Fragile Liaisons: Challenges in Cross-organizational Service Networks and the Role of Design

ABSTRACT

This paper portrays cross-organizational collaboration in service networks as a new challenging context for service design. The paper reflects on the role of cross-organizational service networks in a Finnish municipality-initiated research and development project. The project sought to develop new practices for supporting independent living for the elderly involving diverse organizations across public, private and third sectors. The intent was to apply collaborative and customer-centred service development. For this paper, interviews were reviewed from 16 project participants to find out how they perceived cross-organizational collaboration and the role of service design in this project. From these findings, we identified barriers to collaborations that originated in tensions between different organizations and structural and situational barriers that sometimes could be traced to specific mindsets on an organizational level. Based on the insights from these interviews, we explain how service design may contribute to enhancing collaborative developments within and across cross-organizational service networks.

KEYWORDS:

• service networks
• organizational change
• design for services

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jaana Hyvärinen

Jaana Hyvärinen, MSc (Architecture), MA (New Media), is a service designer and a doctoral candidate at the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture. Her research focuses on the role of design in the development of and collaboration within service networks.

Jung-Joo Lee

Jung-Joo Lee, Doctor of Arts (design), is an assistant professor in Division of Industrial Design in National University of Singapore. She holds her doctoral degree from Aalto University in Finland and worked in various multidisciplinary projects on service design, co-design and creative interaction design. Her current research explores how to create collaborative platforms between citizens and public organizations through co-design experiments and social technologies.

Tuuli Mattelmäki

Tuuli Mattelmäki, Doctor of Arts (design), is an associate professor and the leader of Encore-research team at the Department of Design in Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture. Her research interests cover empathic design, co-design and service design and she is inspired by exploring co-creative practices in new application fields of design.