Effects of spatial experiences & cognitive styles in the solution process of space-based design problems in the first year of architectural design education

There are many factors that influence designers in the architectural design process. Cognitive style, which varies according to the cognitive structure of persons, and spatial experience, which is created with spatial data acquired during life are two of these factors. Designers usually refer to their spatial experiences in order to find solutions to design problems. Information recalled from past spatial experiences lay the ground for creating the conceptual framework when solving a design problem. In addition, the person’s cognitive style, which develops through factors such as education, environment, genetics and family, can also be effective in solving design problems. In this line, an empirical study was conducted to research the effects of spatial experiences and cognitive styles on the solution process of spatial design problems in the first year of architectural design education. The study concluded that the cognitive styles of students were effective on their space creation method, order and duration.     

化工数字化交付项目中三维协同设计的应用及优化

为了探索更优的三维协同设计方案,解决数字化交付项目实施中遇到的各类技术问题,以某公司数字化交付项目为研究对象,详细说明了以Plant Design Management System(PDMS)为承载体的三维协同设计系统的建设思路及架构,梳理了PDMS各专业数据的输入方式及来源,分析了各阶段、各专业数据占比的成因,探讨...     

The effects of creative problem solving training on creativity, cognitive type and R&D performance

The effects of Creative Problem Solving (CPS) training on creativity, cognitive type, and R&D performance were investigated with 106 R&D workers of a large government–owned manufacturing company in Taiwan. Seventy–one of them volunteered to participate in the CPS training and were divided into three groups. Each group received 12 hours of CPS training and two follow–up training sessions over a one–year long period in a time–series design. The 'Circle Test of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking', and the 'Myers–Briggs Type Indicator' were administered before and after the CPS training. R&D performance averaged over the past three years before the CPS training and one year after the pretest were obtained from the company. Results showed that participant's scores on fluency and flexibility of ideas were higher after the CPS training. There was also an increase in the number of persons being classified as extrovert or feeling type of cognition. In terms of R&D performance, the participants' number of co–authored service projects increased significantly from pretest to posttest, whereas no such change was observed among those 35 R&D workers who did not participated in the CPS.     

Leadership styles and planning and monitoring techniques in R & D

There is no shortage of literature on the subject of planning and control in research and development. There is less evidence that many of the more formal techniques are effectively used in practice. It can be argued that some of these techniques are very valuable aids to project managers, and to individual team members, if seen as components of leadership style, In this paper a link is made between a number of planning and control methods and the leadership model of Hersey and Blanchard. In conclusion it is argued that the potential value, and hence use, of different methods will be increased if more attention is paid to the contribution they can make to understanding and promoting individual development and project team performance.     

How social media applications affect B2B communication and improve business performance in SMEs

Social Media Apps (SMA) are widely used to facilitate individual communications. In company situations, they are utilized as a channel to communicate with their customers. However, studies examining how SMA have been utilized in the Business-to-Business (Social Media Benchmarking Report, 2014) context are lacking. Using a model based on Media Synchronicity Theory (MST), we present one of the first empirical studies investigating the relationship between the capabilities of SMA (transmission velocity, parallelism, symbol sets, rehearsability, and reprocessability) and B2B communication and business performance. Five case studies based on face-to-face interviews with the senior managers/owners of SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) were conducted. The data were analyzed and the findings confirmed the SMA media capabilities as explained by MST. The findings also revealed a missing SMA capability, that of information security and control, which has been added to the proposed model and which may be an important addition to MST. This study calls for more research to verify this finding.     

Industry cognitive distance in alliances and firm innovation performance

This paper focuses on the role of industry cognitive distance in innovation alliances on firm innovation performance. Drawing from the literature on technological cognitive distance in alliances, we elaborate on the role of industry cognitive distance between partners and its impact on managerial attention to investigate the role of numbers of alliances of low (intra-industry) and high (inter-industry) industry cognitive distance on firm innovation performance. Intra-industry alliances offer lower opportunities for innovation compared to inter-industry alliances and are less demanding on firm management due to higher cognitive similarity between partners from the same industry. We propose that trade-offs between innovation opportunities and management efforts result in an inverted U and a U-shaped relationship between the number of intra- and inter-industry alliances and innovation performance, respectively. We find support for both hypotheses in the context of the UK bio-pharmaceutical sector.     

