Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Jul 2022

Composing Like an Entrepreneur: The Pedagogical Implications of Design Thinking in the Workplace

Mason Pellegrini Purdue University West Lafayette

Abstract

Fierce competition has made innovation increasingly necessary for business success, and this has increased the importance of user-based innovation strategies like design thinking (DT). While many studies in technical and professional communication (TPC) have explored how DT can be used pedagogically, no studies have done this through investigating how DT is used as a workplace composing process. This study does exactly that. First, it presents the current state of research on pedagogical uses of DT in TPC, and then it builds upon those suggestions with an empirical study that chronicles on how two web design firms use DT to make websites. My main suggestion is to teach DT as a recursive process that allows students transcend potentially incorrect assumptions built into design tasks through gathering data not only from users, but from clients as well.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
2022-07-01
DOI
10.1177/00472816211031554
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Topics
writing pedagogy professional writing empirical research
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (7)

  1. Tham (2025)
    Design Thinking in Business and Professional Communication Pedagogy: A Review o…
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  2. Spinuzzi (2023)
    What Is a Workplace? Principles for Bounding Case Studies of Genres, Processes,…
    Written Communication
  3. Tham et al. (2023)
    Examining Multimodal Community-Engaged Projects for Technical and Professional …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Tham et al. (2022)
    Extending Design Thinking, Content Strategy, and Artificial Intelligence into T…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  5. Andrews (2022)
    Designing a Course in Business Communication
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
Show all 7 →
  1. Pellegrini (2022)
    Review of "Design Thinking in Technical Communication: Solving Problems through…
    Communication Design Quarterly
  2. Tham (2022)
    Pasts and Futures of Design Thinking: Implications for Technical Communication
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication

References (22) · 10 in this index

  1. Bay J. (2018)
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  2. 10.2307/1511637
     ↗
  3. Durá et al. (2019)
    Positive Deviance as Design Thinking: Challenging Notions of Stasis in Technica…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. 10.29333/ojcmt/2556
     ↗
  5. Greenwood et al. (2019)
    Dissensus, Resistance, and Ideology: Design Thinking as a Rhetorical Methodology
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Show all 22 →
  1. 10.2307/357774
     ↗
  2. 10.1145/3233756.3233952
     ↗
  3. Leverenz (2014)
    Design Thinking and the Wicked Problem of Teaching Writing
    Computers and Composition
  4. 10.1111/jpim.12163
     ↗
  5. 10.15503/jecs20142.63.74
     ↗
  6. Marback (2009)
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  7. Martin R. (2007)
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  8. 10.1080/13562517.2018.1461621
     ↗
  9. Pope-Ruark (2019)
    Design Thinking in Technical and Professional Communication: Four Perspectives
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  10. Purdy (2014)
    What Can Design Thinking Offer Writing Studies?
    College Composition and Communication
  11. Saldaña J. (2016)
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  12. Spinuzzi (2017)
    Introduction to Special Issue on the Rhetoric of Entrepreneurship: Theories, Me…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  13. Sullivan (1989)
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  14. Tham (2021)
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    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  17. 10.1080/14703297.2015.1108214
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CrossRef global citation count: 9 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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