The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization Paperback – Deckle Edge, March 21, 2006

Great book.

The purpose of the Fifth Discipline is to turn corporations into learning organizations and to create learning environments for those that take part in these corporations. The author explains what the 5 disciplines are and describes the 7 learning disabilities that each of us will encounter and how to overcome them. The first discipline is personal mastery. By achieving this discipline we are able to see the results that matter most to us. The second discipline involves overcoming mental models. Mental models are ideas that are essentially ingrained into the way we think. The third discipline is building a shared vision. A shared vision is a common and genuine goal where people want to learn because they want to. The fourth discipline is team learning. Team learning is being able to enter a dialogue where ideas are shared openly and everyone is thinking together, not just a single person providing ideas and the rest of the group agrees as to not create conflict. The fifth discipline is systems thinking, the bonding agent meant to bring all the other disciplines together. This discipline is where people discover how they create their reality and how the can change it.We are then given an in depth description of the 5th discipline, systems thinking. Systems thinking is the idea that we are all part of a larger system, it wants us to view ourselves as part of nature and not just an observer separate from every other living thing. The author wants us to understand that our problems aren’t caused by some external source but instead caused by our own actions and our inability to find the root cause of our problems. He shows us how to identify naturally reoccurring patterns in nature, how people normally react to these patterns, and how to counteract the negative effects of these patterns by teaching us how to attain leverage on each type of pattern. Based on the lessons taught in this book I feel that these disciplines can be used in making effective changes in not only the workplace environment but in my community and in my personal life.

The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization written by Peter Senge in 1990 has some great viewpoints for upper and middle managers to learn from. The book may seem to apply its learning philosophy for large size companies but is valid for a company of any size. Senge’s views of the learning organization are broken down into five disciplines; they are: personal mastery, mental models, team learning, building shared vision, and systems thinking.In chapter 2, Senge explains the seven deficiencies of a learning organization which he calls the “seven learning disabilities”. I don’t know why but the “parable of the boiling frog” stands out in my mind the most; that of letting threats gradually sneak up on or your system. Or being complacency or too comfortable where you can’t react in time because it’s too late. Senge does a good job of giving the reader a visual with his illustrations and examples. On page 89 he mentions of how the temperature controls adjustments can overshoot the target and exceed the desired limits. A simple time delay between adjustments can help stabilize the process from overshooting the opposite limits. I’ve seen this on systems that monitor the relative humidity when storms blow in and change the dew point. Also, when my spouse comes home from work and adjusts the thermostat as low as it can go thinking the A/C unit will cool down faster. By the time I get home the house is freezing…. Senge’s point is that sometimes delays to a process are sometimes necessary while other delays, like in the “beer game” orders, may be a burden and create an issue.The beer game was in chapter 3 is a great example of how material flows from the brewery, through the distributor, and then to the retailer for sale to the consumers. The process is a little redundant and maybe a little long winded but is important for the readers or managers to understand how easily things can go wrong. My initial thought was the book was written in 1990 and now that we have the internet with B2B software, it could resolve the communication breakdown between the three parties and have material flow closer to JIT process. This would help the reaction time as sales increase or decrease. Senge references the beer game throughout his book and mentions the game was first developed in the 1960’s as a demonstration at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.The “7 Disabilities” of an organization relate to the “11 Laws of an Organization” in chapter 4. The seven disabilities can be conquered by the disciplines of the eleven laws of an organization.What I thought reading through the beer game was somewhat difficult but was nothing compared to the agonizing chapters of 6 and 7. Chapter 8 was refreshing that deals with “Personal Mastery”. I guess the part I enjoyed was the “Personal Vision” where I can evaluate my own visions and not just my goals. It clarifies the vision and what it takes to achieve being a “personal mastery”. It mentions to fill in the gap between my vision and reality; the “gap” is the energy of making my vision a reality.One thing Senge mentions is that “organizations learn only through individuals who learn. Individual learning does not guarantee organizational learning. But without it no organizational learning occurs”. Leadership, vision, and disciplines all play a part in creating a learning organization.These are just some of my notes that I made for myself and almost gave the book only three stars for the long drawn out sections. Other than that it is a good book and one to highlight and tag notes inside and keep on your shelf. That is just my take on it - hope my notes help.

Lots of good ideas for leading a business.