Human-Centricity for Peace

Vinai Kumar

08 Dec 2012 

Peace is an ephemeral phenomenon when viewed in a large time frame. Human history provides numerous instances where peace has been interrupted because of political, economic, environmental, and socio-cultural reasons. Peace can be thought of as a state of equilibrium wherein most of the elements and the relationships between them in a given society are in a state of harmony. However, the societal-system elements and relationships, and goals and intentions are forever changing in complexity and time because of both internal and external forces. The issue is how to identify, monitor, understand and control the systemic changes so that a desirable equilibrium takes place with least possible variations.

In order to understand the issue, we need to focus on the behaviours of the elements and relationships that are most likely to change significantly and unpredictably. There are many such behaviours and relationships that exist in our real-world. For example, some resources may go scarce, and therefore can lead to an unsettling situation. Think of a scenario where water and food become scarce, which then leads to despair and a sense of uncertainty about survival. Such a scenario is most likely to have an impact on the societal equilibrium and harmony. One can look deeper into the past events that led to ‘not-peace’ situations, and discover the multiple causes behind them. However, one element which is the most significant contributor to the not-peace situations is the human factor.

The human being is a thinking creature in the animal kingdom. One aspect of human thinking is rather innocuous which manifests itself in the form of reasoning, analysing, and taking logical and ethical decisions. Another aspect of human thinking is emotion-driven which may be a manifestation of their desires, passion, status consciousness, identity, anger or greed. The challenge for human society and its governance is to judiciously manage the human thinking and resulting actions in order to bring about a harmonious state of a society which can be perceived as ‘peace’.

Extending this thought further, it is imperative that a society that is most likely to experience peace is the one that has educated and encouraged its decision makers to be human-centric. If people in a society are the participants in the societal governance and management in a relevant and appropriate way, that society has a huge potential to be peaceful. Countries like Sweden and Singapore have focused on being people-centric, and the results in terms of the state of peace are evident.

In my view the challenge is to educate and manage the decision-making humans in a society in such a way that they work with and in the interest of the other humans. So we are talking about a peace paradigm where compassion, trust, concern and welfare of all humans become a focal point of human activities.

The design education for students at all levels should be delivered in this direction. The design process is centred around the users of a product or service at various stages of its acquisition, use, maintenance and disposal. The user study disciplines such as ethnography, semiotics, ergonomics, and social sciences are extensively employed to understand users, their contexts and environments. This approach helps in aligning design processes with the objective of achieving appropriate usefulness of the product, its usability, and, very importantly, the desirable emotional connect. Today we have a good example in products and services like iPhone, iPod, and Google’s various services which provide excellent and perceptive connect with users’ needs, expectations, and emotional wellbeing. If this approach is extended further to the development of various public services such as electric supply, public transportation systems, medical services, public distribution systems, and many others, it will surely help in creating a more content society with positive outlook. A design educator I intend to extend its human-centric approach to a much larger ambit of public services and systems. The societies in future will need to be capable to develop and maintain human-centricity for their wellbeing and a sense of the prevalence of peace.

Copyright (C) Vinai Kumar  08 Dec 2012  Ahmedabad

Strategic Design Management

Strategic design management

Business managers and leaders now recognize the importance of design and design thinking in formulating business strategies and implementation of integrated management decisions. As a result understanding the deployment and management of design processes and practices has become a major focus of capability development for the corporate sector. Particularly, the consumer-driven businesses perceive the role of design thinking as significant in developing and delivering innovative products and processes.

Strategic design management is concerned with integrative and collaborative business management requiring a new breed of managers who are skilled at working with a wide range of multi-disciplinary inputs and diverse team members in order to achieve holistic and sustainable business solutions. An educational programme in strategic design management essentially needs to be conducted within a design thinking framework. The programme should be project-oriented, user-centred, and interactive in approach, and should finally culminate in an industry-based project with a view to connect students with the business world, and develop their skills and confidence in working with the real-life situations. The programme students, if they wish, can be given options to specialize in specific areas such as user research, branding, retail design and management, new product development, environmental design, and social development. The students can also perform applied research in design management with a view to develop new tools, methods, and processes.

