Integrating design thinking into sport management
In a just-published article with Sport Management Review, UTS scholars Greg Joachim, Nico Schulenkorf, Katie Schlenker, Stephen Frawley and Adam Cohen explore how sport managers modify management theories of practice (in this case, design thinking) to better suit the idiosyncrasies of sport practice.
What is design thinking?
In short, design thinking is a human-centred approach to creating value for a user. Practically, design thinking approaches draw from the techniques, mindsets, principles and approaches of expert designers (product developers, graphic designers, architects, etc.) to empower managers in any field to think and act in ‘designerly’ ways. The most popular and durable of these design thinking models is the five-stage process developed and taught by the Stanford d.school: empathise [with the user], define [the problem or opportunity], ideate [solutions to the problem], prototype [your solutions], and test [your prototypes].
Design thinking in sport organisations
Over the past five or so years, managers of sport organisations have begun to integrate design thinking into their practice(s) in order to better serve their users (be they members, season ticket holders, athletes, participants, or members of the organisation itself). Indeed, indicators of alignment with design thinking approaches have been found in sport organisations within all three sectors of the sport industry: volunteer/non-profit, public, and – as below – commercial.
This intersection of design thinking and sport management represents Dr Greg Joachim’s primary research interest. His PhD project at UTS focused on the front office of the Sydney Sixers – one of eight clubs in the Women’s and Men’s Big Bash League, Australia’s top-flight T20 cricket competition – and their engagement with design thinking. He discovered that the existing practice of the Sixers was already aligned with design thinking themes, which represented an opportunity to introduce a design thinking activity into that practice to better align their ongoing operations in a human-centred way. This activity – the Lightning Decision Jam (LDJ) – is a structured brainstorming activity which alternates between periods of individual and group activity in order to allow the best ideas to advance (rather than merely those proffered by the most outgoing people).
In their most recent publication arising from this research, Greg and co-authors Nico Schulenkorf, Katie Schlenker, Stephen Frawley, and Adam Cohen explore the ways in which the Sixers modified the LDJ after it was introduced into their practice. Specifically, the Sixers ‘broke down’ the process and moved pieces to other stages of their ongoing planning cycles. At a high level, these modifications represent ‘intuitive generalisation’ – i.e., the use of one’s experience to identify which parts of a new concept are most useful (and how). This important discovery indicates that, as a management theory of practice, design thinking is capable of being ‘domesticated’ into sport management practice in a way that will ensure its ongoing usefulness and, in turn, and ongoing focus on the needs of the organisation’s users.
Read the full journal article in Sport Management Review
Learn more at UTS
Greg coordinates the Innovation Lab subject at UTS, which is a core subject for [Sport] Management students in the UTS Business School. Over the course, students navigate the five stage Stanford d.school design thinking process with an entrepreneurial approach, ultimately developing a business plan for addressing the unmet user need(s) they identify through their work.
Do you want to study Sports Management at UTS? Find out more at Why Sports Management.
