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47 reviews for:
The Fifth Discipline The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization
Peter M. Senge
3.87 AVERAGE
47 reviews for:
The Fifth Discipline The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization
Peter M. Senge
3.87 AVERAGE
informative
slow-paced
Oft-quoted and considered a bit of a classic in the field of leadership and systems thinking, this book is a fine, easily accessible introduction to system dynamics which perhaps suffers from being a little too long, and in this second edition, covering a number of case studies which perhaps do not land as well as they should.
I've seen this book referenced so many times and in so many places it's been something I've wanted to read for a long time. It also happens to be top of the reading list for an organisational design and development training course I am starting this week, so seeing as the fates align I was eager to jump in.
The general premise of the book is to encourage leaders to understand the basics of systems thinking and to become learning organisations. This is both to it's benefit but also is a limiter at the same time. It's focus is clearly aimed at large American corporations and the chief executive / leadership reader. Indeed, most of the examples in the book are from multinational businesses. As such, whilst the learning in here is applicable to everyone it's pivoting towards executives and professionals does act as a barrier to the general reader. The book kind of assumes everyone is in a leadership position. What's notable is that it is really only in the last couple of chapters where Senge shares how applicable systems thinking is outside of a business context, particularly in conflict resolution, climate change and community development.
Senge posits that there are five disciplines that leaders need to harness to have an effective learning organisation. They are:
1) Systems Thinking
2) Personal Mastery
3) Mental Models
4) Shared Vision
5) Team Learning
Of most use to a 'new' reader is his exploration of systems thinking, particularly drawing on the systems dynamics work of Jay Forrester and Donella Meadows. This section is a very readable and easily accessible introduction to system dynamics. Probably one of the best I have read. I have to caveat it with some of the examples are a little simplistic. The book asks us to think beyond linear thinking, but seeing simplistic explanations of system dynamics archetypes (particularly evidenced here in an 'arms race' scenario) leads me to consider that a little bit of systems thinking in the wrong hands is quite dangerous. This is because a little bit of insight here can lead to interventions that make things worse! I guess I want two things - systems thinking as an accessible practice rather than an academic one but at the same time enough respect for the discipline and the theory so as to not encourage folk to think this is easy. This is especially important when we consider the impact of complexity on systems when looking for leverage points.
Several archetypes are shared but at least the reader understands the basic concepts of reinforcing feedback loops and balancing feedback loops and also the concepts of leverage points and the impact of time and space.
I quite liked the 'laws of the Fifth Discipline' but I am sure I have read them in Donella Meadows work before. They are summarised below:
• Today’s problems come from yesterday’s solutions (Our thinking, which may have been correct once, have informed the problems of today. What worked once will not work today. Our mental models about the world in the past have created the world today).
• The harder you push, the harder the system pushes back (many of our solutions create compensating feedback loops, some of the things we want to change create a loop which makes the things worse).
• Behaviour grows better before it grows worse (unless systemic change occurs, we may get enthusiasm for thinking different, but we can slip into old ways of thinking and behaving quickly).
• The easy way out usually leads back in (if you try to shortcut change, and 'quick fix' or tackle symptoms rather than problems we end up back where we were).
• The cure can be worse than the disease (this does relate to short term fixes for problems).
• Faster is slower (change takes time. If you do not notice changes and patterns over time, you can make things worse. It takes time to see changes, sometimes going faster leads to overcompensating).
• Cause and effect are not closely related in time and space (we think things are linear, causal, when the impacts of what we do today will be felt somewhere else, later down the line).
• Small changes can produce big results, but the areas of highest leverage are often the least obvious (think in terms of where your levers are, like the rudder on a ship. The greatest levers are the mental models of how we think about work).
• You can have your cake and eat it, but not at once ("what do you want? Efficiency savings or a better service?" You can't have both at once. Sometimes you need to invest to save later).
• Dividing an elephant in half does not produce two small elephants (you can't segment whole systems into constituent parts. You can't look at complex adaptive systems as a series of parts that fit together. See also 'the clock and the cat').
• There is no blame (Every human makes the most reasonable choice presented to them at that point in time – even when it is abhorrent! Yes, we have agency, but we are responding to what we know and think best dependent on our needs at any one time. There is only learning).
