Communication space : Spatial design in manufacturing industry

The main concern of this licentiate thesis is to discuss how built space is used for communication in the manufacturing industry, from a visual communication perspective. The thesis presents and develops the notion of 'communication space' and presents a model to describe the relation between different factors in the communication space. In a multiple case study, six different cases from the manufacturing industry are described and analyzed to highlight how built space is used for communication in a lean production context. Research results on how built spaces such as improvement places, meeting places and a development workshop affect improvement processes and communication are presented. What the studied improvement areas, meeting places and workshop can be said to communicate about the improvement processes is analyzed. The research results show that the built spaces in manufacturing industry are used for communication on two levels, both as places for interaction between employees and as a part of a communication process. The study also shows a relation between architecture from a specific time and the relation to the improvement work in the industrial context. How the results can be used to facilitate communication in the built spaces used for improvement processes in manufacturing industry is suggested in the thesis.DeViP and Kaikak

Rum för innovation

Workspace design, as an enabling factor in innovation, is an emerging topic for innovation and design research. However, little research has been done on users’ experience on workspaces for innovation in a manufacturing industrial context. The aim of the dissertation is to develop knowledge and understanding of workspaces for innovation from a user perspective. The dissertation is based on studies done in four manufacturing industries and in one design and innovation consultancy, with a focus on the employees' experience of the physical space in relation to innovation. The research method used was the photo elicitation interview. The 31 participants made photographs that served as a basis for verbal interviews to communicate the relationship they experienced between their workspace and innovation. The analysis and the interpretation of the material, supported by information, cultural and phenomenological theoretical perspectives, intend to contribute to the current scientific discourse in innovation and design. A pattern was found in the results. In the manufacturing industrial companies, the majority of workspaces that users described as supporting or hindering innovation were motifs showing aculture promoting innovation in small steps. Their examples were found to be in close similarity to what previous research describe as characteristics of exploitative innovation. In the design company, the most photographed motifs were workspaces and objects that supported different variations of what previousresearch defines as characteristics for a culture supporting radical, explorative innovation. The dissertation presents results contributing to the research on ambidexterity, with focus on a possible coexistence between different innovation cultures. The results indicate that spatial differentiation creates possibilities for coexistence between the two innovation cultures. Six spatial characteristics were found in the descriptions of the workspaces related to the marginalised explorative culture in the manufacturing companies. The dissertation discusses the possibilities of creating spaces for explorative innovation (SEIs) and space as a tool for innovation. An initial version of a support for design is presented.Att skapa en miljö där både radikal innovation och stegvisa förbättringar kan utvecklas, det vill säga en ambidextruös miljö, är en av de största utmaningarna för ett företag eller en organisation. En ambidextruös miljö är en stor konkurrensfördel, men kunskaperna om hur man utvecklar och bygger upp en sådan är begränsade. Detsamma gäller hur arbetsplatsen formges på ett sätt som stödjer olika innovationskulturer, både för radikal innovation och inkrementell innovation. Arbetsplatsen och dess relation till innovation från ett användarperspektiv är ett förbisett område inom forskningen. Syftet med den här avhandlingen är att utveckla kunskap om vad den dagliga arbetsplatsen har för förbindelse till innovation från ett användarperspektiv. Avhandlingen bygger på fyra studier inom tillverkningsindustrin samt en studie på ett designföretag med fokus på medarbetarnas upplevelse av arbetsplatsen i relation till innovation. I intervjumetoden ingick att de anställda fotograferade sina arbetsplatser. Fotografierna användes sedan som underlag för intervjuer. I resultaten fanns ett mönster: i produktionsindustrin var platser för ett ständigt förbättringsarbete också de platser som uppfattades stödja innovation. Undantagen var få. På designföretaget exemplifierade de flesta fotograferade och beskrivna miljöerna olika varianter på en radikal, utforskande innovationskultur. Resultatet visade att de platser som kunde tolkas tillhöra en kultur för radikal, utforskande innovation var artefakter i en marginaliserad kultur i de studerade industriföretagen. Resultatet indikerade att en samexistens mellan olika innovationskulturer i en kultur som domineras av exploaterande innovation (industriföretagen) möjliggjordes på individuell nivå av rumslig differentiering. Analysen av materialet pekar på sex karakteristika i beskrivningen av användningen och upplevelsen av platser som kan samexistera och stödja en kultur för radikal innovation i kulturer som domineras av inkrementell innovation: Täckmantelplatser, Gråzoner, Satellitplatser, Kameleontplatser,Tillfälliga platser och Anslutningsplatser. Dessutom visade resultatet att användare beskriver påverkan av flera modaliteter i sin upplevelse och förståelse av en arbetsplats som stödjer eller hindrar innovation. Resultatet analyserades och tolkades med hjälp av tidigare forskning och begrepp från fenomenologi, informationsteori och kulturteori vilket bidrar till diskussionen om vad rum för innovation kan vara i den dynamik som uppstår i mötet mellananvändaren, den vardagliga arbetsplatsen och innovation. Som ett resultat av analysen presenteras i avhandlingen ett förslag till designsupport formulerat som inlägg i en diskussion kring hur arbetsplatsen kan stödja olika innovationskulturers samexistens.

