Invisible struggles: Designing within social organisation
Loading...
URL
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
School of Arts, Design and Architecture |
Master's thesis
Location:
Unless otherwise stated, all rights belong to the author. You may download, display and print this publication for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Authors
Date
2024
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Master’s Programme in Design
Language
en
Pages
71
Series
Abstract
Civilians become active and join forces, forming loose organisations that emerge from creative communities aiming to address pressing environmental and social issues in their context. They become actors of social organisations, bringing diverse personal motivations into co-shaping socially innovative initiatives. In some cases, these groups professionalise and grow into mature organisations. However, these transitions put the internal organisational structures to the test. What worked in the beginning may no longer fit, leading to tensions and conflicts. These challenges can threaten their survival, and similar organisations often seem to repeat the same mistakes, hindering their ability to form new relations and scale the social and environmental impact. This thesis examines the evolving structures and internal dynamics of social organisations, focusing on how these entities adapt, grow, and sustain their initiatives. The research is situated at the intersection of social innovation, design, and organisational studies. These lenses capture the subject of bottom-up non-profit social innovation, examining the role of participatory design and the development of organisational structure at pivotal stages. Through a systematic literature review and semi-structured expert interviews, this research investigates the roles of designers in facilitating processes that enhance organisational resilience and capacity for systemic change. Key findings suggest that working within organisations, navigating internal tensions and restructuring processes is based on relational aspects, has long-term temporal aspects and depends on trust. The role of the designer shifts from focusing on outcomes such as products or services towards the organisation itself, dealing with those relations, and becoming a mediator of tensions between the actors. Finally, the organisational model that regulates the distribution of authority in decentralised structures becomes a design infrastructure, suggesting that participatory designers become important facilitators of transitions in social organisations. The objective of this thesis is to contribute to the academic discourse by identifying gaps and proposing starting points for further discussion. It aims to shed light on a topic often ignored, namely the organisational aspects of social innovators.Description
Supervisor
Julier, GuyThesis advisor
Savola, KaisuKeywords
social innovation, social and environmental impact, civil-led social organisations, participatory design, design for social innovation, social design, relational design, infrastructuring