There is also a concept of 'learning disabilities' organisations have. I kind of balked at the term considering it's usage in the UK but I am not culturally aware enough of the US to understand if this is a bit of an ableist description (I note like many books from the 1990's the language is gendered and that really shouldn't have been the case then).
1) I am my position – that people view themselves as their job title and that can mean responsibility for acting does not occur (not my job).
2) The enemy is out there – a perception that the things which are happening to us are things we cannot change or influence or respond to.
3) The illusion of taking charge – Often inaction is better than action. Sometimes when we 'take charge' we can make a system worse, especially if we are acting to events and on the wrong things.
4) The fixation on events – By looking at events in isolation and using that as a linear justification for what has happened to us 'a happened and caused b'. It ignores the relationships between events and their impacts over time and context, and may ignore complexity.
5) The parable of the boiled frog – Crudely, that when we are 'in' a system we do not notice changes happening to us over time until it is too late, because systemic changes may not have their impact visible and noticed until the impact has taken effect.
6) The delusion of learning from experience – relating to events, we learn based on our existing mental models which are reinforced and that leads to us restricting our learning. Our experience is built on what helps us survive.
7) The myth of the management team – The idea that the brains of the management team are omnipresent and have the skills, knowledge, and experience to create the world they want.
Personal Mastery is a life dedicated to the pursuit of getting better. I was struck by the notion that once you know a little about something (and think you are gaining mastery) you realise that you don't know as much as you thought you did. I like the notion of creative tension, which is the gap between current reality and where you want to be, and a recognition that in striving for this vision you will never get there as different tensions exist. Negative tension is that gap where current knowledge and future state is captured by anxiety – 'I'm not good at my job', 'I don't know' and that can impede learning. Some of these thoughts are good to have if understood as creative tension. There is also an awareness that personal mastery is your own, it isn't in a 'learning and development plan' and indeed, trying to push personal mastery in this direction could have unintended consequences as people push back against it with resentment. I can't remember if it is in the book, but this leans strongly into my idea of ensuring that at work I dedicate time every week to my own learning and personal mastery, it sometimes feels like 'skiving' but at the same time it is possibly the most rewarding time each week and benefits the organisation. I don't know how I feel about personal mastery as a broad concept – it feels like it lends itself to an individualised world and ways of learning in a Western, privileged environment.
The Mental Models section is interesting and starts with a perspective that we all have mental models and how we feel about the world, our work, each other, politics etc. They are formed from experience, from assumptions, from taking in information from others, and ultimately is a way for our brain to sense make. It is a way for us to take all the complexity and understand it. It is possibly why we are not good at changing our minds, why our political beliefs and values set quite early, based on our culture and stimulus. Like system boundaries, all mental models are wrong or incomplete but are a way of us understanding the world. I liked the notion of us exposing our mental models to the world, 'I think this because of...' and at least being aware of why there may be a difference. When we hold up our models we can engage in them, and maybe we can decouple them from our identity. When we expose how we think or how we feel we can at least challenge our perspectives and see where there is difference, or even alignment when we thought there was difference. The important thing is that they are not 'real' – they are only based on how we view the world. Our models shape our thinking and our reactions.
Shared Vision is an interesting chapter in that it recognises everyone aiming for the same goal is a good thing, yet recognises that trying to enforce it is a recipe for trouble. It references ideas such as a small group determining a vision and telling everyone 'this is our vision'. The people have had no emotional connection to it. The book suggests we should share our vision and ask people what they think, 'does it resonate', 'is it something you wish to follow'? It does mention the importance of us having a personal vision and understanding how it connects to our organisation and what matters there.
I am not particularly feeling the Team Learning section although it is interesting that there is a long exploration of 'dialogue' (exploration through words) rather than 'discussion' (attempting to win an argument). It is interesting that there a perspective that dialogue cannot exist in hierarchical organisations because power dynamics lead to people withholding how they really feel which can lead to fewer expressions of our mental models. Similarly, there is a lot of emphasis on defensive patterns we deploy to help us, but this reduces knowledge and awareness of what is happening. Defensive patterns exist for survival (see also, 'culture is what gets you through the day').