亭子口大坝廊道自动化出图研究与实现

以亭子口水利枢纽大坝廊道设计为背景,提出对任意结构廊道自动化出图解决方案,并重点介绍了钢筋创建、信息转换、自动标注成图等实现方法。     

Information styles of marketing and R&D personnel during technological product innovation projects

Abstract The research question in the present article can be phrased in the following way: what are the elements which influence the perception of the utility of information received from another function? A field study research has been conducted in 40 Belgian companies. In each company, we have studied two on-going innovation projects (one planning project, one development project). Crossfunctional communication behaviours at the R&D/marketing interface have been measured by means of mailed structured questionnaires. Three-hundred and eighty-six questionnaires have been returned. The data analyses show that there are four underlying information dimensions, i.e. the perceived relevance, the perceived comprehensibility, the perceived novelty and the perceived credibility of information. We also discuss some contingency variables (function of the message receiver, stage in the innovation process) that might moderate the impact of these dimensions. It will be shown that the interaction between source and receiver has a significant impact on the perceived credibility, the perceived comprehensibility and the perceived novelty of the received information.     

Interactive effects of environmental experience and innovative cognitive style on student creativity in product design

Environmental experience can enhance the ideas of design students. Thus, this type of experience may interfere with the influence of design students’ cognitive style on creativity. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of environmental experience on the relationship between innovative cognitive style and industrial design students’ creative outcomes. The environmental experience was measured according to the total scores of the five components of sense, feel, think, act, and relate on the basis of Schmitt’s strategic experience modules. The cognitive styles were measured using Kirton’s adaption–innovation inventory, and creative works were assessed through the consensus assessment technique, which was employed by three experts. Through a field experiment and survey investigation, the analysis indicated that innovative cognitive style significantly and positively influenced creativity, but this only occurred when student was accompanied with a low degree of environmental experience (i.e., a student had a low score for environmental experience); as the student attained a high degree of environmental experience, the influence of innovative cognitive style on creativity became weakened. The experiential media suggested that the natural elements, cultural history, group travel, and narrator effectively diversified the experiences of the students and enhanced creative thinking. This paper suggests providing increased stimulation of environmental experience prior to instructing design students to engage in creative activity. Environmental experience can benefit students by enhancing their creativity.     

Enlightening the dynamic capabilities of design thinking in fostering digital transformation

Digital transformation describes the deep-seated changes in organizational activities, processes, and capabilities induced by the advent of digital technologies. Digital transformation requires sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring the digital technological challenges into opportunities. Academic literature acknowledges the central role of design as a driver of innovation. Furthermore, recent research discloses the value that design, especially design thinking, can have in leading digital transformations. In this understanding, design thinking has been proven to be an approach based on dynamic capabilities. What seems to lack in the current understanding is how the dynamic capabilities of design thinking can facilitate digital transformation. Thus, the paper aims to shed light on how dynamic capabilities of design thinking foster discovering the opportunities digital technologies provide to enact the transformation. This paper investigates four different cases of consulting projects where the adoption of design thinking dynamic capabilities enhance the value of digital technologies towards a more human centric digital transformation. By being a business-to-business market, the consulting environment might inform readers how design thinking dynamic capabilities are salient for digital transformation. Examining them, the paper proposes five design thinking dynamic capabilities that managers should cultivate: extending, debating, cropping, interpreting, and recombining. Concerning academic debate, the paper enriches the understanding of digital transformation by unshadowing the value that design thinking dynamic capabilities might play in it.     

Influence of design training and spatial solution strategies on spatial ability performance

Numerous studies have reported that spatial ability improves through training. This study investigated the following: (1) whether design training enhances spatial ability and (2) whether differing solution strategies are applied or generated following design training. On the basis of these two research objectives, this study divided the participants into design and non-design groups. Each participant in these groups was required to complete three spatial tests and one solution strategy questionnaire. This study found that the participants in the design group outperformed those in the non-design group regarding spatial visualization and spatial relations; however, the two groups showed no difference in visuospatial perceptual speed performance. The design and non-design groups adopted different solution strategies; the design group used the holistic strategy, whereas the non-design group used the analytical strategy.     

