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Max Shangle, dean of Kendall College of Art and Design and an instructor of some of the M.B.A. courses, says students usually come to the revelation early on in the program about what design thinking means in the process of business innovation.

“The more I learned about design thinking, the more I saw how it creates positive, authentic relationships between businesses and their users and how it puts us on track to building a better world for both parties.”

— Jake Himmelspach, M.B.A. Certificate in Design and Innovation Management graduate;
associate consultant, NewEdge

While Ben Smith, design and marketing associate at Haworth Inc. in Holland, Mich., observes the term “design thinking” currently garners a trendy status, he thinks soon enough it will simply describe the way companies do business.

Smith, a graphic designer who helps develop sales support communications for the contract furniture manufacturer, first encountered the concept of design thinking at a conference he attended with his marketing communications team. Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and a leading proponent of applying design methods to managerial problems, was the keynote speaker.

“His speech really resonated with me,” Smith recalls. “He wasn’t a designer or a businessman, but he was thinking about all the things that I think about.”

When Smith learned that design-thinking principles formed the core of a new M.B.A. program offered by Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University, he signed up.

Currently a student in the last of four classes that compose the M.B.A. Certificate in Design and Innovation Management, Smith says the program has helped him “communicate better with more stakeholders in the organization – to be able to listen better, to understand what their problems are, what they need help with.”

“I was a designer who needed to be educated about business,” says Smith. “It goes both ways. It’s imperative that businesspeople understand the design point of view. But designers are also accountable, responsible for educating business leaders about the value that we can bring to the table.

“As a designer, this program has armed me with the knowledge, the resources, the vocabulary and communication skills to talk with marketing managers and business leaders – to speak their language a little more and help them understand how design can help solve their problems.”

Max Shangle, dean of Kendall College of Art and Design and a collaborator in the development of the M.B.A. Certificate in Design and Innovation, has guided three classes of students through the program in which he also teaches.

“At some point during the introductory course, Design and Innovation Process Management, students inevitably experience a certain ‘ah-ha’ moment that goes something like this,” Shangle explains. “They’re sitting in a meeting and realize that other people at the table are using the same words but with different meanings. ‘I knew what I was talking about, they knew what they were talking about, but we didn’t know what we were talking about. No wonder we couldn’t agree!’”

Created to expose businesspeople to the process of design thinking and to teach designers “how to talk business,” the program can be pursued as a stand-alone certificate or as part of a Ferris State University M.B.A. The four classes, which can be taken over the course of two semesters, each begin and end with on-campus weekend sessions led by outside experts – industry leaders who assign and critique a collaborative project. The rest of the coursework is online, taught by Kendall faculty.

The new program continues a culture of educational innovation of both Kendall College of Art and Design and Ferris State University, says Ferris State University President David L. Eisler. “Kendall has seen enrollment triple in the past decade and the college has launched some truly ground-breaking degree programs. Specifically, the M.B.A. in Innovation and Design aligns with the needs of the marketplace in West Michigan, and more broadly, aligns with the manufacturing sector as it searches for new ideas and strategies for success.”

The flexible learning structure caters to business and design professionals who are already pursuing careers in area businesses. “We have a diverse student population,” says Shangle. “Insurance company managers, accountants, business owners, engineers, freelance designers – all in the same room, learning about design thinking.” Collaborative teams within the courses are assigned with an eye to mixing it up. “Just like in the real world, you don’t get to choose who you work with.”

The flexible learning structure of Kendall’s M.B.A. program caters to business and design professionals who are already pursuing careers in area businesses as well as traditional age students looking for an advanced degree prior to entering the workforce.

Shangle is especially proud of faculty efforts to keep the courses current. “Our assigned readings include up-to-the-minute articles and texts,“ he says. “There is no recycled content.” Class materials often make their way back to students’ workplaces.

“I’m always showing people things that I’ve seen in the classes or sharing articles or books that pertain to something I’ve had a discussion with someone about,” says Ben Smith. “I’ll be able to find something in the huge library I have now, from these classes, and say: ‘Look, here’s an approach that another company used, and this explains how they did it. Maybe this will help you.’

“Recently I copied a page out of a book we read in class and gave it to a colleague at work and said, ‘I think this might be something you’d find valuable.’ She just said, ‘OK, thanks.’ But two days later she came back, shaking the page in front of me, saying, ‘Where’s this book? I need this book – that is exactly what I’m dealing with!’”

“West Michigan is well on the way to being recognized as a design-centric community,” says Ben Bennett, and he should know. A Grand Rapids resident who’s fiercely active in that community, Bennett teaches as an adjunct in graphic design at Kendall, sits on the board of the American Advertising Federation of West Michigan, acts as an advisor to Design West Michigan, and runs his own freelance business. All this is in addition to his full-time job with Gordon Food Service, where he does in-house graphic design and photography.

“Having the background that we do in this area, and with the furniture design industry and advocacy of design in general from groups like Design West Michigan, executive leadership is already requiring design thinking over traditional business thinking,” says Bennett. Area businesses are looking for “problem-solvers, new ways, new approaches,” and the M.B.A. Certificate in Design and Innovation Management prepares students to participate in that environment. Beginning his third course in the sequence this fall, Bennett finds that the program “fits exactly what I want to do right now, and I think it will be even more beneficial to me in the future.”

Still undecided about whether he will pursue the full M.B.A., Bennett says he appreciates the flexibility he has to choose down the line. “What this allows me to do is to start the master’s step, since these are master’s level courses in what would be my focus if I did decide to pursue the M.B.A. Meanwhile, I’m working toward this certificate that’s going to help me career-wise. And I can take what I’m learning and apply it in my day-to-day job.”

Fellow student Jake Himmelspach recently found himself applying his design-thinking skills to land a position with NewEdge, a Chicago-based business strategy, innovation, and design firm. “During the interview, I was able to sit in on a few projects and felt strangely at home. I attribute this comfort to my experience in Kendall’s Design and Innovation program. I have never had an educational experience translate so directly to an employment opportunity.”

Himmelspach completed the Design and Innovation Management portion of the degree earlier this year and expects to graduate from the master’s program next summer. “I decided to go for an M.B.A. because I wanted to advance my career and felt that a business degree would be a sound balance to my creative writing undergrad,” he says. “The more I heard about the impact design thinking has in the business world, the more I was drawn to the Design and Innovation Management Certificate.”

The Kendall experience not only gave him the tools to systematically apply “a fresh approach to problem solving,” Himmelspach says, it also led him to “an incredible sense of my own personal beliefs and values. The last class in the program focuses on leadership and pushes you to find your personal truth. As you gain an understanding of your beliefs and values, they begin to direct how you respond to opportunities or confrontations in your professional life.

“But the reason I am so passionate about the program is because the learning applies to your personal life just as much as your professional life. It is rare to have an educational experience that positively impacts both sides of your life.”

More information about the M.B.A. Certificate program is available at www.kcad.edu.

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TAGS:

• ben bennett
• ben smith
• david eisler
• design
• ferris state university
• jake himmelspach
• kendall college of art and design
• max shangle
• midesign