Innovation is the valuable outcome of new idea implementation. New technologies are disrupting industries, and innovative implementations bring competitive advantages. However, what is the perception of design and innovation in organizations such as Scania IT and how can design practices develop innovation? This thesis goal is to explore how Design Thinking methodologies are being used in innovation processes within the automobile industry and specifically SCANIA IT. How innovation is fostered and supported, which frameworks and processes are being used to generate, evaluate and develop new ideas and services. The research question that this thesis aims to examine is the following: What is the perception of design and innovation in their current work practices, and how can Design Thinking support Scania IT service design innovation processes? In the paper data and results of the on-premises study is presented. A total of nine interviews and two workshops with a total of 17 participants were conducted. The thematic analysis that follows reveals a matrix of topics and concepts. / Innovation är det värdefulla resultatet av implementering av nya idéer. Ny teknik stör industrier och innovativa implementeringar ger konkurrensfördelar. Men vad är uppfattningen om design och innovation i organisationer som Scania IT och hur kan designa praktiker utveckla innovation? Målet med detta examensarbete är att utforska hur Design Thinking-metoder används inom innovation processer inom bilindustrin och specifikt SCANIA DET. Hur innovation främjas och stöds, vilka ramar och processer som används för att generera, utvärdera och utveckla nya idéer och tjänster. Forskningsfrågan som denna avhandling syftar till att undersöka är följande: Hur ser uppfattningen ut om design och innovation i deras nuvarande arbetssätt och hur kan Design Thinking stödja innovationsprocesser för Scania IT-tjänstdesign? I papper presenteras data och resultat från den lokala studien. Totalt genomfördes nio intervjuer och två workshops med totalt 17 deltagare. Den tematiska analysen som följer avslöjar en matris av ämnen och begrepp.

As a repercussion of the ongoing climate crisis and the emerging system of stakeholder capitalism, organizations are required to take responsibility for their businesses throughout their entire value creation chain. To meet the demands of their stakeholders, companies must review among others, their business models, culture, trust, and approach towards innovations that meet the terms of sustainability. This thesis aims to investigate what needs to be included in a design process that emanates from the methodology of design thinking to ensure that multiple stakeholders are being considered. Furthermore, the thesis also sets out to review what key deliverables need to be validated in order to create sustainable innovations. Insights are drawn from related work, observations and interviews with employees at an innovation and design bureau who are engaged in creating sustainable solutions for organizations that are looking to transform themselves into becoming more sustainable. This thesis identifies gaps in an innovation bureau’s design process that prevent employees to include multiple stakeholders and the perspective of sustainability. A recommendation of a new design process has been developed to enable innovation bureaus to include multiple stakeholders in a structured manner in order to create and validate sustainable innovations. This thesis uses EY Doberman as a Use Case to identify the obstacles and requisites for involving sustainability and other stakeholders than the end-consumer in a design process that is sprung out of the methodology of design thinking. / Som ett resultat av den pågående klimatkrisen och det framväxande systemet stakeholder kapitalism måste organisationer ta ansvar för sina företag genom hela sin värdeskapande kedja. För att möta kraven från sina intressenter måste företagen granska bland annat sina affärsmodeller, kultur, förtroende och inställning till innovationer som uppfyller villkoren för hållbarhet. Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka vad som behöver ingå i en designprocess som härrör från metodiken design thinking för att säkerställa att flera intressenter övervägs. Dessutom avser uppsatsen att granska vilka viktiga leveranser som behöver valideras för att skapa hållbara innovationer. Insikter hämtas från relaterat arbete, observationer och intervjuer med anställda vid en innovations- och designbyrå som arbetar med att skapa hållbara lösningar för organisationer som vill förvandla sig till att bli mer hållbara. Denna uppsats identifierar luckor i en innovationsbyrås designprocess som hindrar anställda att inkludera flera intressenter och hållbarhetsperspektiv. En rekommendation om en ny designprocess har utvecklats för att göra det möjligt för innovationsbyråer att inkludera flera intressenter på ett strukturerat sätt för att skapa och validera hållbara innovationer. Denna uppsats använder EY Doberman som ett användningsfall för att identifiera hinder och förutsättningar för att involvera hållbarhet och andra intressenter än slutkonsumenten i en designprocess som är sprungen ur metoden design thinking.

