Fostering an innovation culture at KLM’s Digital Factory

Abstract

This thesis report represents the result of a graduation project for the master programme Strategic Product Design at the Delft University of Technology in collaboration with the Digital division of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
This project aimed at changing the Organizational Culture of KLM Digital. This due to the perceived lack of innovation, especially radical innovation, coming out of KLM Digital. The current workflow helped create this issue by separating the divisions responsible for the development of digital products. The current setup is known as the Digital Factory, which is mainly focused on developing incremental innovations. The way the change was attempted was by changing the structures, processes and organizational identity. All of that by using design methodologies and practices.
The design proposal consists of two big elements: the Final Destination and the Runway. The first one includes a future vision representing a scenario where KLM Digital achieves the changes team members wanted to see. As part of this scenario, a new Organizational Identity was created. This new Identity aims to bring the team members together under a shared beliefs and values system, working towards Digital’s Vision. The Runway is the collection of actions that Digital can take in the short-term to kick start the change process. More specifically, the Runway includes a number of activities that promote collaboration, creativity and communication among the people of Digital. This way, the proposal covers actions the organization can take in the near future to start testing ideas and learning from them, and a long-term vision to work towards.