Tua Björklund

Bio: Tua Björklund is an academic researcher from Aalto University. The author has contributed to research in topics: New product development & Design thinking. The author has an hindex of 10, co-authored 43 publications receiving 354 citations.

Perceived long term value of industry project-based design courses: Alumni reflections from two decades of the Product Development Project

Abstract: As the landscape of higher education is changing with increased competition, being able to clearly articulate learning outcomes and their significance to students is becoming more and more important for universities. Project-and problem-based industry collaboration has been on the rise in order to cultivate more ‘work life skills’. Typically, student feedback is collected at the end of such courses, perhaps augmented by feedback collected before and during the course as well. However, during their studies, students have yet limited understanding of professional activities in their discipline and work life, and thus may not be able to accurately evaluate the usefulness and applicability of the learning experience from a long-term perspective. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to gain better understanding of the real-world impact of these project-and problem-based courses in the long run, and what skills and attitudes alumni from project-and problem-based industry collaboration courses have found useful and utilized in development activities in their current careers. Moreover, we were interested to study if they differ from perceived skills learned directly from the course. In order to address this aim, the current paper represents a case study of the perceived long-term impact of one of the longest running multidisciplinary project-based courses in Aalto University, Finland. During nine months, the interdisciplinary and international student teams translate an open design brief provided by a industry sponsor into a functional prototype. We reached out to the PDP course alumni to find out what they considered as significant learning outcomes from the course in hindsight, as well what skills, knowledge and attitudes have they utilized in the development efforts of their current careers. Based on 33 interviews and 239 survey responses from alumni that had completed the course between 1999 and 2016, we categorized the content of responses based on the thematic similarity of the reported learning outcomes from the course and reported needs in development efforts of their current careers. Overall, the results highlight the perceived significance of socio-behavioral interpersonal skills, in which teamwork, multidisciplinarity and communication skills formed the largest categories. The second largest group was formed by attitudes, such as constant learning, having a ‘can do spirit’ and optimism, out of which the majority were brought up as a part in the development activities of the alumnis’ current careers rather than perceived learning outcomes from the course. These skills and attitudes were then followed by a better understanding of the development process and project management, with the PDP course often representing a first complete development project experience for the alumni, rather than a piecemeal phase or task of it. The usefulness of being able to handle ambiguity and defining problems was also highlighted. Interestingly, domain-specific skills were the smallest group reported in both currently utilized skills and in learning outcomes from the course. The results thus emphasize the social nature of professional design and development efforts, as well as the additional insights long-term feedback collection and reflection from former course participants can yield.

What Makes an Inquisitive Engineer? An Exploration of Question-Asking, Self-Efficacy, and Outcome Expectations among Engineering Students

Abstract: In order be successful, engineers must ask their clients, coworkers, and bosses questions. Asking questions can improve work quality and make the asker appear smarter. However, people often hesitate to ask questions for fear of seeming incompetent or inferior. This study investigates: what characteristics and experiences are connected to engineering students’ perceptions of asking questions? We analyzed data from a survey of over a thousand engineering undergraduates across a nationally representative sample of 27 U.S. engineering schools. We focused on three dependent variables: question-asking self-efficacy (how confident students are in their ability to ask a lot of questions), social outcome expectations around asking questions (whether students believe if they ask a lot of questions, they will earn the respect of their colleagues), and career outcome expectations (whether they believe asking a lot of questions will hurt their chances for getting ahead at work). We were surprised to find that question-asking self-efficacy or outcome expectations did not significantly vary by gender, under-represented minority status, and school size. However, students with high question-asking self-efficacy and outcome expectations were more likely to have engaged in four extracurricular experiences: participating in an internship or co-op, conducting research with a faculty member, participating in a student group, and holding a leadership role in an organization or student group. The number of different types of these extracurricular activities a student engaged in correlated with question-asking self-efficacy and positive outcome expectations around asking questions. The results illustrate the relationship between extracurricular activities and students’ self-efficacy and behavior outcome expectations. The college experience is more than just formal academic classes. Students learn from experiences that occur after class or during the summer, and ideally these experiences complement class-derived skills and confidence in asking questions.

User and stakeholder perspective taking in novice design teams

Abstract: Taking the perspective of users and stakeholders can help designers incorporate human-centricity in their practice. However, we know relatively little of the dynamics of perspective taking – a cognitive facet of empathy – in design processes as a situated cognitive and behavioural activity, rather than as an overall orientation. To illuminate how perspective taking is used in design, we carried out a longitudinal multiple case study of 49-month-long graduate-level product and service design projects, exploring differences between high and midscale performance in different design phases. Through thematic analysis of review session discussions, we find that perspective taking in high-performing sessions involves three aggregate dimensions: gathering data to form perspectives, scoping and making sense of perspectives and using perspectives in creative processing. We identify phase-dependent characteristics for the scope and emphasis of perspective taking in concept development, system design and detailed design. We also describe different ways in which novice teams struggled to create and apply user perspectives. As a result, the current study sheds light on perspective taking and the changing nature of effective perspective taking across the design process.