Tarkett AB is one of the world's largest companies that manufacture floors and operates in over 100 countries. Tarkett Ronneby is one of two larger recycling centers the company possesses, and they are currently recycling all of the spare material and waste material from the manufacturing processes. Customers to Tarkett are lately offered to bring back used floors to recycle the material. Currently, Tarkett is annually importing and recycling 17 000 tons of material from the production and their customers, and the amount of material handled is estimated to increase to 30 000 tons per year. To handle the amount of material Tarkett Ronneby is going to build a new recycling center. The initial research questions for this master thesis were:• How to dimension the recycling center to handle the predetermined capacity?• How to organise the transport of materials to handle the predetermined capacity?On a higher level, this contribution has also highlighted several findings in relation to the following research question:• How can Design Thinking be used in practice to design a warehouse?To answer the question of whether design thinking can be used as a method for developing a recycling center, this was used as a method. Design thinking was used in all the steps of the development process - to know about both explicit and tacit needs related to the development of the recycling center. Company visits allowed to emphasise with the different stakeholders for the solution, getting in touch with employees and learn more about the processes connected to the recycling center. During the ideation phase, brainstorming has been used to create ideas focusing on smaller parts of a solution. The generated ideas have been combined to create final ideas which were prototyped in a digital environment and the first two were also simulated in discrete-event simulation software. The result was more insights into the problem and an iteration to the define phase was conducted. The iterative nature of the Design Thinking process also meant that new needs were stated along the process and the research questions were redefined to the following:• How shall the predetermined units be stored to fit in the predetermined storage area?To solve this question, the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) was used to systematically explore solution strategies for the given problem and propose original ideas. The result is a final prototype in a digital environment showing how the structure of the units stored in the recycling center will look like. According to the model the warehouse will only consist of stackable units and the tent will consist of both stackable and non-stackable units. From the results, it is clear that an investment must be done to store the desired amount of units in the tent and in narrow aisle forklifts. The main future work will be to contact the forklift supplier used at Tarkett Ronneby, STILL, and order GX-X/GX-Q-forklifts, lay a concrete slab, and to update the placing software to cope with the changes and to maintain a high placing accuracy of the units.

Mushers, sledges, and husky teams run through Lapland for approximately 5000 years already to move goods, travel, and even military purposes. Nowadays, the mushing tradition has entered the local culture and evolved into a professional vocation for numerous entrepreneurs. Husky sledging companies of different sizes and business cultures meet the increasing touristic demand for sledging rides and safaris in the Finnish wilderness. Husky tours constitute a unique selling point for lots of Arctic destinations because part of the “to-do list” of every tourist exploring the extreme North. Despite the growing interests shown by visitors, the academic world has almost never focused any attention or resources to research the husky sledging industry. Since the covid-19 spread also in Lapland, the entire husky sledging business is condemned to face severe consequences and deal with wicked problems. This thesis aims to fill the research gap on the husky safari business and to offer husky tour companies support in mitigating the economic impacts caused by the pandemic outbreak. The investigation is based on the participatory action research realised in collaboration with Bearhill Husky, a dog sledging company operating in Rovaniemi. Design Thinking has been applied as a research methodology to develop sustainable solutions that could help the company survive the crisis. The aim is to prove that, under certain conditions, Design Thinking can succeed in this intent and to inspire other kennels to apply this methodology for developing resilience and sustainable innovation. This research looks at what has been destroyed and sees room for growth and progress and teaches that sometimes the problem is our approach towards it.

