The Impact of Organizational Structure on Design Practices and Outcomes: A Case Study

Abstract

The way we use something impacts 1) what we are able to get out of it, 2) our feelings about it, and 3) our willingness to continue using it. This qualitative exploratory case study investigated the impact of an astronomy research institute’s organizational structure on the design practices of its teams and the design outcomes of its projects. Multiple factors impact interorganizational communications, workflows, and resource distribution, which are the building blocks of any organizational structure. The factors in question primarily exist on a macro level, making them a difficult subject to study, which provides some explanation for the existing research gaps. To begin to fill these gaps, this study’s research questions were as follows: • How does an organization’s structure (i.e. its interorganizational communications, workflows, and resource distribution), or lack thereof, shape the deliverables (i.e. products and/or services) they provide and maintain? • Further, how does this structure impact the way end-users interact with and feel about the deliverables they make use of? • Finally, how does this structure affect an organization’s employees (especially user-experience designers) with their varying tasks and priorities, both in terms of their collaborative capabilities and in terms of how they feel about their work? The experiences of the institute’s employees and end-users were gathered and analyzed to this end. There was overwhelming agreement that the institute’s navigation overall was confusing and frustrating. This institute’s organizational structure creates, contributes to, and/or exacerbates deficiencies experienced in navigation. This applies to both the way end-users navigate their interfaces and the way employees navigate their day-to-day workflows. Since this institute has not yet centered its users and UX design methodology in its processes, these related challenges in navigating interorganizational communication, resource allocation, interfaces, individual webpages, and menus persist.