD thesis; Denmark
Heskett, J. (2002). Toothpicks and Logos. Design in everyday life. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
Kelley, T. (2005). The Ten Faces of Innovation. Doubleday: New York.
Lawson, B. (2006).How Designers Think. Architectural Press: Oxford.
Manu, A. (2007). The Imagination Challenge. Strategic foresight and innovation in the global economy.
New Riders; Berkeley, CA.
Margolin, V. & Buchanan, R. (1995). (Eds). The Idea of Design. The MIT Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts
8/9/2019 Perspectivas en Liderazgo y Pensamietno de Diseo en la Industria de Servicios
26/26
Norwegian Design Council (2006).Det norske nringslivets holdninger til design . (English: Norwegian
businesses attitude towards design) Oslo. At:
http://www.norskdesign.no/radgivning/foredrag/rapporter/holdningertildesign.pdf
Rabalcada, L. (2007). Services Innovation as a policy challenge for Europe. Paper presented at the 3rd
International Conference on Services and Innovation . Dublin November 7-8. At:
http://www.innovationconference.net/images/site/assets/Luis_Rubalbaba.pdf
Stiftelsen Svensk Industridesign (2004). 10 punkter - Attityder, lnsamhet och designmognad i Svenska
Fretag. (English: 10 points Attitudes, Profitability and Design maturity in Swedish businesses). SVID:
Stockholm. At:
http://svid.gatecompany.com/archive/filer/Rapporter/Svenska_ftg_om_design.pdf [Dowloaded 3 May 2004]
Tekes (2007). Seizing the White Space: Innovative Service concepts in the United States. Tekes: Helsinki.
Turner, R. & Alan Topalian, A. (2002). Presentation at the inaugural session of the Design Leadership
Forum. Organized by Alto Design Management. London.
Utterback, J. et al. (2006).Design-inspired Innovation . World Scientific Publishing: London.
Voss, C. & Zomerdijk, L. (2007).Innovation in Experimental Services . London Business School and Aim
Research: London.