Design thinking and management education : benefits for problem framing and problem solving

Design and design thinking are identified as making valuable contributions to business and management. The numbers of higher education programs that teach design thinking to business students and executives are growing, however to date little information about the outcomes of these initiatives has emerged. This paper presents the findings from the incorporation of design thinking and methods in one unit of an MBA program. All 90 participants from three MBA classes wholeheartedly expressed their support for this initiative. An evaluation of this experiment found positive reactions, learning, changes in behaviour and positive results for their companies. The challenges and future directions for the inclusion of design thinking and design methods in management education programs are proposed.

Cross-layer design for traffic management in wireless networked control systems

Wireless networked control systems (WNCSs) have been increasingly deployed in industrial applications. As they require timely data packet transmissions, it is difficult to make efficient use of the limited channel resources, particularly in contention based wireless networks in the layered network architecture. Aiming to maintain the WNCSs under critical real-time traffic condition at which the WNCSs marginally meet the real-time requirements, a cross-layer design (CLD) approach is presented in this paper to adaptively adjust the control period to achieve improved channel utilization while still maintaining effective and timely packet transmissions. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated through simulation studies.

The design and development of music eScape: A new iPhone mood management music App

The physical, emotional, educational and social developmental challenges of adolescence can be associated with high levels of emotional vulnerability. Thus, the development of effective emotion-regulation strategies is crucial during this time period. Young people commonly use music to identify, express and regulate their emotions. Modern mobile technology provides an engaging, easily accessible means of assisting young people through music. A systematic contextual review identified 20 iPhone applications addressing emotions through music and two independent raters, using the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS), evaluated the quality of the apps. Their characteristics, key features and overall quality will be presented. Three participatory design workshops (N=13, 6 males, 7 females; age 15-25) were conducted to explore young people’s use of music to enhance wellbeing. Young people were also asked to trial existing mood and music apps and to conceptualise their ultimate mood targeting music application. A thematic analysis of the participatory design workshops content identified the following music affect-regulation strategies: relationship building, modifying cognitions, modifying emotions, and immersing in emotions. The application of the key learnings from the mobile app review and participatory design workshops and the design and development of the music eScape app were presented and implications for future research was discussed.

Value management in design planning : a systems-based framework for multi-disciplinary team involvement

This thesis investigates the Value Management processes used by construction project clients that effects project team involvement in VM workshops during the design stage of the projects. It is based on five case studies of the Malaysian international airport construction project packages. The focus of the research is on how issues related to infrastructure design that can improve construction processes on-site are being identified, analysed and resolved through multi-disciplinary team participation. The degrees of interaction, diversity of visualisation aids, certain cultural dimensions and the system thinking approach are found to have significant influence in maximizing participation among project team members during the entire VM workshop process.

Implementing the self-management threshold learning outcome for law : some intentional design strategies from the current curriculum toolbox

There is a growing awareness of the high levels of psychological distress being experienced by law students and the practising profession in Australia. In this context, a Threshold Learning Outcome (TLO) on self-management has been included in the six TLOs recently articulated as minimum learning outcomes for all Australian graduates of the Bachelor of Laws degree (LLB). The TLOs were developed during 2010 as part of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council’s (ALTC’s) project funded by the Australian Government to articulate ‘Learning and Teaching Academic Standards’. The TLOs are the result of a comprehensive national consultation process led by the ALTC’s Discipline Scholars: Law, Professors Sally Kift and Mark Israel.1 The TLOs have been endorsed by the Council of Australian Law Deans (CALD) and have received broad support from members of the judiciary and practising profession, representative bodies of the legal profession, law students and recent graduates, Legal Services Commissioners and the Law Admissions Consultative Committee. At the time of writing, TLOs for the Juris Doctor (JD) are also being developed, utilising the TLOs articulated for the LLB as their starting point but restating the JD requirements as the higher order outcomes expected of graduates of a ‘Masters Degree (Extended)’, this being the award level designation for the JD now set out in the new Australian Qualifications Framework.2 As Australian law schools begin embedding the learning, teaching and assessment of the TLOs in their curricula, and seek to assure graduates’ achievement of them, guidance on the implementation of the self-management TLO is salient and timely.

Subtropical values and principles of subtropical design for the South East Queensland region : a report for the Office of Urban Management Queensland Government

The Office of Urban Management recognises that the values which characterise the SEQ region as 'subtropical' are important determinants of form in urban and regional planning. Subtropical values are those qualities on which our regional identity depends. A built environment which responds positively to these values is a critical ingredient for achieving a desirable future for the region. The Centre for Subtropical Design has undertaken this study to identify the particular set of values which characterises SEQ, and to translate theses values into design principals that will maintain and reinforce the value set. The principles not only apply to the overall balance between the natural environment and the built environment, but can be applied by local government authorities to guide local planning schemes and help shape specific built for outcomes.

Psychiatric design : Using a salutogenic model for the development and management of mental health facilities

The prevailing model of psychiatric facility design does not fulfil its potential in supporting the healing process. A salutogenic approach can improve coherence and foster meaning, will actually improve mental health outcomes, not only manage patient behaviour.

Design and Testing of a Control System for Supply Side Electrical Load Management

India's energy demand is increasing rapidly with the intensive growth of economy. The electricity demand in India exceeded the availability, both in terms of base load energy and peak availability. The efficient use of energy source and its conversion and utilizations are the viable alternatives available to the utilities or industry. There are essentially two approaches to electrical energy management. First at the supply / utility end (Supply Side Management or SSM) and the other at the consumer end (Demand Side Management or DSM). This work is based on Supply Side Management (SSM) protocol and consists of design, fabrication and testing of a control device that will be able to automatically regulate the power flow to an individual consumer's premise. This control device can monitor the overuse of electricity (above the connected load or contracted demand) by the individual consumers. The present project work specially emphasizes on contract demand of every consumer and tries to reduce the use beyond the contract demand. This control unit design includes both software and hardware work and designed for 0.5 kW contract demand. The device is tested in laboratory and reveals its potential use in the field.

Design for sustainability: case of designing an urban household organic waste management system

Beyond product design, if the notion of product `lifecycle design' enforces the consideration of requirements from all the lifecycle phases of products, design for sustainability enforces the consideration of lifecycle design in the context of the lifecycles of other products, processes, institutions and their design. Consequently, sustainability requirements that need to be met by design are very diverse. In this article, we portray the nature of design process to address sustainability requirements. This is done taking an example of designing a urban household organic waste management system that requires less water and reclaims the nutrients.