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The Fifth Discipline I Peter Senge in his book The Fifth Discipline dwells on the possibilities of learning organization that uses special systems thinking methods. According to Senge, the organization can become a learning organization when it implies five important disciplines: Team Learning Team learning includes the ability of people to unite their effort in order to solve isolated problems in the most effective way. As far as the basics of team learning starts with dialogue, the team learning means a dialogue between the member of group, the genuine thinking together and the ability to exchange the ideas and thoughts to find the most preferable solution or approach to problem. Peter Senge examines the strategies for team learning, speaking about the expectations for team learning, the dialogue as an integral part of system, etc.
He dwells on designing an effective dialogue session and a skillful discussion between the team members. Peter Senge speaks about the ways of reframing the relationships between the members of team and stops on methods of building the organization that recognizes the uniqueness of every member. Speaking about the methods of discovering learning styles, he examines the ways to bring diverse people to one common aim. Besides, he underlines the importance of building a company-wide strategy for effective team learning. Building Shared Vision Peter Senge considers that when the members of team exchange the ideas and have common understanding of future, they will make all efforts to solve problems effectively.
Peter Senge tries to bring in the thorough analysis of strategies for building shared vision. He determines strategic priorities and dwells on two basic concepts related to building shared vision: pictures of the future and openness. Mental Models The author speaks about ability to identify and find out the mental models. According to Peter Senge, the mental models are deep-rooted generalizations, suppositions, assumptions and views that have impact on the way we understand the world and influence the way we act. The author stops on results we can expect in working with mental models. Dwelling on the concept of mental models, Senge speaks about creating scenarios, leaps of abstraction, espoused theory compared to theory-in-use and balancing inquiry and advocacy.
Senge introduces the idea of the ladder of inference, gives us conversational recipes and focuses attention on the ideas of internal consultancy, double-loop accounting and various methods that can help us in systems thinking. Personal Mastery The personal mastery is the art of constantly enhancing our personal vision as well as combining our mutual efforts and focusing energies to find the most effective solutions. It is the personal motivation to consistently learn something and to become better. Peter Senge speaks about various strategies for developing personal mastery focusing attention on loyalty to the truth and the power of choice. He examines innovations in infrastructure and Beckman instruments that are helpful in enhancing personal mastery. Besides, Peter Senge examines intra personal mastery and underlines that we need to focus attention on the usage of subconscious in out work as an integral part of process.
Systems Thinking (Namely the Fifth Discipline) According to Peter Senge, systems thinking is a conceptual framework. It provides us with possibility to understand practical business concepts and issues. Systems thinking embraces the system that allows us to examine the organization as a certain function of its environment. Peter Senge tries to depict the most effective strategies for systems thinking.
According to Senge, we need to learn to see the world systematically. We need to examine the whole system instead of trying to solve definite problems. Peter Senge considers that if we see the whole picture, we are able to solve problems more effectively. So, what are the strengths and weaknesses of Peter Senge's The Fifth Discipline? I consider that the strengths of Senge's theory are as follows: First of all, the rational approach is combined with an empathic attitude.
The theory concentrates special attention on reflective processes, experiential learning and dialogue between the members of groups. The theory unites people with practical and mechanical aspects of systems enquiry. Besides, the theory has become extremely popular and obtained a great number of supporters-practitioners. Speaking about the weaknesses, we can mention that the theory is not a methodical systematic approach, but rather refers back to systems dynamics. It also doesnt address ethical issues or knowledge distribution and doesnt provide with a fair degree of potential for critical reflection. II I agree with Senge's theoretical view.
First of all, his theory is very effective and allows building the effective relationships between the members of group and provides with sound pre-conditions and strategies for effective team learning and building a learning organization. Besides, the key factor of Senge's theory is that we need to examine the problem not as a complex of separate parts, but as a whole in order to work out the most effective strategy for finding proper solution. Implication of Senge's theory results in better understanding of processes that influence fundamentals to the growth of both personal and teamwork frames. The effective teamwork is a group effort and enhancing personal mastery as well as building shared vision will inevitably result in good learning organization. The theory helps us to understand all aspects of learning organization; moreover, I agree with Senge's statement that systems thinking is necessary more than ever and is vitally important because of the complexity of the modern world. Despite the variety of other management and discipline approaches, Senge's theoretical view allows creating a sustainable model that can help working out fundamental solutions.
III Peter Senge focuses attention on the team and personal learning and underlines the importance of leadership. All five disciplines, described in his book, are based on the principles and concepts of schools of management as well as on theories in psychology that are aimed to enhance skills of leadership and abilities of a good commander. Senge's theory is aimed to strengthen the leadership: the adapting of a shared leadership model contributes to success in organizational learning. Speaking about the theoretical framework of the leadership that is depicted in the book, we can repeat Peter Senge's words: The new view of leadership in learning organizations centers on subtler and more important tasks. In a learning organization, leaders are designers, stewards, and teachers. They are responsible for building organizations where people continually expand their capabilities to understand complexity, clarify vision, and improve shared mental models that is, they are responsible for learning (Senge 340) IV Senge says: Organizations learn only through individuals who learn.
Individual learning does not guarantee organizational learning. But without it no organizational learning occurs (Senge 139). It is quite difficult to speak about personal mastery. As for me, Im constantly looking for new ways of personal growth, the ways to learn and to discover something new. Probably, I can dwell on concept of learning to learn while speaking about my personal mastery. It is also the way of life that encourages growth and satisfaction in professional life.
