Complex organizations, an exploration between design practices and management - new perspectives to Systemic Design application in Social Enterprise

Organizational change has become an increasingly influential process in enterprise evolution because it is a fundamental step in enabling the corporate to adapt and follow the changes occurring in its environment. This paper will focus on organizational change for social enterprises (SEs). In SEs, organizational issues are complex and entail satisfying economic and social mission needs while avoiding isomorphism with for-profit companies. On these considerations, this article aims to provide insight into the role that design can play in processes that facilitate organizational change. Moreover, the paper investigates three design processes that deal with organizational issues, identifies the main constraints on organizational action and strategy; and further delineates how Systemic Design (SD) could meet the organizational issues of SE. The article synthesizes and discusses literature from three areas of reference: design in the organizational field, organizational evolution of SEs, and organizations as complex systems. This literature review aims to understand how design can support the development path of SE in its organizational change. Specifically for the SE category, it emerges how Systemic Design could play a more significant role in designing and implementing organizational development that can guarantee resilience and social sustainability, valorizing the specific context where they are based.