Design Management Metamorphosis Network

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The inter-disciplinary concept of Design Management has gained considerable ground since the 1980s by addressing the totality of issues that improve competence in the management of design. As knowledge of the management of design has developed, the concept has come to be understood as a formal organisational activity. This network is concerned with expanding capacity for research on Design Management and moving the research agenda forward by examining the changing nature of design management in the new global environment that profoundly affects current economic and social activity. The focus of the proposal is the changing role of the Design Management practitioner and current practice (Gornick 2008). There is keen awareness within the existing Design Management community that new organisational thinking and methods are being formed by fundamental structural changes in industry, in which services and public sector design management play an increasingly significant role. These create a diversity of organisational cultures and contexts in which the role and management of design needs to be more clearly understood. It is important that all key participants, researchers, practitioners and educators are kept aware of these changes in order to shape future research programmes. The Design Management Metamorphosis Network promises to create a very dynamic forum for the development of ideas, methodologies, and case studies.The network events will be organised as colloquia and a symposium. Four events are planned as detailed below:Colloquium 1: Twenty-first century contexts for Design Management This event will explore the changing contexts within which design management practice operates. These include environmental and sustainability issues resulting from the current acute economic crisis, and the impact on private and public sectors of the emerging issues of authenticity and trust.Colloquium 2: Design Management roles in current and emerging practice The second event will focus on mapping changes in roles and responsibilities in Design Management, and practitioner and researcher responses to the current critical demands of the twenty-first century, including the impact of globalisation and structural changes in industry. Symposium (event 3): Creating an environment for knowledge exchangeThe third event, a two-day symposium, will be designed as a forum for building connections between the knowledge needs and interests of network participants. Consequently it will enable participants to explore the relationships between Design Management practice and research. It will examine the past and present acquisition of knowledge in Design Management and how knowledge will expand and disseminate through organisations in the future.Colloquium 4: The emerging value of Design Management to society and the economyThe final event will explore Design Management's value in organisations, in particular the Design Manager's role in creating value, and their broader social implications, for example, for participatory design. Drawing on practitioner experience, it is anticipated that the research questions will impact on the modelling of practices across different industrial sectors and sizes of organisation. The network is designed to bring benefits to its three principal constituents: practitioners, researchers and educators, and to provide sustainable frameworks for future knowledge transfer. It welcomes PhD students and early career researchers and aims to advance research questions and inter-disciplinary methodology development, and the formation of network groups with senior researchers and practitioners.ReferencesGornick, N. (2008) 'In-House Design: How do Design Managers Manage Change?' Design Management Journal, Vol. 3. Design Management Institute, Boston USA