Design is Everything?

This essay attempts to demarcate the industrial practice of product design and situate it in the context of academic research. The term product design presents definitional challenges, as it is used in practice in different ways, and even varies in usage regionally. For this article, product design is “conceiving and giving form to goods and services that address needs.” The activity of product design can be thought of as comprising several key decisions. Because the decisions of product design do not map cleanly to any one academic discipline, the subject has not garnered enough attention in any one field to develop fully its own academic identity. Scholarly research in product design has often been cultivated by the emergence of a methodological paradigm. While several such paradigms are in use, several others offer substantial promise

A Profession in Transformation: The paradox of industrial and design in a post-industrial society

It is argued that we live in a post-industrial society with a transition from the production of goods to services. It is also said we live in a knowledge economy where creation, distribution, use and manipulation of information are significant activities (Dahlbom, 2003). The word industrial has a connotation of mass-production of products and, logically also industrial design has this connotation. There are two issues related to this that guided our research on the design industry. One, was whether the definition and understanding of industrial design had changed in the transition of the post-industrial society. Another was whether the change of the market and the industrial clients had an impact on the organization and development of the industrial design consultancies (IDC). The meaning of the term design is much contested. It can be referred to the actual problemsolving activity and the ability to plan, sketch, and model (Jones, 1981; Lawson, 1998). It can also refer to the outcome of the design process that is the product. The lowest common denominator between design and industrial is then the actual product. The two terms would then together imply the activity to plan, sketch and model products. The terms industrial and design would in the change towards a post-industrial society and knowledge economy be paradoxes and the role of the industrial designer would slowly disperse. As we know that the term industrial design is still going strong, both in education and business there could still be a new definition and content of the concept industrial design. Creativity, by its very nature, creates categories or rearranges established ones (Waymire et al, 1995). The role of designers could in this sense promote strategic thinking or improve the interaction between executives and the future. Industrial designers have always been knowledge workers and consequently would fit perfectly in the knowledge economy. In the industrial paradigm the knowledge was “frozen” in a product and the actual name of the discipline – industrial design – implies a discipline that belongs in the past. At the same time paradoxically the term design has a focus on the future. The competition in the knowledge economy is increasing and boarders between disciplines are getting less distinct. The issue discussed in this paper is the impact the changes of society and industry have had on industrial design consultancies. The discussion is based on a survey of the development of Swedish industrial design consultancies and a parallel study in Finland. The research project investigated how industrial design consultancies in Sweden, Finland and the US view their own development and what opportunity they see to grow their businesses. Our interest is not the change of the industrial design profession as such, but of the development of the industrial design consultancy firm although change of the firm is also influenced by the change of the profession. We will therefore relate our analysis of the firm to the development of the profession. This is a working paper and we have chosen to compress the analysis and summarize our findings

The End of Institutional Repositories and the Beginning of Social Academic Research Service: An Enhanced Role for Libraries

As more and more universities establish Institutional Repositories (IR), awareness is developing about the limitations of IRs in enhancing the academic research service. The concept of an IR needs to be expanded to include the integration of the processes that transform intellectual endeavor into a broadening array of academic and research support services which are fundamentally social. These include, but are not limited to – (1) sharing institutionally developed intellectual product (traditional IR) (2) informing others of the availability of this product with defined purpose (3) collecting additional academically relevant materials in digital formats using IRs (4) disseminating timely information about what has been collected to researchers (5) creating an environment that encourages awareness and exchange of information (6) and more…. In brief, information gathering, dissemination, and discussion in the form of library service must become a crucial part of researchers’ networks. An IR cannot and should not be viewed as a stand alone endeavor. It needs to be viewed and used as a research and communication tool in an environment that synergizes all elements of the research process. If an IR does not create discussions between librarians (information specialists) and researchers, its potential is lost both to the academy and the library. The library and its librarians must be interactive with researchers and the institution served. With the advent of digital acquisition that IRs started, a new vision of the role of librarians can be fulfilled. The foundational concepts behind this vision are found in my article: The Library as an Agent of Change: Pushing the Client Institution Forward Information Outlook (Journal of the Special Libraries Association), Vol. 3, No. 8, August 1999, pages 37-40. The above is not theoretical. It is being practiced every day at the Martin P. Catherwood Library of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) at Cornell University where I work. By combining the uses of an IR, known as the DigitalCommons@ILR – see http://www.digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu, with a discipline-based Internet news service, see -- http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/iws/news-bureau/index.html, supported with outstanding web content, technical support for both print and digital collecting, reference, referral, and teaching, a goal has been realized. The library is seamlessly integrated into the outreach, research and teaching of the institution it serves. The library is part of the social fabric and network of the school

Current Research on Industrial Relations Regulation, Bargaining Theory, Progressive Discipline, and Occupational Influences on Unionism

We are pleased to be able to present, in this third volume of the Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations series, some original, important, and in some cases provocative research on industrial relations regulation, bargaining theory, progressive discipline, and occupational influences on unionism. In what follows we will briefly review each of the papers in the volume and pinpoint what we believe to be the major contributions each makes to the advancement of research in industrial relations. Where relevant, we will also mention questions left unresolved by the research at hand and potential directions for future research on the subjects under study

Past, present and future of information and knowledge sharing in the construction industry: Towards semantic service-based e-construction

The paper reviews product data technology initiatives in the construction sector and provides a synthesis of related ICT industry needs. A comparison between (a) the data centric characteristics of Product Data Technology (PDT) and (b) ontology with a focus on semantics, is given, highlighting the pros and cons of each approach. The paper advocates the migration from data-centric application integration to ontology-based business process support, and proposes inter-enterprise collaboration architectures and frameworks based on semantic services, underpinned by ontology-based knowledge structures. The paper discusses the main reasons behind the low industry take up of product data technology, and proposes a preliminary roadmap for the wide industry diffusion of the proposed approach. In this respect, the paper stresses the value of adopting alliance-based modes of operation

Workplace Dispute Resolution and the Management of Individual Conflict —A Thematic Analysis of Five Case Studies

This Acas funded report explores the management of individual conflict and the resolution of employment disputes in five organisations drawing on over one hundred hours of interview data gathered from discussions with HR practitioners, line and operational managers, employee representatives, and trained mediators. In light of increased concern over the impact of employment disputes on public expenditure, economic performance and employee well-being, substantial policy attention has been paid to the ways in which organisations respond to workplace conflict. In particular, there has been an increased focus on the potential for earlier intervention in order to resolve conflict through the use of alternative approaches such as mediation. Surprisingly, there has been relatively little contemporary academic research into these important issues. Therefore, this thematic review aims to provide new insights into the challenges faced by organisations in managing conflict