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In this chapter we study job design. Do organizations plan precisely how the job is to be done ex ante, or ask workers to determine the process as they go? We first model this decision and predict complementarity among these following job attributes: multitasking, discretion, skills, and interdependence of tasks. We argue that characteristics of the firm and industry (e.g., product and technology, organizational change) can explain observed patterns and trends in job design. We then use novel data on these job attributes to examine these issues. As predicted, job designs tend to be “coherent” across these attributes within the same job. Job designs also tend to follow similar patterns across jobs in the same firm, and especially in the same establishment: when one job is optimized ex ante, others are more likely to be also. There is evidence that firms segregate different types of job designs across different establishments. At the industry level, both computer usage and R&D spending are related to job design decisions.

This chapter unpacks ‘design thinking’ as it relates to educational design, and highlights how developments in the field of Learning Design may be of assistance to educators. Design is defined as a creative, scientific, and complex process, underpinned by several design thinking qualities. Teaching, it is argued, should be positioned as a design science, based on its nature, practice, and intentions. Learning to design is characterized as a challenging pursuit that is supported through practice, refection, examples, and expert guidance. Based on the literature, the pursuit of designing for learning is explained as a process involving the creation of accessible and aligned designs that cater to students in order to achieve desired learning outcomes. Educational design models by Laurillard, Siemens, and Conole are contrasted and evaluated in order to critically reflect on the general utility of such models. The field of Learning Design is introduced as a discipline area that aims to help educators develop and share great teaching ideas. Six approaches that support the description and sharing of learning designs are briefly described (technical standards, pattern descriptions, visualizations, visualization tools, pedagogical planners, and the Learning Activity Management System) so as to illustrate how the Learning Design field has evolved and how educators can capitalize upon it. Directions forward are recommended, which center around reflection, collaboration, and a design orientation.

This paper highlights that the strategic use of design, a competitive pattern typically associated with creative industries, those creating and trading meanings, also characterizes industries that produce functional or utilitarian goods not typically considered creative. The paper explores the origins of this phenomenon in the context of three industry settings: cars, speciality coffee and personal computers. The analysis theorizes three distinct strategic paths that explain how design may become an institutionalized aspect of competition in industries that are not creative. We explain how firms link their products to the identities of their users, how design is linked to stakeholders' emotions and visceral reactions to products and how intermediaries are relevant to enhancing attention to design. Illuminating these strategic paths allows harnessing some of the well-established understandings about competition in creative industries towards understanding competition in noncreative industries.

While qualitative work has a long tradition in the strategy field and has recently regained popularity, we have not paused to take stock of how such work offers contributions. We address this oversight with a review of qualitative studies of strategy published in five top-tier journals over an extended period of 15 years (2003–2017). In an attempt to organize the field, we develop an empirically grounded organizing framework. We identify 12 designs that are evident in the literature, or “designs-in-use” as we call them. Acknowledging important similarities and differences between the various approaches to qualitative strategy research (QSR), we group these designs into three “families” based on their philosophical orientation. We use these designs and families to identify trends in QSR. We then engage those trends to orient the future development of qualitative methods in the strategy field.

Handicraft entrepreneurship is an old form of entrepreneurship and recently has received increased interest due to more people becoming interested in handmade products. The aim of this chapter is to describe different types of handicrafts including (1) textile based handicrafts, (2) wood, metal, clay, glass and stone made handicrafts, (3) handicrafts using paper or canvas, (4) plant based handicrafts and (5) other types of handicrafts such as cakes and candles. This enables a holistic understanding about the nature of handicrafts in society. Thereby making a contribution to the development of the literature on handicrafts and how they incorporate entrepreneurial elements. Theoretical and practical implications are stated that highlight the need for further understanding about the nature of handicraft entrepreneurship. Future research suggestions are also stated that stress the interesting nature of this field.

Permaculture, as a design science supporting “permanent culture,” has developed experience globally in ecologically regenerative design. The Aral Sea watershed provides a unique opportunity to apply a relevant design process aiming at restoration of ecological function. Permacultural practice follows a core of ethics and principles and a basic design process based on such factors as stakeholder analysis, water harvesting principles, and the scale of permanence. The focus of permacultural interventions is on water, forests, and perennial vegetation, balanced with human needs. This chapter highlights key elements of the design process and summarizes the process of permaculture rehabilitation. Given success in similar situations working at a smaller-scale suggests a potential approach for regeneration in the Aral Sea Basin.

The Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) built on a country's centuries-old know-how in handicraft production, the images, stories, symbols, music, dances and the likes have the potential to contribute significantly to the country's GDP and socio-economic development. Particularly in developing countries where there is high rate of unemployment among the youth. We used a case study research to explore the experiences, challenges and opportunities of businesses in the cultural and creative sector. To do so, we selected a start-up in Ethiopia that specialises in designing and producing culturally inspired quality and sustainable lifestyle products. Specifically, the chapter highlights the potential of indigenous knowledge and skill coupled with innovation in designing contemporary products and the process of producing them for the individual entrepreneurs, as well as the promotion and preservation of the country's cultural heritage. It also indicates the need to utilise abundant but underutilised resources to produce value-added and sustainable products in the region.

This study explores how organizations deal with divergent institutional logics when designing new products. Specifically, we investigate how organizations approach and embody institutional complexity in their product design. Through a multimodal study of serious games, we identify two design strategies, the proximity and the amplification strategies, which organizations employ to balance multiple institutional logics and design novel products that meet competing institutional expectations. Our study makes an important theoretical contribution by showing how institutional complexity can be a source of innovation. We also make a methodological contribution by developing a new, multimodal research design that allows for the in-depth study of organizational artifacts. Altogether, we complement our understanding of how institutional complexity is substantiated in organizational artifacts and highlight the role that multimodality plays in analyzing such situations.