Best vision of ideal culture

Senge, P.M. (2006, Rev.). The Fifth Discipline. New York: Currency Doubleday.

Senge started a movement with this book, which outlines the first five disciplines (there may be more, he says) that are required to create a “learning organization.” Members of a learning organization understand how they create their reality and how they can influence it. Such an organization is more likely to have generative, creative thinking that advances the organization, its community, and the world.

Four of the disciplines are separate practices: getting a grasp of your personal vision, building a shared vision, fostering team learning, and understanding the effect of our own mental models. These disciplines would be business-book gimmicks if they were not integrated by the fifth discipline: systems thinking. With systems thinking, the leader seeks to find the patterns that underlie an organization’s results.

Senge describes several patterns that usually are not detected unless the leader stands back from strict cause-effect thinking and perceives the influences and delays that are at play on the entire system. This perception will help the leader identify behaviors that contribute to dysfunction and to identify interventions that have greater influence on the system.

Senge’s framework is applicable to the workplace and to society in general. Indeed, he and his fans have created an international group dedicated to fostering systems thinking in all aspects of society (Society of Organizational Learning, solevolution.ning.com).