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Papers by Lenny van Onselen

Research paper thumbnail of A different approach on gaining practical experience by acting as an (open) innovator at Industrial Design Engineering

At Industrial Design Engineering we aspire to provide contemporary education, both in the content... more At Industrial Design Engineering we aspire to provide contemporary education, both in the content of the program as well as the way in which we teach. We aim to facilitate our students to become responsible entrepreneurs of their own learning experience. At the start of the second year we challenge students to initiate, organise and execute individual, international research abroad for 3 months. Students have to choose a research topic, initiate contact with companies and setup a project. This ambitious setup at first creates confusion and excitement among the students. However, facilitated by a step-by-step approach, students arrive to inspiring research projects driven by their personal interests. We conducted a case study research to evaluate the educational approach as being successful in stimulating student entrepreneurship. We studied both the preparation course and the student projects. Insights on this approach are retrieved through the collection of multiple data from multiple sources and qualitative analyses. Results indicate that the majority of students are capable of designing an individual research project in an international setting and the balance between freedom and structure resulted in constructive friction

Research paper thumbnail of Junior designers’ awareness of personal values and their employment choices

DRS2016: Future-Focused Thinking, 2016

For junior designers, friction between personal and organizational values can lead to frustration... more For junior designers, friction between personal and organizational values can lead to frustration. This paper addresses job selection choices of junior designers, and how they are affected by an awareness of personal values. An experiment (n=106) shows how an explicit awareness of personal values (based on the Schwartz Value Survey) affects the choices and motivations of junior designers. Results show that, overall, junior designers select vacancies that express values that are congruent with their own values. In addition, a greater awareness of personal values is found to lead to more confidence in one's choice, and to a greater tendency to look for a match between personal and organizational values based on complementarity (rather than congruence). These findings are to help junior designers to make professional choices based on personal values and ambitions, promoting the best fit for their first job.

Research paper thumbnail of Project Contribution of Junior Designers: Exploring the What and the How of Values in Collaborative Practice

Research paper thumbnail of Exploring how junior design professionals cope with and learn from value-based conflicts

CoDesign, 2020

This article explores how junior design professionals cope with value-based conflicts. We intervi... more This article explores how junior design professionals cope with value-based conflicts. We interviewed 22 design professionals about past and current value-based conflicts and the coping strategies adopted. Applying a grounded theory approach, we identified 11 types of coping strategies employed by junior design professionals. Our findings allowed us to clarify the nature of the coping process and localise value-based conflicts in the process of collaborative practice. During the coping process, professionals learn how to handle value-based conflicts through emotional release, developing a broader action repertoire, and engaging in timely action. We also identified transitions between specific coping strategies as junior designers learned from past conflicts and developed as a professional.

Research paper thumbnail of Design Requirements to Educate and Facilitate Junior Design Professionals to Reflect more Effectively on Critical Situations and Conflicts at Work

Proceedings of the Design Society: International Conference on Engineering Design, 2019

Junior designers are not trained to cope with critical situations and conflict at work. Most desi... more Junior designers are not trained to cope with critical situations and conflict at work. Most design schools do not educate their design students to prepare them for (potential) conflict. As a result, junior designers often do not have conflict-handling skills to handle critical situations and conflicts. While some tools and methods exist to help them make responsible design choices, these often address value differences underlying (potential) conflict without taking the perspective of the designer, and thus without supporting young designers to start by reflecting on their own intrinsic values.The aim of this study is to find a way to help junior designers to reflect effectively on critical situations, thereby improving their conflict-handling skills. Data was collected through four steps in an action research. Researchers collaborated with an identity programme for junior design professionals. Insights from try-outs and small interventions were transferred into design requirements ...