Eight strategies to become a learning organisation: This section is very useful from an organisation design and development perspective.
1. Integrating learning and working – work by experimenting, have the people who do the work, learn as they go. Include everyone and don't divest the learning to the important people – managers, consultants, leaders etc.
2. Starting where you are with whoever is there – you may not have everyone you want to start; you may not have everyone on board, you need to work with the willing to start and prove this is effective.
3. Becoming bicultural – you may need to work with both the organisation's current culture whilst trying to shape a different culture. You may need to recognise where the organisation is and be able to serve two or three competing narratives. This is particularly in areas where short term considerations are dominating narratives.
4. Creating practice fields – create places where people can learn and test. Create communities of practices and be cross functional. Create places where people can work and roll back if need be.
5. Connecting with the core of the business – If you want to change the business you have to really connect with what matters, it's purpose. Sometimes the purpose isn't what is written. What is at the heart of the organisation?
6. Building learning communities – Create communities of practice.
7. Working with 'the other' – Work with people you wouldn't normally. Think partners, other staff groups, people you think may be in conflict or have different interests.
8. Developing learning infrastructures – Create ways of recording and sharing your learning. Embed learning in roles, in practices, in requirements for what teams should do. Make it a focus of work.
The case studies for the second edition began to get on my nerves. There was a lot of praising at multinational's like Ford, BP and Shell. Yes, the car and oil industries are noted for their positive impact on Earth's systems aren't they? There was a case study at Nike regarding sustainability, yes Nike who exploit labour in sweatshops. I read many of these case studies not as a story of making systems better but more of a corporate ethical-washing. There is part of me that thinks if the executives were remotely serious about this way of looking at the world they'd be less comfortable sharing their examples.
So despite it being long, having questionable case studies that detract from the book, the accessible introduction to system dynamics makes this worthwhile, and I can see how the strategies to create learning organisations are applicable in my own role.
I've seen this book referenced so many times and in so many places it's been something I've wanted to read for a long time. It also happens to be top of the reading list for an organisational design and development training course I am starting this week, so seeing as the fates align I was eager to jump in.
The general premise of the book is to encourage leaders to understand the basics of systems thinking and to become learning organisations. This is both to it's benefit but also is a limiter at the same time. It's focus is clearly aimed at large American corporations and the chief executive / leadership reader. Indeed, most of the examples in the book are from multinational businesses. As such, whilst the learning in here is applicable to everyone it's pivoting towards executives and professionals does act as a barrier to the general reader. The book kind of assumes everyone is in a leadership position. What's notable is that it is really only in the last couple of chapters where Senge shares how applicable systems thinking is outside of a business context, particularly in conflict resolution, climate change and community development.
Senge posits that there are five disciplines that leaders need to harness to have an effective learning organisation. They are:
1) Systems Thinking
2) Personal Mastery
3) Mental Models
4) Shared Vision
5) Team Learning
Of most use to a 'new' reader is his exploration of systems thinking, particularly drawing on the systems dynamics work of Jay Forrester and Donella Meadows. This section is a very readable and easily accessible introduction to system dynamics. Probably one of the best I have read. I have to caveat it with some of the examples are a little simplistic. The book asks us to think beyond linear thinking, but seeing simplistic explanations of system dynamics archetypes (particularly evidenced here in an 'arms race' scenario) leads me to consider that a little bit of systems thinking in the wrong hands is quite dangerous. This is because a little bit of insight here can lead to interventions that make things worse! I guess I want two things - systems thinking as an accessible practice rather than an academic one but at the same time enough respect for the discipline and the theory so as to not encourage folk to think this is easy. This is especially important when we consider the impact of complexity on systems when looking for leverage points.
Several archetypes are shared but at least the reader understands the basic concepts of reinforcing feedback loops and balancing feedback loops and also the concepts of leverage points and the impact of time and space.
I quite liked the 'laws of the Fifth Discipline' but I am sure I have read them in Donella Meadows work before. They are summarised below:
• Today’s problems come from yesterday’s solutions (Our thinking, which may have been correct once, have informed the problems of today. What worked once will not work today. Our mental models about the world in the past have created the world today).