Copyright (c) Vinai Kumar

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New Paradigms for Design Professionals...


Thought leaders in business management have recently begun to recognize the importance of design and design thinking in formulating business strategies and implementation of integrated management decisions. As a result understanding the deployment and management of design processes and practices has become a major focus of capability development for the corporate sector. Particularly, the consumer-driven businesses perceive the role of design thinking as significant in developing and delivering innovative products and processes.

While the initial impetus for a programme comes from the recognition of its relevance for the profit-making businesses, the framework and methods can be meaningfully applied to the improvement of public services such as healthcare systems, transportation systems, public sanitation, public safety and security systems, and education-for-all. There are also many examples where designers have made a difference in the development of rural artisans by helping them translate their crafts into contemporary products successfully delivered in the urban markets. Designers have been continually discovering new challenges towards finding an appropriate balance between human wellbeing, economics, and environment.

Reference:  Vinai Kumar, Acting Dean, PG Campus Gandhinagar NID. Page 8 Young Designers 2009 National Institute of Design


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User-centric business is at the heart of the design management profession

Researching and establishing 'user-value' is one of the most important activities within the scope of design management. All the business processes must be aligned to specify and deliver user-value based on a holistic understanding of the target users and their context of use of the proposed product/service. 

Continually improving and managing the business processes and product quality through user research, design research, market research, user-centred designing/engineering, and product evaluations with representative end-users is the essence of design management. 

The graphic representation above is the fundamental framework that a design manager has to bear in mind at all times. This new paradigm of business enables the business managers to integrate the diversity of stakeholder interests in an optimized whole. 

Further... some more pertinent points

I have observed that the traditional education of engineers enables them to be technology-focused which unfortunately makes them oblivious of the end-users and other human components in the entire business systems.  The same is true of the traditionally trained business managers who mostly engage their minds and energies in the domain of marketing, making profits, and increasingly market-capitalizing their businesses. Similarly, designers from traditional design education have been focused on designing great 'forms' which often overlook the real end-user needs. (For those who seriously pursue the cutting-edge global business practices, understanding users and people is now a profession by itself.)

Fortunately, we have some business firms, such as Apple, McDonalds, IKEA, and Toyota that have demonstrated that being user-centric makes good business sense. These firms are legendary in their vision, and business growth and sustenance. They are a great source of inspiration and confidence for those who believe in the vision and objectives of the user-centric strategic business. 

Without doubt, for delivering high-quality products, excellent engineering, marketing, and financial management are the key at the end of the day. The upcoming profession of design management therefore needs to excel in achieving integrated user-centric solutions by employing a 'systems approach' along with 'design thinking'.

Copyright (c) August 24 2009 Vinai Kumar

A Framework for Studying Business Systems

- with the aim of understanding of product quality, end-users, people, stakeholders and the context

The following is a framework to understand, and ideate about the creation, development and maintenance of a business system with a systems thinking perspective.

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Business system components	Issues and sub-components of relevance
Business unit	Strategic vision, beliefs and values;  quality perspective Characteristics and specifications of the product(s) Critical benchmarks and success factors Business value of the offerings Business model Business processes and systems Domain knowledge, skills, and intelligence Business infrastructure Financials Marketability Sustainability in the marketplace
End user	Expectations Quality-of-life beliefs and paradigms Perceived value of the offering - usablility - usefulness - desirability Previous experiences - pain points - missing or unusable features and functionalities
Employees and other people (Suppliers, experts, vendors)	Identification with and belief in:  - vision, mission and values associated with  the offerings of the business
Environment (Natural)	Environmental impact - Flora and fauna - Pollution - Depletion - Climate change - 4 Rs - Reuse, Recylce, Regenerate, Reduce
Environment (Man-made)	Includes: - Legal - Economic - Governmental - Technical - Market - Infrastructure - Culture - Law and order

