5 Organizational Design Challenges AI is Here to Solve Design professionals can leverage AI to address urgent organizational challenges and convert them into opportunities

Every industry and sector, be it IT, drone, or legal, has its fair share of opportunities and challenges. With rapid technological advances, these challenges are expected to narrow and eventually become null and void.

At present, artificial intelligence is taking business, industry, and sectors by storm globally. This emerging technology has touched everyone, in one shape or another.

In its recently launched report Taking Responsibility in the Age of AI, the Institute of Design (ID) sheds light on how there is a need for strategic designers who can navigate complex, interconnected landscapes to ensure thoughtful and appropriate evolutions in their offerings. Design professionals can leverage AI to address urgent organizational challenges and convert them into opportunities.

"With the evolution of AI happening now, the world is changing exponentially faster, and the risks are higher than ever. If new product launches, new services, and new systems are based purely on notions of efficiency, we will see biases, inequities, and unintended consequences mount like never before," said Mark Jones, Associate Professor of User Research and Service Design, Institute of Design.

It also highlights five urgent challenges organizations face today and how they can be overcome.

1. Need for work speed

The report talks about how collaborating in real-time and driving generative prototyping will enable team members to see representations of the ideas in play. The designers build prototypes that generate responses, reflecting insights from the team, and lead to key improvements. For them, it is imperative that people react to things, and that the sooner team members share their reactions, the more quickly they can inform, improve, and finish.

Their designs aim to encompass the ability to address user needs in innovative ways, and evoke emotional responses. They also help prevent ethical issues or biases from compromising the business solution, as they design to solve them and help ensure user adoption.

2. Why systems thinkers?

Organizations need to have systems thinkers who can frame and break down the layers, dependencies, obstructions, and possibilities of the systems in ways everyone in the organization can understand.

Organizations need to consider the value criteria important to each stakeholder when engaging in projects where multiple teams are involved. Notably, a good designer and design leader can identify the optimal moment to frame a problem. Brand loyalty can be earned by adopting socially responsible design practices for a product or service.

Source: ID

3. The big-picture facilitator

Facilitators need to take in a holistic, big-picture view and translate complex information and insights across various departments, without losing sight of key details. What do facilitators do? They work towards forging alliances and collaborating effectively. Makes communication as clear and as accessible as possible, while striving for collective accountability and collaboration from all.

4. Update metrics

Conventional business metrics fall short of assessing performance in extended areas of concern. There is a need to update such metrics for better accuracy. Organizations need to measure new impacts related to inclusion, justice, sustainability, and organizational change.

According to ID, while some metrics can be straightforward numerical representations, such as active daily users, others may capture fuzzier, more complex aspects such as organizational change or cultural shifts. It also calls for a shift away from a singular metric and towards a context-specific evaluation.

5. Demonstrate values

Sustainability and representation are two non-negotiable aspects for any organization in 2024. This is the time and opportunity for them to demonstrate values. For any organization to keep pace with changes, every project would require diverse perspectives. Training, mentorship, and elevating designers are of utmost importance in order to enhance skills and knowledge continuously.