Destination unknown: Navigating the messy journey of design-enabling transformation in public organizations
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Public organizations around the world are increasingly investing in their creative-purposive design capabilities. However, they often face difficulties in doing so and come to realize that this implies a fundamental organizational transformation. To date, knowledge about how such a transformation is realized remains limited. In this study, we conducted four focus groups and an in-depth case study of a Dutch municipality to explore how such a transformation comes about and how it can be fostered. We adopted a complexity perspective on organizational transformation, which enabled us to (1) gain a better understanding of how transformation unfolds in the complex reality of a public organization, (2) reveal how transformative work is continuously refined, and (3) how the engagement of public organizations with creative-purposive design evolves. Accordingly, this study contributes to both theory and practice of design-enabling transformation of public organizations.
DOI: 10.57698/v19i3.05
Institutions: Erasmus University Rotterdam, Delft University of Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Management of Technology and Innovation
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7117877153