Research paper thumbnail of Exploring how junior design professionals cope with and learn from value-based conflicts

Research paper thumbnail of Design Requirements to Educate and Facilitate Junior Design Professionals to Reflect more Effectively on Critical Situations and Conflicts at Work

Proceedings of the Design Society: International Conference on Engineering Design

Junior designers are not trained to cope with critical situations and conflict at work. Most desi... more Junior designers are not trained to cope with critical situations and conflict at work. Most design schools do not educate their design students to prepare them for (potential) conflict. As a result, junior designers often do not have conflict-handling skills to handle critical situations and conflicts. While some tools and methods exist to help them make responsible design choices, these often address value differences underlying (potential) conflict without taking the perspective of the designer, and thus without supporting young designers to start by reflecting on their own intrinsic values.The aim of this study is to find a way to help junior designers to reflect effectively on critical situations, thereby improving their conflict-handling skills. Data was collected through four steps in an action research. Researchers collaborated with an identity programme for junior design professionals. Insights from try-outs and small interventions were transferred into design requirements ...

Research paper thumbnail of Value-based conflicts experienced by junior design professionals in collaborative practice

Research paper thumbnail of Personal Values as a Catalyst for Meaningful Innovations: Supporting Young Designers in Collaborative Practice

In this paper we outline the theoretical framework and the view from practice as a foundation for... more In this paper we outline the theoretical framework and the view from practice as a foundation for our research approach. The use of values in practice was explored through semi-structured interviews with four design professionals and one design student. Additionally, an unstructured interview with Dr den Ouden was conducted to better understand the value framework (Ouden, 2012). Analysing the interviews made us realize that conflicts are not uncommon and can result in abandonment of the project or termination of the collaboration. At the end of the paper we propose two research questions and a research methodology.

Research paper thumbnail of Four guiding factors for facilitators of multidisciplinary collaboration

This paper discusses the findings of an empirical study and an action research on factors that in... more This paper discusses the findings of an empirical study and an action research on factors that influence and drive multidisciplinary collaboration. The research was carried out during projects using a fast-paced collaborative innovation approach in one of the largest electronics firms in the world. In such context, collaboration poses multiple challenges to the successful project outcome. Therefore, the main research problem was: what factors aid collaboration in this context. As a result, a framework of factors that influences and drives it was devised. Based on the framework, an application that helps facilitators to deal with its challenges was designed. While initially the focus was on the entire course of a project, during the action research the emphasis shifted to factors that influence the initial stages of team development: ‘clarity’, ‘trust’, ‘conflict’ and ‘personal values’. These factors can build a solid base for optimal multidisciplinary collaboration. Together with th...

Research paper thumbnail of Technology Windows in Sustainable Innovation Projects: Experiences with an Innovation Tool for Identifying Sustainable Application Domains

Emerging technologies are potentially interesting for sustainable innovation in high-technology f... more Emerging technologies are potentially interesting for sustainable innovation in high-technology firms and for 'techno-starters'. This article provides an innovation tool for sustainable technology-oriented innovation, as there are hardly any of these kinds of methods available. The Technology Window tool helps to find valuable applications and helps to evaluate if the application fulfils sustainability criteria. The window is a symbolic visualization, in which each side represents a key dimension: the strengths of the technology, one or two constraints that apply to utilizing these strengths in a sustainable way, and the technological drivers (trends and developments). This paper describes eight empirical cases used for evaluation and validation of the innovation tool. The technology window has been applied in student projects and used as a workshop tool in a professional setting. In most cases the innovation tool successfully structured the front-end of technology-oriented innovation. It was most effective in cases where the strengths of the technology were not obvious and when a new application domain was needed. In these cases the method resulted in surprising and innovative ideas. The method proved to be valuable to structure the front-end of technology-oriented innovation in sustainable innovation projects and for sustainable emerging technologies.

Research paper thumbnail of Influence of packaging design on littering and waste behaviour

Littering is a packaging-related problem where the environmental, social and economic aspects of ... more Littering is a packaging-related problem where the environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainability meet. Litter is likely to be harmful for wildlife, looks untidy and is expensive to clean up. Research into reducing litter has focused primarily on the litterer and on the surroundings in which the littering occurs, but the infl uence of the littered object has so far been ill addressed. This research focused on understanding how the characteristics of an object infl uence its probability of being littered and how this insight can be used to improve the design of these objects, in particular packaging. Both eco-feedback and scripting approaches were examined in four experimental setups. It was found that the design of a packaging does have a signifi cant infl uence on waste behaviour of consumers. However, applying this insight to packaging design in order to reduce littering was found to be less than straightforward.

