Influences on solution search processes in design organisations

A study was conducted of what influenced solution search activity in three design organisations. The influences were analysed in terms of how they aff ected search, whether their effect tended to be conservative or innovative, and the directness of the evidence they provided Overall, the environment was found to provide more innovative influences than conservative ones. Inn ovative influences were mostly connected with the triggering of search acti vity while conservative influences were mostly linked with restricting the search space of potential solutions. Also, search candidates were often eva luated in terms of their associations rather than their intrinsic merits, a nd ultimately this makes human judgment an essential component of search an d evaluation activity. Finally, the environment provides many 'seeds' for e ffects like design fixation and functional fixedness but also provides stro ng incentives to positively avoid these effects.