• The harder you push, the harder the system pushes back (many of our solutions create compensating feedback loops, some of the things we want to change create a loop which makes the things worse).
• Behaviour grows better before it grows worse (unless systemic change occurs, we may get enthusiasm for thinking different, but we can slip into old ways of thinking and behaving quickly).
• The easy way out usually leads back in (if you try to shortcut change, and 'quick fix' or tackle symptoms rather than problems we end up back where we were).
• The cure can be worse than the disease (this does relate to short term fixes for problems).
• Faster is slower (change takes time. If you do not notice changes and patterns over time, you can make things worse. It takes time to see changes, sometimes going faster leads to overcompensating).
• Cause and effect are not closely related in time and space (we think things are linear, causal, when the impacts of what we do today will be felt somewhere else, later down the line).
• Small changes can produce big results, but the areas of highest leverage are often the least obvious (think in terms of where your levers are, like the rudder on a ship. The greatest levers are the mental models of how we think about work).
• You can have your cake and eat it, but not at once ("what do you want? Efficiency savings or a better service?" You can't have both at once. Sometimes you need to invest to save later).
• Dividing an elephant in half does not produce two small elephants (you can't segment whole systems into constituent parts. You can't look at complex adaptive systems as a series of parts that fit together. See also 'the clock and the cat').
• There is no blame (Every human makes the most reasonable choice presented to them at that point in time – even when it is abhorrent! Yes, we have agency, but we are responding to what we know and think best dependent on our needs at any one time. There is only learning).
There is also a concept of 'learning disabilities' organisations have. I kind of balked at the term considering it's usage in the UK but I am not culturally aware enough of the US to understand if this is a bit of an ableist description (I note like many books from the 1990's the language is gendered and that really shouldn't have been the case then).
1) I am my position – that people view themselves as their job title and that can mean responsibility for acting does not occur (not my job).
2) The enemy is out there – a perception that the things which are happening to us are things we cannot change or influence or respond to.
3) The illusion of taking charge – Often inaction is better than action. Sometimes when we 'take charge' we can make a system worse, especially if we are acting to events and on the wrong things.
4) The fixation on events – By looking at events in isolation and using that as a linear justification for what has happened to us 'a happened and caused b'. It ignores the relationships between events and their impacts over time and context, and may ignore complexity.
5) The parable of the boiled frog – Crudely, that when we are 'in' a system we do not notice changes happening to us over time until it is too late, because systemic changes may not have their impact visible and noticed until the impact has taken effect.
6) The delusion of learning from experience – relating to events, we learn based on our existing mental models which are reinforced and that leads to us restricting our learning. Our experience is built on what helps us survive.
7) The myth of the management team – The idea that the brains of the management team are omnipresent and have the skills, knowledge, and experience to create the world they want.
Personal Mastery is a life dedicated to the pursuit of getting better. I was struck by the notion that once you know a little about something (and think you are gaining mastery) you realise that you don't know as much as you thought you did. I like the notion of creative tension, which is the gap between current reality and where you want to be, and a recognition that in striving for this vision you will never get there as different tensions exist. Negative tension is that gap where current knowledge and future state is captured by anxiety – 'I'm not good at my job', 'I don't know' and that can impede learning. Some of these thoughts are good to have if understood as creative tension. There is also an awareness that personal mastery is your own, it isn't in a 'learning and development plan' and indeed, trying to push personal mastery in this direction could have unintended consequences as people push back against it with resentment. I can't remember if it is in the book, but this leans strongly into my idea of ensuring that at work I dedicate time every week to my own learning and personal mastery, it sometimes feels like 'skiving' but at the same time it is possibly the most rewarding time each week and benefits the organisation. I don't know how I feel about personal mastery as a broad concept – it feels like it lends itself to an individualised world and ways of learning in a Western, privileged environment.
