14 September 2011

Forum: Design in Management

Join this important seminar on how the School of Management and College of Business can take a 'design' paradigm forward. Three leading design thinkers will share their perspectives on design and the applicability of design methodology and thinking for management and business. The session will conclude with a summary on potential 'design and business ' research projects.

Title:	Forum: Design in Management
Person:	Various
Date:	2011-11-09
Time:	11.30am - 1 pm (lunch provided)
Location:	Building 108, Level 8, Room 26
Registration:	RSVP by Monday 7 November silvia.suraci@rmit.edu.au

Professor George Cairns will present on three different issues relevant to the School of Management.

• Management of design: functional management approaches in the design community - what is needed by the community of users
• Design of management: management theory informed by aesthetic, as well as purely rational processes - the role of the senses in theorising management
• Management as design: management practice as a creative process 'with people' rather than something done 'to people' - beyond instrumental management

Professor Paul James will present on 'Designing Methods for Both-Ways Management'.

The 'both-ways' concept here comes from the Yolgnu both-ways teaching practice, but is broadened to bring together top-down and bottom-up processes for mutually managing projects and processes.

Professor Martin Wood will present on The Art and Design of Problems: A critique of design thinking approaches that evaluate problems according to their 'solvability' rather than focus on the internal character of 'problems' as such.

Facilitators:

Margaret Heffernan, OAM; Adriana Koulouris and David Hodges

Professor George Cairns is the Head of the School of management and a design strategist. His recent contributions include Critical scenario method’ (CSM) - application of scenario thinking to explore future impacts of alternative responses to critical issues in the present for society and environment; Phronēsis (practical wisdom) - application of Aristotle’s concept in ethically-informed organizational inquiry; Ship breaking - global supply chains and the end-of-life disposal of ships; and workplace design - the relationship between users and the physical, social and organisational environments of work.

Professor Paul James is the Director of the Global Cities Institute (RMIT) and Director of the United Nations Global Compact Cities Program. He is Professor of Globalisation and Cultural Diversity in the Globalism Research Centre (RMIT), an editor of Arena Journal, and on the Council of the Institute of Postcolonial Studies. He has received a number of awards including the Japan-Australia Foundation Fellowship, an Australian Research Council Fellowship, and the Crisp Medal by the Australasian Political Studies Association for the best book in the field of political studies. Invitations have been received to deliver addresses in more than twenty different countries.

Professor Martin Wood coordinates the Creative Arts and Design Management Research Theme in the RMIT Centre for Sustainable Organisations and Work. Martin has published widely in scholarly journals and in 2010, his short documentary film Lines of Flight (2009) won several international film festival awards and nominations. His current research and scholarship is concerned with questions pertaining to the meaning, purpose and scope of: arts-based production and dissemination of social science knowledge.

Professor Brian Corbitt is the Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research and Innovation in the College of Business. His role is to work with research groups, research students and schools in the College to create a dynamic research environment and move research outcomes forward and develop new initiatives to strengthen that direction.

For more information please contact Silvia Suraci at silvia.suraci@rmit.edu.au.

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