Design thinking – crossing disciplinary borders

  • Nadia Viljoen
  • Ria Van Zyl
Keywords: OR/MS, Operations Research/Management Science

Abstract

Design is known to be an interdisciplinary field, and design activities and outcomes are developed in conjunction with (as well as used in) many other disciplines, including management, marketing and entertainment. Moving the concept of design beyond the design discipline itself creates exciting new challenges and opportunities, not only for the various other disciplines involved, but also for design education. The idea for this paper was incubated in a post-graduate classroom environment during an interdisciplinary design elective. Within the current academic environment, it is not strange to have students from diverse disciplines such as management, theology, engineering and publishing studying the same subject matter (and sitting in the same class). This paper therefore finds it fitting to explore conceptually the potential of design thinking in the (seemingly) unrelated discipline of Operations Research/Management Science (OR/MS).

Published
2019-12-09
Section
Articles