The Mental Models section is interesting and starts with a perspective that we all have mental models and how we feel about the world, our work, each other, politics etc. They are formed from experience, from assumptions, from taking in information from others, and ultimately is a way for our brain to sense make. It is a way for us to take all the complexity and understand it. It is possibly why we are not good at changing our minds, why our political beliefs and values set quite early, based on our culture and stimulus. Like system boundaries, all mental models are wrong or incomplete but are a way of us understanding the world. I liked the notion of us exposing our mental models to the world, 'I think this because of...' and at least being aware of why there may be a difference. When we hold up our models we can engage in them, and maybe we can decouple them from our identity. When we expose how we think or how we feel we can at least challenge our perspectives and see where there is difference, or even alignment when we thought there was difference. The important thing is that they are not 'real' – they are only based on how we view the world. Our models shape our thinking and our reactions.
Shared Vision is an interesting chapter in that it recognises everyone aiming for the same goal is a good thing, yet recognises that trying to enforce it is a recipe for trouble. It references ideas such as a small group determining a vision and telling everyone 'this is our vision'. The people have had no emotional connection to it. The book suggests we should share our vision and ask people what they think, 'does it resonate', 'is it something you wish to follow'? It does mention the importance of us having a personal vision and understanding how it connects to our organisation and what matters there.
I am not particularly feeling the Team Learning section although it is interesting that there is a long exploration of 'dialogue' (exploration through words) rather than 'discussion' (attempting to win an argument). It is interesting that there a perspective that dialogue cannot exist in hierarchical organisations because power dynamics lead to people withholding how they really feel which can lead to fewer expressions of our mental models. Similarly, there is a lot of emphasis on defensive patterns we deploy to help us, but this reduces knowledge and awareness of what is happening. Defensive patterns exist for survival (see also, 'culture is what gets you through the day').
Eight strategies to become a learning organisation: This section is very useful from an organisation design and development perspective.
1. Integrating learning and working – work by experimenting, have the people who do the work, learn as they go. Include everyone and don't divest the learning to the important people – managers, consultants, leaders etc.
2. Starting where you are with whoever is there – you may not have everyone you want to start; you may not have everyone on board, you need to work with the willing to start and prove this is effective.
3. Becoming bicultural – you may need to work with both the organisation's current culture whilst trying to shape a different culture. You may need to recognise where the organisation is and be able to serve two or three competing narratives. This is particularly in areas where short term considerations are dominating narratives.
4. Creating practice fields – create places where people can learn and test. Create communities of practices and be cross functional. Create places where people can work and roll back if need be.
5. Connecting with the core of the business – If you want to change the business you have to really connect with what matters, it's purpose. Sometimes the purpose isn't what is written. What is at the heart of the organisation?
6. Building learning communities – Create communities of practice.
7. Working with 'the other' – Work with people you wouldn't normally. Think partners, other staff groups, people you think may be in conflict or have different interests.
8. Developing learning infrastructures – Create ways of recording and sharing your learning. Embed learning in roles, in practices, in requirements for what teams should do. Make it a focus of work.
The case studies for the second edition began to get on my nerves. There was a lot of praising at multinational's like Ford, BP and Shell. Yes, the car and oil industries are noted for their positive impact on Earth's systems aren't they? There was a case study at Nike regarding sustainability, yes Nike who exploit labour in sweatshops. I read many of these case studies not as a story of making systems better but more of a corporate ethical-washing. There is part of me that thinks if the executives were remotely serious about this way of looking at the world they'd be less comfortable sharing their examples.
So despite it being long, having questionable case studies that detract from the book, the accessible introduction to system dynamics makes this worthwhile, and I can see how the strategies to create learning organisations are applicable in my own role.
Content Warnings
Minor: Gaslighting
A real no-bullshit book on systems and growth. One of the few that I know I'll actually keep, value, and reference when needed later.
The Fifth Discipline is still relevant today, as unfortunately systems thinking is something many organizations still struggle with. While the examples are dated and seem tailored to the manufacturing and for-profit world, it applies to all kinds of systems big and small. The sheer number of examples given make it so that anyone can find their way in to thinking about systems. However, some chapters feel very light on ideas, and the book probably could have been much shorter. Time spent on anecdotes from industry might have been spent on how this systems thinking can also apply to the nonprofit and public sectors.