Tool complexes of innovation: : Spaces for explorative innovation in four manufacturing industrial companies

Providing an environment in which both radical innovation and continuous improvement can exist, i.e. an ambidextrous environment, is one of the biggest challenges manage­ment faces. While having an ambidextrous organisation is of central importance to the competitive advantage of a firm, there is limited understanding of how to manage it. In this article, we are reporting on our research on the design of workspaces and the relations between design and ambidexterity in innovation. We studied the workspaces as artefacts in innovation cultures. We analysed relations between users and spaces that could enable an explorative innovation culture to emerge, and found spaces related to explorative innovation that coexisted with an exploitative innovation culture in production in the manufacturing industry. The results indicate that to develop ambidexterity on an individual level in a culture dominated by exploitative innovation, one strategy is spatial differentiation. The result shows that artefacts relating to a culture for explorative innovation in the studied manufacturing companies are artefacts in a marginalised culture. We present six spatial characteristics for artefacts in the marginalised culture: undercover spaces, grey zone spaces, satellite spaces, chameleon spaces, temporal spaces and accession spaces

Visionary Expectations and Novice Designers – Prototyping in Design Education

In information design education, we strive to find methods that provide students with opportunities to explore different ways of learning and designing. We seek to support development of contextual competences that will be helpful in navigating an unknown future of design in society. A challenge in today's design education is to formulate and use methods that support design students in developing competencies in the space between basic form training and context-rich training. The aim of this study was to evaluate prototyping exercises in design education where the focus was in that in-between space.The study is based on 33 prototyping workshops done between 2008 and 2015 and involving 160 students and two design teachers. Four different approaches to prototyping exercises are described, examined and evaluated: spatial prototyping: multi-material prototyping, physical prototyping and a mix between the latter two. physical multi-material prototyping.The results show that the prototyping exercises did support the learning of diverse competencies in the in-between space of basic form training and context training. However, the exercises were also counterproductive and met with different kinds of resistance. The results of the study invite to a dialogue on how different prototyping techniques can stimulate learning in relation to future design competences

Whose place is it? : Enacted territories in the museum

 There is a growing trend to embrace the idea of public participation in the work of museums, from exhibition design to collections. To further develop participatory cultures in museums, these negotiations and emerging practices should be examined more closely. This paper explores a museum’s whole-hearted attempt to engage with the societal issue of climate change and work with a high degree of participationfrom civic society when staging a temporary exhibition. We investigate experiences inthe process of building, measuring, separating and transgressing during the collaboration. Based on these explorations the paper presents three emerging and interconnected territories in the staging of participatory temporary exhibitions, the territory of aesthetics, the territory of action (autonomy), and the territory of unpredictability. The result contributes to research on public participatory practices mainly in museum contex

Whose place is it? : Enacted territories in the museum

 There is a growing trend to embrace the idea of public participation in the work of museums, from exhibition design to collections. To further develop participatory cultures in museums, these negotiations and emerging practices should be examined more closely. This paper explores a museum’s whole-hearted attempt to engage with the societal issue of climate change and work with a high degree of participationfrom civic society when staging a temporary exhibition. We investigate experiences inthe process of building, measuring, separating and transgressing during the collaboration. Based on these explorations the paper presents three emerging and interconnected territories in the staging of participatory temporary exhibitions, the territory of aesthetics, the territory of action (autonomy), and the territory of unpredictability. The result contributes to research on public participatory practices mainly in museum contex

Let us measure, then what? : Exploring purposeful use of innovation management self-assessments.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding regarding how managers attempt to make purposeful use of innovation management self-assessments (IMSA) and performance information (PI). Design/methodology/approach An interpretative perspective on purposeful use is used as an analytical framework, and the paper is based on empirical material from two research projects exploring the use of IMSA and PI in three case companies. Based on the empirical data, consisting of interviews and observations of workshops and project meetings, qualitative content analysis has been conducted. Findings The findings of this paper indicate that how managers achieve a purposeful use of PI is related to their approach toward how to use the specific PI at hand, and two basic approaches are analytically separated: a rule-based approach and a reflective approach. Consequently, whether or not the right thing is being measured also becomes a question of how the PI is actually being interpreted and used. Thus, the extensive focus on what to measure and how to measure it becomes edgeless unless equal attention is given to how managers are able to use the PI to make knowledgeable decisions regarding what actions to take to achieve the desired changes. Practical implications Given the results, it comes with a managerial responsibility to make sure that all managers who are supposed to be engaged in using the PI are given roles in the self-assessments that are aligned with the level of knowledge they possess, or can access. Originality/value How managers purposefully use PI is a key to understand the potential impact of self-assessments

Carbon theatre in public spaces : Using participatory theatre and co-designmethods in a museum for shaping lowcarbon lifestyles

Over the past ten years, the need for public spaces to deal with burning societal issues, such as climate change, has become even more important. Participatory theatre offers ways to meet the longing for shared forums by engaging large groups of people in exploring difficult social dilemmas. It can potentially empower participants to change their own situations and organizations. In a previous design research project Quantifying your carbon footprint, this gap was in focus. We will use the findings from the Quantifying carbon footprint project as an entry point and expand it with Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) on objects from the current museum collection and on daily life activities that have a carbon impact. The goal of the project is to explore and understand the climate and environmental impacts of lifestyles. The method used here are participatory theatre and co-design methods and pop-up exhibitions are used to engage young citizens in negotiating social norms and understanding their possible impact on CO2 emissions. The museum collections play a crucial role in the process of understanding how LCA calculations are related to mundane objects and reflecting on the temporality of social norms that are negotiated and re-negotiated through the way we handle products and objects in our everyday life. Developing new practices for museums involving participatory methods in order to engage young citizens in climate research. The results of the introductory meeting and study visit show that using the museum’s collection, the history and the value of things in the past centuries become clear and easier to reflect on compared to today’s unsustainable lifestyle – travelling and over consumption. Carbon Dioxide Theatre is an attempt to shape a shared space on a local level, in line with the priorities of the museum’s three years plan.Carbon Theatr