Effects of innovation types on firm performance

Innovation is broadly seen as an essential component of competitiveness, embedded in the organizational structures, processes, products and services within a firm. The objective of this paper is to explore the effects of the organizational, process, product and marketing innovations on the different aspects of firm performance, including innovative, production, market and financial performances, based on an empirical study covering 184 manufacturing firms in Turkey. A theoretical framework is empirically tested identifying the relationships amid innovations and firm performance through an integrated innovation-performance analysis. The results reveal the positive effects of innovations on firm performance in manufacturing industries.     

Digital based media design: the innovative contribution of design graduates from vocational and higher education sectors

Design is increasingly being recognised as a key source of competitive advantage in the innovation economy of many countries. The key objective of this research was to understand the contribution by design graduates to creative industries innovative activities. Primary research was conducted to understand barriers and limitations of graduate contributions to such activities. The attributes and skills of graduates from the university and Vocational Education and Training sectors were the subject of the study. Two focus groups, one with the education sectors and the other with representatives from design firms, government institutions and design associations were held. Though each group of graduates was praised for having certain skill sets graduates from both sectors were found to be lacking in three key areas: problem solving, communication skills and commercial knowledge. A range of suggestions for systemic improvement were proposed as a result of the study.     

The abilities of understanding spatial relations,spatial orientation,and spatial visualization affect 3D product design performance: using carton box design as an example

Three-dimensional (3D) product design is an essential ability that students of subjects related to product design must acquire. The factors that affect designers’ performance in 3D design are numerous, one of which is spatial abilities. Studies have reported that spatial abilities can be used to effectively predict people’s performance in conducting complex operations. Nevertheless, few studies have explored the relationship between spatial abilities and designers’ performance in 3D product design. Spatial ability is a type of mental ability and comprises numerous factors. Carton box design is a typical type of standardized 3D product design, in which designers’ performance is affected by the spatial abilities they possess. The most crucial factor among these abilities is the space conversion ability, which is the ability to convert two-dimensional (2D) surface developments into 3D perspective views and convert 3D carton boxes into 2D plans. These operations require an in-depth perception of objects, an understanding of the relative spatial relations among objects, and spatial visualization. In this study, carton box design was used as an example to investigate, using structural equation modeling, the effects that the ability to understand spatial relations, spatial orientation, and spatial visualization have on designers’ performance in 3D product design. The results indicated that all three spatial abilities (i.e., understanding spatial relations, spatial orientation, and spatial visualization) directly influence designers’ performance in carton box design. Therefore, spatial abilities are vital factors affecting designers’ performance in 3D product design.     

Difference in time influencing creativity performance between design and management majors

This study is aimed to obtain a better understanding of difference in time of day as a factor influencing creativity performance between design and management programs students. Two hundred and ninety-seven college students, consisting of 154 design majors and 143 management majors at a university, participated in this study. Two idea generation tasks adapted from the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking verbal tests were used to collect data on their creativity performance across school time intervals. The results show that the distributions of creativity performance across school time intervals reveal statistically significant differences in the fluency and originality measures between the two disciplines. Further, for the design majors, statistically significant differences are found in the fluency, originality, and elaboration measures of creativity; for the management majors, no difference is found for any of the creativity measures. That is, time of school day is a concern in creativity performance for the design students but not a significant factor for their counterparts. It is suggested that the timing issue should be taken into account when we try to assess the instructional and learning performance of creativity-related courses. An open mind and awareness of program differences are expected. More alternatives to improve time-constrains in traditional in-class learning and instruction are also suggested at the end, to create a more individualized and flexible learning environment for creativity.     

In search of meaningful work on digital freelancing platforms: the case of design professionals

Growth of the platform economy has been accompanied by critiques of the fragmented, isolated and precarious nature of the employment it offers. Yet, little is known about how creative freelancers perceive the meaning of work on the platforms. Based on 40 interviews with freelancers, clients, platform owners and industry experts, this paper reveals that most freelancers are concerned about how operating through the platform, and their dependence on it, is undermining the meaningfulness of their work. Freelancers find that the platforms are eroding both the manifest (i.e. monetary) and latent (i.e. non‐monetary) meaning of their work although they are mostly concerned about the latent element of meaning. The analysis reveals that the small group of freelancers who pursue meaningful work and earn a sustainable income on platforms are those with strong entrepreneurial orientation.     

