In this workshop we will launch a dialogue on design and managing aimed at transforming management theory and practice. The workshop will build on the written provocations and position statements of its participants in order to produce an initial vocabulary of design for management. A book synthesizing the perspectives and understandings developed during the workshop, including a glossary of management design, will be published by Stanford University Press. Glossary entries will be created by workshop participants to elaborate and comment on key terms and concepts developed during the workshop.
The workshop will be held in the Weatherhead School’s new Peter B. Lewis Building, designed by Frank O. Gehry. Most of the sessions will be held in an oval shaped seminar room seating sixty six people. Whiteboards surrounding the room will be used to record key ideas as they are developed. Because there are over sixty participants, giving each of us 20 minutes of floor time would require over twenty hours. Therefore we will have one small group break-out session each day, allowing time for everyone to develop their ideas in conversation with others. These small group sessions will be held immediately after lunch at 1:45 PM. Also, we have scheduled 30 minute conversational breaks during the morning and afternoon of each day to provide more time for informal exchanges and focused discussions.
Participants represent a wide range of disciplines from around the globe. Thursday night will be an opportunity to meet each other and begin forming associations and linkages across our diverse interests. The reception will be in the Peter B. Lewis Building, and participants are invited to wander this amazing space, exploring the building and encountering each other. Servers will distribute refreshments and heavy hors d’oeuvres. Music will be provided by a master of the Shakuhachi bamboo flute.
The inspiration for this workshop came from working with Frank Gehry on the Lewis Building project. Frank will discuss how design thinking can be useful for managers, followed by questions and discussions.
Each participant will list their three favorite words from their own writings or from readings they have done in preparation for this session and describe why those words matter.
Classical and modern music will be performed by Kassaba, accompanied by Fred Collopy playing Imager, a visual music instrument that he has designed.
Participants will meet in eight small groups to discuss each other’s writings and distill from them a set of the best ideas / theories / concepts / issues they raise about design thinking for management. Participants will be asked to name them for possible inclusion in the glossary.
Meeting together, groups will be asked to report their most interesting ideas followed by responses from the other groups.
Dinner will be served family style to further encourage interaction of participants. Sergio Abramos, chef for this evening’s meal will give a brief talk on it’s design.
Karl will relate the way that Frank Gehry approaches architecture to a rethinking of organizational design, followed by questions and discussions.
The discussion will be aimed at identifying relations among theoretical strands and weaving strands into more coherent statements. Participants will be asked to relate the vocabulary and ideas developed yesterday with the ideas of Frank Gehry and Karl Weick from the two keynote presentations.
Meeting in small groups, each participant will be asked to lead a brief (10 min) discussion based around a glossary entry that they will make as a contribution to the book. The objective is to surface interesting ideas and resources that members of their group can bring to each other and help everyone begin developing a glossary entry for the book.
The discussion will focus on issues and topics that should be addressed in the open chapters of the book including key implications for research and teaching from the ideas developed so far. Participants will be asked “how should design thinking be taught to managers”, “what aspects of design thinking most require the attention of researchers”, and “which of these ideas can be put into practice most immediately?
Club Isabella Restaurant - a jazz bistro on campus
Stanford University Press has agreed to publish the product of the Workshop as a book. Bill Hicks, Senior Editor with Stanford University Press, will work closely with the workshop organizers and participants to prepare the book for publication.
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