Design and design thinking in building an innovative organizational culture

For many companies innovations are crucial for achieving a competitive advantage. Many factors have been revealed to be determinants of company innovativeness. One is organizational culture which can support or diminish innovative attempts of employees. In recent years there is a growing interest in design and design thinking as methods of implementing innovations. Interdisciplinary, multicultural teams, fast prototyping, co-creation with users are only examples of specific methods that are being promoted by designers and design thinkers, that can significantly affect organisational culture. The objective of this paper is to analyse the impact of design and design thinking on the organizational culture. In the first part literature findings are presented. The second part shows results of the exploratory research that has been conducted among designoriented companies from Sweden and Poland. This project was qualitative study aimed to compare managers’ attitudes towards design; to look into existing processes in companies connected with design and to explore the different roles that designers play in organizations.