The core ideas behind this book are interesting, but ultimately it failed to meet my (admittedly lofty) expectations. The framework Senge defines for creating/understanding learning organizations (using the five "disciplines") is thoughtful and coherent. He defines the five disciplines as:
1) Systems Thinking - Break free of linear cause-and-effect thinking and recognize the complex, interrelated forces at work. This is the "Fifth Discipline" referenced in the title, though Senge always discusses it first. I thought the book was going to spend a lot more time on this than it did.
2) Personal Mastery - Senge uses "Personal Mastery" to mean being committed to lifelong learning through reflection, patience, and working to see objective reality clearly.
3) Mental Models - Be explicit about your mental models (what are your assumptions? What is your understanding of the system at work?) and work to establish this as a cultural norm within your organization.
4) Building Shared Vision - Go beyond the fluffy vision statement, and describe "pictures of the future" that your organization can rally behind and strive toward. Profit or market dominance isn't a sustainable shared vision.
5) Team Learning - Use dialogue to communicate openly about all the disciplines above. Senge distinguishes between dialogue, or collectively getting at the truth, and discussion, or defending your point-of-view.
All of this seems to be genuinely good advice. I appreciated the overview of these topics, and the informal writing style the author used to describe what could have been a very dry subject. The author is thorough (more on this in the next paragraph), and the second appendix ("Systems Archetypes") is a useful overview of many common patterns in systems thinking.
My primary complaint about this book is a big one: it is that it needs a new editor. This is evident in small details (numerous typos and formatting issues, including all-caps, large type section headings that are misspelled) as well as in the organization and content of the book - it's waaaay too long for its content. The author repeats himself too much, and the stories used as examples can be rambling and redundant. The edition I have is the "revised and updated" version, and on the cover it says "revised and updated with 100 new pages." I don't know what the original edition was like, but I think perhaps they should have removed 100 pages when revising rather than adding.
If you're a reader with little or no background in systems thinking or reflective management, and are looking for a book explaining systems-oriented business management strategies, this might be a good introduction.
1) Systems Thinking - Break free of linear cause-and-effect thinking and recognize the complex, interrelated forces at work. This is the "Fifth Discipline" referenced in the title, though Senge always discusses it first. I thought the book was going to spend a lot more time on this than it did.
2) Personal Mastery - Senge uses "Personal Mastery" to mean being committed to lifelong learning through reflection, patience, and working to see objective reality clearly.
3) Mental Models - Be explicit about your mental models (what are your assumptions? What is your understanding of the system at work?) and work to establish this as a cultural norm within your organization.
4) Building Shared Vision - Go beyond the fluffy vision statement, and describe "pictures of the future" that your organization can rally behind and strive toward. Profit or market dominance isn't a sustainable shared vision.
5) Team Learning - Use dialogue to communicate openly about all the disciplines above. Senge distinguishes between dialogue, or collectively getting at the truth, and discussion, or defending your point-of-view.
All of this seems to be genuinely good advice. I appreciated the overview of these topics, and the informal writing style the author used to describe what could have been a very dry subject. The author is thorough (more on this in the next paragraph), and the second appendix ("Systems Archetypes") is a useful overview of many common patterns in systems thinking.
My primary complaint about this book is a big one: it is that it needs a new editor. This is evident in small details (numerous typos and formatting issues, including all-caps, large type section headings that are misspelled) as well as in the organization and content of the book - it's waaaay too long for its content. The author repeats himself too much, and the stories used as examples can be rambling and redundant. The edition I have is the "revised and updated" version, and on the cover it says "revised and updated with 100 new pages." I don't know what the original edition was like, but I think perhaps they should have removed 100 pages when revising rather than adding.
If you're a reader with little or no background in systems thinking or reflective management, and are looking for a book explaining systems-oriented business management strategies, this might be a good introduction.
A good and fast read introducing systems theory. Practical, not theoretical, examples make the book both easier to follow and more useful.
informative
slow-paced
well, that was a section of my life that I'll never get back.
it has good metaphors and life teachings, very technical but simple at the same time, read it if you want to be successful lmao
Interesting discussion of how to create teams that will work together to innovate. Doesn't provide much specific advice or technique for leaders, but that can be obtained from other books.
informative
slow-paced