Recognizing paradoxical identities of design managers

Johansson, Ulla, 1948 (author): Gothenburg University,Göteborgs universitet,Högskolan för design och konsthantverk,Gothenburg Research Institute (GRI),School of Design and Crafts

Woodilla, Jill (author): Gothenburg University,Göteborgs universitet,Gothenburg Research Institute (GRI),Företagsekonomiska institutionen,Department of Business Administration

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Abstract Subject headings

There is a need for designers with knowledge in business as well as business people with knowledge in design. All over the world master-level education programs are growing for this “in between” area. We argue that this knowledge and the identity of being “in between” are essential but also problematic. There is a danger that, similar to the relation between man and (wo)man, the business way of thinking becomes the common ground for (design) management, and the designerly characteristics become decoration, rather than another ground. In order not to suppress the one or the other, we argue that a paradoxical identity of being simultaneously both the same and different is needed. This paradoxical identity of both acknowledging the differences and at the same time looking away from them is theoretically anchored in the postmodern project – and earlier studies of one of the authors shows that it seems easier to embrace in practice than in (modernist) theory. Here we present a theoretical frame of reference and some empirical notifications from students in a Masters program in “Business & Design” at the University of Gothenburg. We will also present an ongoing empirical study.

About the subject

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