Differential effects of firm generated content on consumer digital engagement and firm performance: An outside-in perspective

Social media contains a massive amount of information, which provides researchers and practitioners with an invaluable source of data to conduct research from end-users' perspectives, in order to influence firm strategic choices. Although an extensive amount of research has been developed in B2C and B2B marketing context, few social media studies take a dive into potential linkages between external and internal marketing contexts in an industry specific paradigm. This study aims to bridge B2C and B2B social media marketing, by adopting the outside-in perspective as theoretical lens. Using a large-scale dataset, collected from a micro-blogging site, and consumer-oriented information assembled from multiple sources, we empirically examine the inter-relationship between firm-generated messages, consumer digital engagement, and firm sales performance in the movie industry. Theoretically, this study builds upon the outside-in perspective and extends the current knowledge of the outside-in perspective to the social media context. It also bridges the B2C and B2B marketing literature by demonstrating that the insight garnered from B2C social media interactions should be integrated into the B2B firm interactions, communications, and decision makings. Managerially, this study provides movie practitioners with important implications.     

The mediator effects of conceiving imagination on academic performance of design students

Three studies were combined to examine the effects of creativity and imagination on the academic performance of design students. Study 1 conducted an exploratory factor analysis to determine the most appropriate structure of the Creativity Capability Scale (CCS) in a sample of 313 college students. The scale was a new self-report measure, and it was developed to be both empirically valid and easy to administer. A two-factor solution identified originality and useful flexibility as dimensions of human creativity. Study 2 conducted a confirmatory factor analysis to confirm the established structure of the CCS in a sample of 284 college students in design schools. In addition, we also confirmed the structure of the Imaginative Capability Scale using the same sample. A three-factor solution supported an earlier study in which human imagination was categorized into three types, namely initiating, conceiving, and transforming imaginations. The analyses of composite reliability and construct validity gave both scales good support. Study 3 further tested the effects of creativity and imagination on academic performance in a sample of 271 design students. The hypothesis of Study 3—that conceiving imagination acted as a mediator between creativity/imagination and academic performance—was partially supported. The structural model also showed that useful flexibility, initiating imagination and transforming imagination demonstrated positive, indirect effects on academic performance. Critical reflections on the results are provided. Discussions for future studies are also proposed.     

How integrating industrial design in the product development process impacts on company performance

There is a growing belief that investing in industrial design is beneficial to company performance. This article sheds more light on how and when integrating industrial design in the product development process can enhance a company's competitive position. The basic premise is that the impact of industrial design on company performance is not unconditional, but dependent on industry evolution and design strategy. We opted to define industrial design in a general way, namely as the activity that transforms a set of product requirements into a configuration of materials, elements and components. This activity can have an impact on a product's appearance, user friendliness, ease of manufacture, efficient use of materials, functional performance, and so on. The empirical data incorporated in this study stems from two Dutch manufacturing industries, namely home furniture and precision instruments. Home furniture and precision instruments were selected because the strategy of integrating industrial design in the product development process is rather mature in the first‐named industry and emerging in the second. We collected data from firms investing considerably in industrial design (n = 23) and firms investing little to nothing in industrial design (n = 24), using a semistructured questionnaire that was administrated during face‐to‐face sessions with senior managers. Two out of the three research hypotheses were supported. It was found that the extent to which firms integrate industrial design in new product development projects has a significant and positive influence on company performance (Hla), in particular when the strategy of investing in industrial design is relatively new for the industry involved (Hlb). There was no systematic pattern indicating that design innovation is more important in industries where the use of design is mature than in industries where the use of design is emerging (H2). Instead, we found that design innovation has significant positive performance effects in both types of industries. One important managerial inference from our study is that new product development managers should consider the changing nature of competition during industry evolution while developing strategies that encompass the use of industrial design in new product development. Another important managerial inference is that, besides being innovative in the field of products, being innovative with respect to design and design strategy can help to enhance competitiveness regardless of industry evolution.