 ___________________________________________________________

Figure 1: A Framework for Studying a Business System with a Design Thinking and Systems Thinking paradigm

Copyright (c)   Vinai Kumar    August  02  2009   16:00   A'bad India

Kaizen for Education in Business Management

Professional ‘management’ in the context of organizations and activities related to business and/or social goals involves understanding the constituent elements and their relationships with each other in order to achieve some predetermined results. These results could include, for example, supplying better quality shirts in a particular market, making certain level of profits, getting entry into a new market, or improving the quality of potato chips in comparison to the competition.

Most of the elements of relevance for an organized business or social activity can be categorized into the following:

-       Organizational goals

-       Resources

-       Processes and Systems

-       Infrastructure

-       Environment

-       Organizational culture and values

-       People - their characteristics, roles and values

-       Perceptions of the future

In the management literature you will generally find the mention of the following core management functions:

-       Finance and Accounting

-       Marketing

-       Human Resource

-       General Management (Strategic Planning, Tactical Management, Operations Management, Project Management, etc.)

This categorization reflects the roots of the management profession in the hardcore business of making profits by mobilizing and optimizing resources to produce a product or service and sell it to the customers in some pre-identified markets.

However, since the beginning of the Industrial era, the business environment has been constantly evolving and throwing new challenges continually. In the 80s the global competition in the marketplace spearheaded by the Japanese in the consumer products domain necessitated the need for new strategies for product development and design.

In the 90s the opening up of the formerly localized economies like India, China and Russia generated the high volume of international trading and marketing like never before. In the same era, the advent of the Internet and worldwide web threw tremendous challenges for the old business models based on ‘brick and mortar’ paradigm. The 2000s have been seeing a phenomenal impact of mobile and portable technologies on business and social activities.

The continuing emergence of new management issues requires the creation and development of new management functions. Some of these are:

-       International business

-       Business laws

-       Information technology

-       R&D management

-       Product development and design

-       Quality management

-       Knowledge management

-       Infrastructure management

-       Corporate social responsibility

-       Environment and sustainability

-       Design thinking and design management

This list, although not comprehensive, does indicate the impact of the changing business and social scenarios on the management practices. It is then imperative for those organizations involved in delivering appropriate value to their stakeholders and end-users to continually re-equip themselves through education, training in new methods and tools, and the development of their ability to deal with the emerging future scenarios.

Copyright (c)  Vinai Kumar  

Designers and Design Management

Designers add business value to ideas and existing products when they provide their services to businesses. To deliver effectively in the business context, designers need to have an understanding of the various business management functions and issues that impact the quality and delivery of designs. Most design schools all over the world have focused on mainly the 'formal' and 'aesthetic' aspects of design though some have now started focusing on interaction and user experience aspects as well. A very small number of design schools have now started introducing the business management knowledge in their curriculum. 

The traditional engineers, business managers and administrators too lack an understanding of design profession that could help them in working closely and effectively with designers and design thinkers. While they can understand some aspects of the designers' way of problem-solving and thinking by observing their activities and reading about the designers and design processes, it generally results in a superficial understanding to of the potential and effectiveness of the incorporation of design in business. 

Design Management is envisaged to be a bridge between design and management that enables a business to deliver an integrated user-centric product. Design Management is also emerging as a profession with its unique set of insights, skills, methods and tools, and a knowledge base that is more than just a mechanical combination of design and management knowledge. It is reasonable to posit that in future many businesses which are expected to be customer-oriented will be increasingly using the services of managers who understand what it takes to develop and deliver integrated human-oriented products and services in a business context.

In order to blend seamlessly in a business environment, all designers need to understand the vision and objectives of design management for the greater business-relevant maturity in their professional attitude and collaborative orientation which in turn will lead to the development of high quality solutions, and their appropriate delivery and implementation.

Copyright (c)   Vinai Kumar