Managers and executives who want to differentiate their businesses and outpace the competition while moving their companies to the forefront of innovation and more successful problem solving are embracing design thinking as a means to achieve these goals. If you are a business professional or someone interested in understanding how to facilitate innovation in business — the introduction of a new product, service, feature or procedure — you have probably heard of the design thinking process.
A creative, human-centered approach to problem solving and design thinking can transform the way organizations develop products, services, processes and strategies. Focused on whole-brain thinking, listening and observing, user empathy, collaboration and experimentation, the design thinking process has been helping revolutionize the way business operates and grows for many years.
If you want to gain a competitive advantage in today’s marketplace by blending business and design thinking, an online MBA program offering education in design and innovation management may be invaluable for expanding your creative thinking skills — essential to innovation — making you a change agent for business and a greater asset to any organization.
Mastering Innovation and Design Thinking
Courses in an online MBA program form a solid base in business management and include the traditional business administration disciplines of managerial accounting, corporate finance, global economics, marketing strategy, operations and supply chain management, communication, information technology, legal issues in business and leadership.
Boise State University has one of the few online MBA programs that offers study in the design thinking process as it relates to strategic management, innovation process management, project management, communication management, sustainability and systems management and leadership. You will learn creative techniques for problem solving, which combine brainstorming, mind mapping, visualization and storytelling. You will study cases of design thinking in action and work with peers and faculty to build a systemic solution for a specific business issue. You will also learn the right ways to engage customer feedback and solicit new ideas, and you will prototype concepts and test your assumptions to understand which problems and solutions matter the most to the customer.
How Managers Can Facilitate the Design of Innovative Products, Processes and Strategies
Thinking like a designer and combining business with design can transform the way organizations develop products, services, processes and, ultimately, strategy. The design thinking approach can solve complex business challenges using specific techniques and tools and promote management leadership with a systemic path to creativity and innovation. As future managers, these design-thinking skills also include the ability to identify innovative individuals, form solid teams and build positive cultures within organizations. By applying a design-centered, creative approach to business, managers and executives can positively affect every facet of the product or service, understand who their stakeholders are and what they want and create more powerful solutions.
If you want to learn how to harness the power of design thinking to create a new path to innovation, achieve more successful problem solving, discover new possibilities and make a greater contribution to your future success or your organization, consider studying the design thinking process in an online Master of Business Administration program.
Learn more about Boise State University’s online Master of Business Administration program.