Research paper thumbnail of Technology Windows in Sustainable Innovation Projects: Experiences with an Innovation Tool for Identifying Sustainable Application Domains

ABSTRACT Emerging technologies are potentially interesting for sustainable innovation in high-tec... more ABSTRACT Emerging technologies are potentially interesting for sustainable innovation in high-technology firms and for 'techno-starters'. This article provides an innovation tool for sustainable technology-oriented innovation, as there are hardly any of these kinds of methods available. The Technology Window tool helps to find valuable applications and helps to evaluate if the application fulfils sustainability criteria. The window is a symbolic visualization, in which each side represents a key dimension: the strengths of the technology, one or two constraints that apply to utilizing these strengths in a sustainable way, and the technological drivers (trends and developments). This paper describes eight empirical cases used for evaluation and validation of the innovation tool. The technology window has been applied in student projects and used as a workshop tool in a professional setting. In most cases the innovation tool successfully structured the front-end of technology-oriented innovation. It was most effective in cases where the strengths of the technology were not obvious and when a new application domain was needed. In these cases the method resulted in surprising and innovative ideas. The method proved to be valuable to structure the front-end of technology-oriented innovation in sustainable innovation projects and for sustainable emerging technologies.

Research paper thumbnail of TECHNOLOGY WINDOWS: A NEW METHOD TO DETERMINE VALUABLE PRODUCT-MARKET COMBINATIONS

* PDF copies of all papers are available for download by Society Members logged in to this web si... more * PDF copies of all papers are available for download by Society Members logged in to this web site. Proceedings of ICED09, EPDE09 and EPDE10 are publically available for purchase from Amazon and other on-line retailers.

Research paper thumbnail of A different approach on gaining practical experience by acting as an (open) innovator at Industrial Design Engineering

At Industrial Design Engineering we aspire to provide contemporary education, both in the content... more At Industrial Design Engineering we aspire to provide contemporary education, both in the content of the program as well as the way in which we teach. We aim to facilitate our students to become responsible entrepreneurs of their own learning experience. At the start of the second year we challenge students to initiate, organise and execute individual, international research abroad for 3 months. Students have to choose a research topic, initiate contact with companies and setup a project. This ambitious setup at first creates confusion and excitement among the students. However, facilitated by a step-by-step approach, students arrive to inspiring research projects driven by their personal interests. We conducted a case study research to evaluate the educational approach as being successful in stimulating student entrepreneurship. We studied both the preparation course and the student projects. Insights on this approach are retrieved through the collection of multiple data from multiple sources and qualitative analyses. Results indicate that the majority of students are capable of designing an individual research project in an international setting and the balance between freedom and structure resulted in constructive friction

Research paper thumbnail of Junior designers’ awareness of personal values and their employment choices

DRS2016: Future-Focused Thinking, 2016

For junior designers, friction between personal and organizational values can lead to frustration... more For junior designers, friction between personal and organizational values can lead to frustration. This paper addresses job selection choices of junior designers, and how they are affected by an awareness of personal values. An experiment (n=106) shows how an explicit awareness of personal values (based on the Schwartz Value Survey) affects the choices and motivations of junior designers. Results show that, overall, junior designers select vacancies that express values that are congruent with their own values. In addition, a greater awareness of personal values is found to lead to more confidence in one's choice, and to a greater tendency to look for a match between personal and organizational values based on complementarity (rather than congruence). These findings are to help junior designers to make professional choices based on personal values and ambitions, promoting the best fit for their first job.