The Dynamics of Proactive Striving - Initiating and sustaining development efforts in product design and entrepreneurship

Abstract: Aalto University, P.O. Box 11000, FI-00076 Aalto www.aalto.fi Author Tua A. Björklund Name of the doctoral dissertation The dynamics of proactive striving – Initiating and sustaining development efforts in product design and entrepreneurship Publisher School of Science Unit Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Series Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS 128/2015 Field of research Work Psychology Manuscript submitted 30 March 2015 Date of the defence 16 October 2015 Permission to publish granted (date) 25 June 2015 Language English Monograph Article dissertation (summary + original articles) Abstract Not even brilliant ideas advance themselves. In all organizations, proactive efforts are required to translate opportunities into actual improvements. However, most research on proactivity in entrepreneurship and product design has addressed dispositional antecedents, and research in general tends to focus on goal setting, idea generation, and decision-making. But what happens after the initial decision to pursue an idea has been made? In this dissertation, a qualitative approach building on 4566 interview segments from 80 interviews in 13 organizations was used to explore how the process of proactive striving in product design and entrepreneurship is initiated and sustained. The four empirical essays included one experiment on how product design experts and students differed in their interpretations of design briefs. Proactive striving was observed already at this stage: more successful developers had more extensive, in-depth, and interconnected representations. The essays also included three naturalistic studies: idea advancement in two product design projects, attracting resources and other input in creating a new organization, and a longitudinal study of four new companies developing their first offering market-ready. In all of these studies, feedback from the environment emerged as a crucial mechanism for sustaining and even escalating proactive striving behaviors. Sometimes this required time-consuming inclusion and communication practices, creating the need for local inefficiency to produce global effectiveness. Based on the results, the generic idea development funnel can be modified into a process model of the enactment of proactive striving. In addition to recognizing the need for pruning non-action from fruitful action and progressively specifying actions in concrete iterations, the model makes two key contributions towards understanding the dynamics of initiating and sustaining proactive striving. First, it emphasizes potential discontinuities in efforts due to transitioning between three different levels of proactive effort manifestations: micro-level specific actions, intermediate-level activities, and global-level approaches. Second, it highlights the potential for positive spirals through individual-environment interaction: creating concretizing approximations of the pursued ideas in the form of boundary objects provided feedback on the feasibility of efforts, encouraged initial stakeholder input, and sustained efforts by energizing and committing developers and stakeholders alike. The model also illuminates several opportunities for enhancing development efforts with relatively minor interventions.Not even brilliant ideas advance themselves. In all organizations, proactive efforts are required to translate opportunities into actual improvements. However, most research on proactivity in entrepreneurship and product design has addressed dispositional antecedents, and research in general tends to focus on goal setting, idea generation, and decision-making. But what happens after the initial decision to pursue an idea has been made? In this dissertation, a qualitative approach building on 4566 interview segments from 80 interviews in 13 organizations was used to explore how the process of proactive striving in product design and entrepreneurship is initiated and sustained. The four empirical essays included one experiment on how product design experts and students differed in their interpretations of design briefs. Proactive striving was observed already at this stage: more successful developers had more extensive, in-depth, and interconnected representations. The essays also included three naturalistic studies: idea advancement in two product design projects, attracting resources and other input in creating a new organization, and a longitudinal study of four new companies developing their first offering market-ready. In all of these studies, feedback from the environment emerged as a crucial mechanism for sustaining and even escalating proactive striving behaviors. Sometimes this required time-consuming inclusion and communication practices, creating the need for local inefficiency to produce global effectiveness. Based on the results, the generic idea development funnel can be modified into a process model of the enactment of proactive striving. In addition to recognizing the need for pruning non-action from fruitful action and progressively specifying actions in concrete iterations, the model makes two key contributions towards understanding the dynamics of initiating and sustaining proactive striving. First, it emphasizes potential discontinuities in efforts due to transitioning between three different levels of proactive effort manifestations: micro-level specific actions, intermediate-level activities, and global-level approaches. Second, it highlights the potential for positive spirals through individual-environment interaction: creating concretizing approximations of the pursued ideas in the form of boundary objects provided feedback on the feasibility of efforts, encouraged initial stakeholder input, and sustained efforts by energizing and committing developers and stakeholders alike. The model also illuminates several opportunities for enhancing development efforts with relatively minor interventions.

The knowledge-creating company : how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation

Abstract: How has Japan become a major economic power, a world leader in the automotive and electronics industries? What is the secret of their success? The consensus has been that, though the Japanese are not particularly innovative, they are exceptionally skilful at imitation, at improving products that already exist. But now two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hiro Takeuchi, turn this conventional wisdom on its head: Japanese firms are successful, they contend, precisely because they are innovative, because they create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. Examining case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, 3M, GE, and the U.S. Marines, this book reveals how Japanese companies translate tacit to explicit knowledge and use it to produce new processes, products, and services.

Speech Genres and Other Late Essays

Abstract: Note on Translation Introduction by Michael Holquist Response to a Question from the Novy Mir Editorial Staff The Bildungsroman and Its Significance in the History of Realism (Toward a Historical Typology of the Novel) The Problem of Speech Genres The Problem of the Text in Linguistics, Philology, and the Human Sciences: An Experiment in Philosophical Analysis From Notes Made in 1970-71 Toward a Methodology for the Human Sciences Index

Design Prototypes: A Knowledge Representation Schema for Design

Abstract: A prevalent and pervasive view of designing is that it can be modeled using variables and decisions made about what values should be taken by these variables. The activity of designing is carried out with the expectation that the designed artifact will operate in the natural world and the social world. These worlds impose constraints on the variables and their values; so, design could be described as a goal-oriented, constrained, decision- making activity. However, design distinguish- es itself from other similarly described activities not only by its domain but also by additional necessary features. Designing involves exploration, exploring what variables might be appropriate. The process of explo- ration involves both goal variables and deci- sion variables. In addition, designing involves learning: Part of the exploration activity is learning about emerging features as a design proceeds. Finally, design activity occurs within two contexts: the context within which the designer operates and the context produced by the developing design itself. The designer’s perception of what the context is affects the implication of the context on the design. The context shifts as the designer’s perceptions change. Design activity can be now characterized as a goal-oriented, con- strained, decision-making, exploration, and learning activity that operates within a con- text that depends on the designer’s percep- tion of the context.