Page 195 - Design meets Business:An Ethnographic Study of the Changing Work and Occupations of Creatives

5. Discussion
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Response to Overall Research Question
Through a study of designers, it is suggested that the nature of the work of certain creatives is be- coming increasingly abstract. In order to cope with this, designers make and use artifacts.
This helps them enhance a sense of ‘craftsmanship’ in their work, while differentiating themselves from workers in similar domains (like management consultants).
Using an ethnographic study
of members of the occupation Service Design, it is demonstrat- ed that some creatives might experience occupational changes as a result of new collaborations with business.
In particular, occupations can at- tract new occupational members that challenge the occupational mandate that was emergently de- fined by already serving members of the occupation.
Creatives develop a new pattern of collaboration by putting their clients -instead of themselves - at the center of projects.
They help their clients to become creative themselves through facilitating liminality.
Creatives adopt fluid roles, bal- ancing between engagement and disengagement, to move projects forward.
Theoretical Implications
* Using craftsmanship as a
lens to understand designers shifts attention to not only the instrumental use of artifacts at work, but also that designers use artifacts as a matter of habit.
* Because designers are intertwined with their material practices, they might not be able to completely replace or change their former habits and skills in times of change (like knowledge workers might do).
* Showing that the occupa- tional mandate is negotiated in intra-occupational struggles and not only in inter-occupational struggles
* Renegotiating occupational mandate can happen at all times, not only at beginning stages of occupational emergence
* Doing ethnography is key to develop situated understandings of occupational emergence.
* Illuminating the link between creativity and liminality.
* Insights into the work of ‘cer- emony masters’ in facilitating liminality.
* Demonstrating that creatives are not only creatives themselves, but also engage in other mun- dane activities.
* Shifting between roles to trig- ger creativity for others, thereby creatives do not only facilitate liminality but also adopt a liminal position themselves.
Practical Implications
* Creatives might appear inflexi- ble because they hold onto their own work practices instead of adapting to the changing context in which they work.
* Highlighting importance of craftsmanship, physical and skilled work in today’s digital society, and implications for business schools.
* Working in new domains en- courages creatives to collaborate with different people and revise their own work habits, roles and skills.
* Changing context of design work has implications for how we teach design in schools.
* Hiring people with different backgrounds in the same domain of work might create occupation- al struggles on the work floor.
* Creatives adopt diverse and fluid roles in projects and hence need to broaden their skillset and experience.
* Creatives expand their skills beyond traditional work domain, to include for example ‘connect- ing skills’. Implications for design schools.
* Difficult to estimate value of transformative experiences like ‘liminality’ in creative projects.