Background: There is a great interest in researching prescriptive methods as entrepreneurs demand guidance for start-up processes. A learn-by-doing methodology called lean start-up methodology has influenced tech entrepreneurs. Further, design thinking is another methodology for developing innovation that has been suggested to benefit in a software context. The uncertain nature requiring rapid innovation for software start-ups has sparked the interest in exploring the combination of the methodologies in an entrepreneurial context to utilize the benefits of both. However, the methodologies have been criticized due to a lack of rigor. It is therefore an opportunity to explore applicability of lean start-up in practice and design thinking in a software context to develop a unique methodology integrating lean start-up and design thinking.Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the occurrence of the two innovation driven methods lean start-up and design thinking in successful software start-ups, to develop a theory of an integrated methodology that utilizes the benefits of both. The intent is to provide explicit guidance for both scholars and entrepreneurs. Methodology: An exploratory qualitative method was used with an inductive approach, conducting semi-structured interviews with six founders of successful software companies. Conclusion:  The findings advance the understanding of the lean start-up methodology in practice, by extending the aspect of idea development and clarifying the use of iterating aspects of the business model. The findings update the sequence of design thinking when applied in a software context and extend the iterating aspect, to adapt to the need for rapid development. The theory of suggested integration confirms that the first stages of design thinking initiate the idea process, emphasizing early consideration of desirability, viability, and feasibility, while lean start-up is integrated into the product development process, emphasizing rapid iterating development for validation.

Las metodologías del Design Thinking y el Lean Startup son herramientas de gran valor dentro del contexto empresarial donde se evidencian sus inicios; pero es importante estudiar su participación indiscutible y acertada dentro de la educación. En el presente trabajo investigativo se presentan las diversas posturas asumidas por distintos autores en torno a dichas metodologías dentro del proceso de enseñanza - aprendizaje, un hecho que se forma a partir de una importante y rigurosa revisión bibliográfica donde intervienen 30 papers que al ser clasificados develaron las diferentes confrontaciones de las ideas asociadas. En primer lugar, al Design Thinking dentro del ámbito educativo y, en segundo lugar, al Lean Startup y su participación en el contexto pedagógico. Así mismo, es posible la apreciación de las conjeturas derivadas del análisis de posturas relacionadas con el empleo de ambas metodologías y a su complementariedad para la educación. / The methodologies of Desing Thinking and Lean Startup are highly valuable mechanisms within the business context where their annals are evidenced; but it is important to study their indisputable and successful participation in education. In this research work, the various positions assumed by different authors regarding said methodologies within the teaching-learning process are presented, a fact that takes concrete form from an important and rigorous bibliographic review involving 30 papers that, when classified, revealed different confrontations of associated ideas. Firstly, to Design Thinking within the educational field and secondly to Lean Startup and its participation in the pedagogical context. Likewise, the conjectures derived from the analysis of positions related to the use of both methodology and their complementarity for education can be appreciated. / Trabajo de Suficiencia Profesional

The Swedish public sector in general, and healthcare specifically, is struggling with large deficits: 19 of 21 regions have large negative results in 2019. The demands made by the citizens and their elected politicians that healthcare should offer effective, accessible, good and equal care are difficult to meet. However, when it comes to emergency care, Swedish healthcare scores high on international rankings. The difficulties and challenges today lie in ensuring good and equal care for the large groups of people with multiple illnesses, and patients who need long-term care from different healthcare providers. A complicated system has become even more complex. Organizational research has shown conflicts between different ways of working to improve and change the organization and the methods that support the daily work of providing healthcare services. Furthermore, quality research shows that there are knowledge gaps to be filled when it comes to understanding how complex problems should be handled and what kind of knowledge could contribute. This also applies to the tensions and conflicts that can arise when knowledge from patients, other professions and fields of knowledge must be integrated with the knowledge that the professions (physicians, nursing) possess. Several public organizations have in recent years also adopted methods, tools and approaches from the design field. Especially user involvement (human-centric), collaboration and visualization. Design research often highlights the methods which are favorable for handling complexity. The overall purpose of this thesis was therefore to gain a deeper understanding of how the quality development work in healthcare is expressed and how it is affected when different perspectives of knowledge are integrated - with a focus on improvement knowledge, professional knowledge and design thinking. Since the purpose of the licentiate thesis was to gain a deeper understanding of what happens when new knowledge to develop quality in healthcare emerges, the method is based on a qualitative approach. Three research questions were formulated and led to three studies. The first study, a literature review, showed that there is limited research in the area but that there are indications that user involvement in development work affects employees' attitudes and values. In study number two, a case study was set up using design methods and involving users. The results showed tensions between the improvement work and the daily clinical operations. This tension could primarily be attributed to the conflict between faster and slowerxviprocesses (doing and thinking), when moving between different practicing skills (design, improvement and professional). The last study aimed to understand more about the management's view of this, relatively new knowledge (design) in healthcare, in relation to the traditional way to work with improvement and change. The result stresses that there are potential conflicts between the different fields of knowledge. But the interviews were also interpreted as showing the synergy effects that can arise when different practitioners meet, and the results also show that different ways of thinking can challenge the traditional ways of handling improvement and change in the development of healthcare. The thesis result overall strengthens the research that shows that design can add another dimension to traditional improvement work in healthcare. However, there is also frustration about something which is perceived as more abstract and reflective and which can sometimes be slower than what the solutions-oriented professions, who work under great time pressure and with scarce resources, are used to. Furthermore, the thesis highlights the problem that also has been described in previous research and which signals the (in)ability to both share new knowledge and to absorb it.

