Design of organizational innovation scenarios. Results of an action-research within a security doors company

Due to the special way designers know, think and act, managers turn to them to better understand special aspects of competitive contexts in which their companies perform and to develop new organizational scenarios and products. For this reason, during the last years researchers and professionals have been focused on comprehending how design works and how it can contribute for innovating companies. Despite the effort, design literature lacks in studies of the experiential dimension in design processes situated at organizational strategic levels. Therefore, the paper presents a design experience developed within a security doors company, using action-research strategy. Besides having academic and corporate actors, the experience involved young designers (students of Undergraduate and Graduate Design Courses). This paper presents the metadesign approach we used during the experience, focusing especially on scenario thinking. Finally, this paper discusses how design scenarios can orient conceptual design activity and organizational strategic development as a whole.