Collaborating Across and Beyond the Corporation via Design Anthropology

Abstract

Consonant with a complex view of organisations, anchored in an anthropological approach, the author of this essay argues that companies can no longer seek discrete solutions to wider business issues. It bases itself on research conducted for a series of consulting projects in design anthropology carried out within the banking and insurance industry to contend that viable, long-term solutions can only come from complex understandings of company contexts where a variety of variables are looked at holistically rather than segmentally. Collaboration and communication within and across companies is perceived as the solution to create effective costumer service that delivers a brand’s promise. Knowledge generation and sharing are seen as a way to achieve this provided companies are willing to hear and act upon research findings.