When the Silos Come Down: Helping Organizations Perceive Disciplinary Differences as They Mature Toward Interdisciplinarity

Abstract

As organizations mature beyond what Richard Buchanan described as first (graphic) and second (industrial) order design into third (interaction) and fourth-order (system) design approaches, the traditional disciplinary silos come down and often create interdisciplinary project-based teams. These smaller teams develop cross-disciplinary understanding and communication, but often organizations fail to understand the disparity of perceptions and beliefs between disciplines within the organization. These disparities can fracture organizational understanding and negatively impact brand communications—causing friction between disciplines. This paper looks at research done within organizations going through a transition in three distinct industries: software development, higher education, and manufacturing. These projects utilize methods adopted from brand development, user experience design, and participatory design. The methods provide diverse approaches that might help organizations gain a greater understanding and begin to identify contradictory or complementary perceptions that exist between disciplines as they transition toward more interdisciplinary organizational models.