This thesis develops a practical Wesleyan approach to leadership in conflict transformation, aimed toward guiding leaders and communities in conflict situations. The thesis analyzes a conflicted situation in the United Methodist Church (UMC) through a case study of the UMC General Conferences of 2012 and 2016, supplemented by interviews that draw wisdom from leaders in the field. It then creates a dialogue with the biblical witness, contemporary movements in pneumatology, and leadership theory. Particular attention is given to John Wesley’s pneumatological thinking and practices as a transformative leader. Both the contextual and theological analyses reveal human capacities and failures to relate with God, self, and neighbor, as well as the movements of the Holy Spirit in situations of conflict and transformation. The thesis concludes with practical guidance for UMC congregations and other bodies to support and expand the work of transformative leadership in situations of conflict.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The purpose of this research is to explore if policy makers and implementers shift and/or change their understandings of the portfolio management model (PMM) when engaged in equity-oriented transformative professional learning. The portfolio approach to urban education, at present, is being implemented or considered by over one third of the US. There are 20 states, 40 cities, and the District of Columbia that are pursuing and/or implementing the portfolio management model (PMM). This research study examines how systemic, socio-political, socio-historical, and interconnected policy networks have resulted in inequity. Furthermore, this study focuses on how policy makers and implementers engage with one another and their context(s) while learning about educational equity. This occurred via facilitating transformative professional learning opportunities aimed to illicit critical self-awareness, reflection, and examination of perhaps the more pernicious underpinnings of authentic decision and choice making in US education reform. The study also explores the ways in which institutional context and the research design itself may have impacted and/or impeded shifts in learning. The study’s theoretical frameworks guided the decision to use critical qualitative inquiry and narrative inquiry to investigate the raced, gendered, sexed, and classed experiences of policy makers and implementers, and further, implications for policy implementation regarding other forms of othering such as ableism, linguicism, ageism, etc. Thematic analysis of the data, analyzed using critical frameworks, were articulated as interspliced data vignettes. Findings suggest that learning is social and that designed experiences around educational equity can provide ways in which policy makers and implementers can formally intervene in their own practices of developing and/or cultivating critical consciousness, as well as decision-making toward PMM adoption and implementation in their respective contexts. Participant’s narratives both challenge and perpetuate dominant, historical approaches of urban education reform adoption and implementation, and exposes how US urban education policy arenas have not systemically centered critical consciousness, resulting in equity-oriented policies being interpreted and implemented in inequitable ways. Findings from this study guide future research and practice that focuses on urban education policy creation, adoption, and implementation.

The present study focuses on integrating design thinking into career guidance courses to test whether students’ career self-efficacy is increased by comparing the experiment group (by using design thinking method) and the general group (by using traditional teacher-centered method). The basic theoretic framework is Bandura’s self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1977). Students will achieve career self-efficacy after experiencing repeatedly success (Bandura, 1977) in the career activities through design thinking method. Then students will have more confidence to make more appropriate career choices in their employment environment. This study used AMOS and path analysis to analyze a just-identified model. The model included five endogenous variables as well as six exogenous variables to control for age, sex and GPA. The data met all statistical assumptions of path modeling. In sum, all the five paths between design thinking and the other five endogenous variables were significant positive (p <.001), which indicates that using the design thinking method to teach students’ career courses can improve students’ goal selection, problem solving, occupational information, planning, and self-appraisal scores.