Research paper thumbnail of Project Contribution of Junior Designers: Exploring the What and the How of Values in Collaborative Practice

Research paper thumbnail of Exploring how junior design professionals cope with and learn from value-based conflicts

CoDesign, 2020

This article explores how junior design professionals cope with value-based conflicts. We intervi... more This article explores how junior design professionals cope with value-based conflicts. We interviewed 22 design professionals about past and current value-based conflicts and the coping strategies adopted. Applying a grounded theory approach, we identified 11 types of coping strategies employed by junior design professionals. Our findings allowed us to clarify the nature of the coping process and localise value-based conflicts in the process of collaborative practice. During the coping process, professionals learn how to handle value-based conflicts through emotional release, developing a broader action repertoire, and engaging in timely action. We also identified transitions between specific coping strategies as junior designers learned from past conflicts and developed as a professional.

Research paper thumbnail of Design Requirements to Educate and Facilitate Junior Design Professionals to Reflect more Effectively on Critical Situations and Conflicts at Work

Proceedings of the Design Society: International Conference on Engineering Design, 2019

Junior designers are not trained to cope with critical situations and conflict at work. Most desi... more Junior designers are not trained to cope with critical situations and conflict at work. Most design schools do not educate their design students to prepare them for (potential) conflict. As a result, junior designers often do not have conflict-handling skills to handle critical situations and conflicts. While some tools and methods exist to help them make responsible design choices, these often address value differences underlying (potential) conflict without taking the perspective of the designer, and thus without supporting young designers to start by reflecting on their own intrinsic values.The aim of this study is to find a way to help junior designers to reflect effectively on critical situations, thereby improving their conflict-handling skills. Data was collected through four steps in an action research. Researchers collaborated with an identity programme for junior design professionals. Insights from try-outs and small interventions were transferred into design requirements ...

Research paper thumbnail of Exploring how junior design professionals cope with and learn from value-based conflicts

Research paper thumbnail of Design Requirements to Educate and Facilitate Junior Design Professionals to Reflect more Effectively on Critical Situations and Conflicts at Work

Proceedings of the Design Society: International Conference on Engineering Design

Junior designers are not trained to cope with critical situations and conflict at work. Most desi... more Junior designers are not trained to cope with critical situations and conflict at work. Most design schools do not educate their design students to prepare them for (potential) conflict. As a result, junior designers often do not have conflict-handling skills to handle critical situations and conflicts. While some tools and methods exist to help them make responsible design choices, these often address value differences underlying (potential) conflict without taking the perspective of the designer, and thus without supporting young designers to start by reflecting on their own intrinsic values.The aim of this study is to find a way to help junior designers to reflect effectively on critical situations, thereby improving their conflict-handling skills. Data was collected through four steps in an action research. Researchers collaborated with an identity programme for junior design professionals. Insights from try-outs and small interventions were transferred into design requirements ...

Research paper thumbnail of Value-based conflicts experienced by junior design professionals in collaborative practice

Research paper thumbnail of Personal Values as a Catalyst for Meaningful Innovations: Supporting Young Designers in Collaborative Practice

In this paper we outline the theoretical framework and the view from practice as a foundation for... more In this paper we outline the theoretical framework and the view from practice as a foundation for our research approach. The use of values in practice was explored through semi-structured interviews with four design professionals and one design student. Additionally, an unstructured interview with Dr den Ouden was conducted to better understand the value framework (Ouden, 2012). Analysing the interviews made us realize that conflicts are not uncommon and can result in abandonment of the project or termination of the collaboration. At the end of the paper we propose two research questions and a research methodology.

Research paper thumbnail of Four guiding factors for facilitators of multidisciplinary collaboration

This paper discusses the findings of an empirical study and an action research on factors that in... more This paper discusses the findings of an empirical study and an action research on factors that influence and drive multidisciplinary collaboration. The research was carried out during projects using a fast-paced collaborative innovation approach in one of the largest electronics firms in the world. In such context, collaboration poses multiple challenges to the successful project outcome. Therefore, the main research problem was: what factors aid collaboration in this context. As a result, a framework of factors that influences and drives it was devised. Based on the framework, an application that helps facilitators to deal with its challenges was designed. While initially the focus was on the entire course of a project, during the action research the emphasis shifted to factors that influence the initial stages of team development: ‘clarity’, ‘trust’, ‘conflict’ and ‘personal values’. These factors can build a solid base for optimal multidisciplinary collaboration. Together with th...

