“It is difficult to define design, but I believe that one of the important things to consider when you talk about design is the 'attitude’ or ‘mindset' toward things. In design research, this is called the design attitude (Boland and Collopy, 2004*1), which refers collectively to the beliefs and methods that designers use when confronting problems or situations involving problems, and I think it could be described as the attitude one takes toward creative problem-solving. Professor Kazaru Yaegashi and his colleagues at the College of Business Administration at Ritsumeikan University wrote a paper*2 that outlines previous research on design attitude. For example, Michlewski (2015)*3 indicates the following five aspects of design attitude: ‘1) Embracing Uncertainty and Ambiguity, 2) Engaging Deep Empathy, 3) Embracing the Power of the Five Senses, 4) Playfully Bringing Things to Life, 5) Creating New Meaning from Complexity.’”

“There is a famous anecdote about an elevator that illustrates what makes reframing so interesting. Residents of a building complained about the elevator being too slow. If this is taken, as is, to be the problem, then you end up coming up with a difficult, technical solution like upgrading elevator performance. However, if you reframe the problem as having to wait too long for the elevators, then you can come up with a different solution: install a mirror. When this solution was actually implemented, people began to groom themselves while waiting for the elevator and the complaints stopped. I remember being very excited when I heard this story about how you could bring about a completely different world just by slightly changing the words you use, how you define an issue, or the way you look at things.”

“Being raised by a mother who was a teacher, I once aspired to become a public servant, so as I became more and more enamored with design, I came to develop an interest in design management for government organizations. Unlike for-profit companies, which have a clear goal of pursuing profit, the needs that government organizations have to meet and the roles they have to play are complex.”

“Looking at the prior research, I found many studies and practical applications where design was introduced into the activities and policy making of government organizations. However, there have been reports of cases in which the traditional decision-making process in government organizations has been contradicted and confusion has arisen when the methods practiced in companies are adopted as is. If design is promoted without regard for the realities of the organization, a government organization without foundations in place to embrace the concepts cannot enjoy the intrinsic value of design.”

“There are cases where processes are replete with design thinking, like the establishment of progressive public institutions. However, in many of these cases, the design elements are already built in. When it comes to the organization as a whole, it seems to me that the concept does not permeate well because you must seek a balance with various systems. I also think that practices with design thinking built in are often a matter of tacit knowledge. Therefore, while I use case analysis to extract those design elements that are already ‘baked into’ the organization, I am also thinking about and studying how these design elements can be disseminated throughout the organization.”

“There is still not enough research on design management in government organizations, so we need to find the case studies ourselves to overcome the lack of available cases. What’s more, the bar for information disclosure is high, and it's not always an easy task for us to access information.”

“Precisely because we are promoting design, it is important for us researchers to avoid fixating on the approaches from our own fields of expertise. I believe that honestly addressing viewpoints and opinions from a diverse array of academic fields, including business administration, sociology, and psychology, will produce valuable research outcomes, which in turn will lead to the creation of a better society.”

“I realized that just as Japanese people have different ways of thinking and different values, there is no need to have a special attitude toward students just because they come from overseas. I feel that I have gained invaluable experience by putting myself in a highly diverse environment.”

“Coming up with the language that will allow a large number of people to easily understand the benefits and roles of a product or service requires you to think in terms different from the existing meaning. As I continued my research, I realized that the approaches used in both copywriting and design are very similar in this respect. I find it interesting that design has something in common with the world of advertising, which I have always loved.”

“I could have spent my fourth year preparing for graduate school, but I have learned that practice is important in design thinking. I had already completed all of my required undergraduate credits, so I took the plunge. Although the program's name might lead you to believe that the emphasis is on academic performance, placement is determined with a selection process that requires you to submit a research plan and sit for an interview. This is why I recommend it to any undergraduate students who are thinking about going to graduate school.”

“I enjoy delving deep into my thought process and expanding my knowledge, so I will continue to focus on the topic of design as I have done so far. In the future, I would like to put business administration and organizational design management into practice as a professional while analyzing and producing new research outcomes as an observer. I aim to speedily translate my research into practice, then feed that back into my research.”