Page 199 - Design meets Business:An Ethnographic Study of the Changing Work and Occupations of Creatives

5. Discussion 187
but also to place their clients - and not themselves – at the center of crea- tive processes.
5.2. Response to the Overall Research Question
The previously discussed findings help to answer the main research question of this dissertation: How do creatives cope with their changing work and occupation as a result of collaborating with business?
Each chapter offers a different, but complementary, explanation of how creatives respond to their changing work and occupation. In particular, as suggested in the introduction, I elaborate on three prac- tice domains of creative work: ‘interactions with artifacts’, ‘interactions within occupations’ and ‘interactions with clients’. Below I discuss how the empirical chapters of this dissertation research help to clarify each of these practice domains.
Changing interactions with artifacts. Chapter 2 shows that the work of a particular group of creatives, designers, is becoming more abstract. Instead of developing finished products like screens, they now develop abstract constructs like services, strategies and vision. It is suggested that instead of letting go of their former routines and skills, creatives hold onto what they previously did. In fact, they do not only continue practices like visualizing and experimenting with design tools, also they develop new practices like creating board games. It is suggested that performing such activities helped the designers to create a sense of stability amidst the changing reality of their work. In particular, it helped them to sustain their sense of craftsmanship and belonging to the wider occupation of designers, even though their work was moving more to the domain of management consultants. Taken together, this chapter suggests that the work of some creatives has become more abstract as it moved into the business, and in order to cope with this, creatives hold onto certain practices they strongly associate with their own creative identity and sense of craft.
Changing interactions within occupations. Chapter 3 suggests that not only the work of creatives is changing, but also their occupation. It is argued that as design moved into the domain of business, it attracted new members to the occupation. The arrival of new members created intra-organizational struggles between former and new members: they challenged each other’s perceptions and practices of ‘what a designer ought to do’. Instead of overcoming their differences permanently, the designers developed temporary settlements that helped them continue collabora- tive work despite developing common agreements. Taken together, this chapter suggests that especially in the case of emerging occupations in the