Research paper thumbnail of Technology Windows in Sustainable Innovation Projects: Experiences with an Innovation Tool for Identifying Sustainable Application Domains

Emerging technologies are potentially interesting for sustainable innovation in high-technology f... more Emerging technologies are potentially interesting for sustainable innovation in high-technology firms and for 'techno-starters'. This article provides an innovation tool for sustainable technology-oriented innovation, as there are hardly any of these kinds of methods available. The Technology Window tool helps to find valuable applications and helps to evaluate if the application fulfils sustainability criteria. The window is a symbolic visualization, in which each side represents a key dimension: the strengths of the technology, one or two constraints that apply to utilizing these strengths in a sustainable way, and the technological drivers (trends and developments). This paper describes eight empirical cases used for evaluation and validation of the innovation tool. The technology window has been applied in student projects and used as a workshop tool in a professional setting. In most cases the innovation tool successfully structured the front-end of technology-oriented innovation. It was most effective in cases where the strengths of the technology were not obvious and when a new application domain was needed. In these cases the method resulted in surprising and innovative ideas. The method proved to be valuable to structure the front-end of technology-oriented innovation in sustainable innovation projects and for sustainable emerging technologies.

Research paper thumbnail of Influence of packaging design on littering and waste behaviour

Littering is a packaging-related problem where the environmental, social and economic aspects of ... more Littering is a packaging-related problem where the environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainability meet. Litter is likely to be harmful for wildlife, looks untidy and is expensive to clean up. Research into reducing litter has focused primarily on the litterer and on the surroundings in which the littering occurs, but the infl uence of the littered object has so far been ill addressed. This research focused on understanding how the characteristics of an object infl uence its probability of being littered and how this insight can be used to improve the design of these objects, in particular packaging. Both eco-feedback and scripting approaches were examined in four experimental setups. It was found that the design of a packaging does have a signifi cant infl uence on waste behaviour of consumers. However, applying this insight to packaging design in order to reduce littering was found to be less than straightforward.

Research paper thumbnail of Technology Windows in Sustainable Innovation Projects: Experiences with an Innovation Tool for Identifying Sustainable Application Domains

ABSTRACT Emerging technologies are potentially interesting for sustainable innovation in high-tec... more ABSTRACT Emerging technologies are potentially interesting for sustainable innovation in high-technology firms and for 'techno-starters'. This article provides an innovation tool for sustainable technology-oriented innovation, as there are hardly any of these kinds of methods available. The Technology Window tool helps to find valuable applications and helps to evaluate if the application fulfils sustainability criteria. The window is a symbolic visualization, in which each side represents a key dimension: the strengths of the technology, one or two constraints that apply to utilizing these strengths in a sustainable way, and the technological drivers (trends and developments). This paper describes eight empirical cases used for evaluation and validation of the innovation tool. The technology window has been applied in student projects and used as a workshop tool in a professional setting. In most cases the innovation tool successfully structured the front-end of technology-oriented innovation. It was most effective in cases where the strengths of the technology were not obvious and when a new application domain was needed. In these cases the method resulted in surprising and innovative ideas. The method proved to be valuable to structure the front-end of technology-oriented innovation in sustainable innovation projects and for sustainable emerging technologies.

Research paper thumbnail of TECHNOLOGY WINDOWS: A NEW METHOD TO DETERMINE VALUABLE PRODUCT-MARKET COMBINATIONS

* PDF copies of all papers are available for download by Society Members logged in to this web si... more * PDF copies of all papers are available for download by Society Members logged in to this web site. Proceedings of ICED09, EPDE09 and EPDE10 are publically available for purchase from Amazon and other on-line retailers.