Personal Mastery provides me with efficient approach to personal self-development and self-realization as a full-pledged member of team and society. It allows me to reach my higher thoughts-and-feelings and to achieve executive control over my thoughts and actions. It gives me a practical method to manage consciousness and to refine a wide range of skills. According to Peter Senge, the belief in ones powerlessness and lack of self-worth are the worst enemies of personal mastery. Personal Mastery is not the thing that comes quickly and easily.
It requires self-understanding and recognizing that we must learn to have our own vision, aims and goals. V According to Peter Senge, The discipline of mental models starts with turning the mirror inward; learning to unearth our internal pictures of the world, to bring them to the surface and hold them rigorously to scrutiny. It also includes the ability to carry on learning ful conversations that balance inquiry and advocacy, where people expose their own thinking effectively and make that thinking open to the influence of others (p. 9). My mental models concerning students, schools and learning are reconciled with the modern reality of my profession. Besides, I am convinced that I have to prepare my students for the world Ill launch them into. Im trying to create the learning environment that will be adjusted to students needs and will provide them with an atmosphere of collaboration and creative questioning.
My students are engaged in various activities that demand implication of their knowledge. The teacher acts as a co-learner and the whole lesson takes place in the atmosphere of dialogue and dynamic environment. Learning is development of mental models. Using mental models we can teach the problem-solving strategies, focus attention on decisions and processes instead of answers.
The students are engaged to create their own mental models with an emphasis on communication and building relationships that result in effective collaboration. We select the ideas during the lessons, process the ideas within the frameworks, construct mental model of information and integrate these ideas to find an effective solution or to achieve the necessary result. VI Mental models concerning education vision, staff development and teachers embrace the beliefs about the organization. The teaching, learning, students and prerequisites of learning are the main components of my mental model concerning education vision. The teacher acts as an activator of educational processes and makes all efforts to create favorable environment for successful education. In such a way, the learning becomes the initial point of learning processes that makes certain changes in students mind to start working in direction of achievement of necessary goal.
The model is recursive and dynamic. Besides, the model is influenced by students previous experience, his ability and skills, etc. Speaking about the leadership, the leaders should work out and implement mental models to create effective strategies of collaboration. All mental models should be validated through research. Besides, if schools develop the capacity to work with mental models, the students will inevitably have to learn new skills and to develop the ability to reflect in- and on- action. VII I agree with Peter Senge's theories concerning the shared vision and team learning disciplines.
Senge speaks about team learning as the process of aligning and developing the capacities of a team to create the results its members truly desire (Senge 236). It is based on shared vision as the capacity to hold a share picture of the future we seek to create (Senge 236) and personal mastery. My previous experience with working in teams was more effective than working alone. Work in team provides us with good opportunity to practice communication skills, enhancing abilities to work together and build strong relationships.
Actually, the team work can be compared to the building blocks of organization. The team is a compound and integral part of organization progress and development. The concept of teamwork allows schools stakeholders working together. It helps school staff, students, teachers, faculty to build a community that provides with flexible and innovative learning environment based on mutual understanding and collaboration.
VIII I agree with Peter Senge's systems theory because it does result in better understanding of economic and organizational changes. Senge's systems theory facilitates building learning organization and enhances ability of people to work as a team, uniting their efforts towards the achievement of common goals. The principal can create special staff development programs based on Senge's theory to contribute in progress of organization and personal development of teachers. IX Some critics call Peter Senge an organizational management theory guru. Senge often speaks of himself as of idealistic pragmatist'. Probably, this statement allows him exploring some quite utopian and abstract ideas concerning the systems theory.
Senge introduces the modern paradigm of constructivism and new leadership. It is a model where the members of group work in team and collaborate to integrate new ideas. Senge considers that future belongs to voluntary follower ship, improved dialogue, increased self-discipline and systemic thinking skills being the launching-pad for his paradigm. X Peter Senge says that we are responsible for what we do and we can implement change. I consider that he is right, because we can transform ourselves and we are able to implement changes. The person is responsible for his actions; he develops his capacity to learn and, therefore, his ability to implement changes.
Senge considers that the improvement can be possible only if people start to feel responsibility for their actions. XI The ability to develop capacities and skills in others is an important aspect of personal leadership. A good leader needs to use different methods and approaches to become a facilitator of personal growth and development. He needs t become a community coacher and to create an effective environment where people will realize the necessity to change themselves. Such approach will give a way to understanding and motivating people to necessary changes and will be the cornerstone of learning organization.
Leaders act as designers, stewards and teachers. They are inspiring the vision of organization to achieve desired results. XII The process of learning is influenced with various factors. People do not always behave in way that is completely equal to what they say. There is a gap between espoused theory (what we say) and the theory in use (what we practice). Senge proposes to use double-loop learning to bridge the gap between theory in use and espoused theory.
Generally speaking, Senge's whole book is a set of methods and tools that can be used to bring theory into action. XIII The paradigm of a learning organization appears as a subject of discussion in D. Garvin's article Building a Learning Organization and I. Nonakas The Knowledge-Creating Company. The authors dwell on perspectives of implication of Senge's theory and examine different aspects of the fifth discipline as applied to the modern issues. Garvin supports Peter Senge's theoretical frameworks and focuses attention on personal leadership, creative tension and enhancing the personal vision.
Both authors recognize the fifth discipline as the only effective discipline that integrates theory and practice. They also propose to use Senge's five disciplines to work and learn in society today. Bibliography: Garvin, D. (1993). Building a Learning Organization. Harvard Business Review. Jul-Aug 1993.
pp. 78 - 91. Nonaka, I. (1991). The Knowledge-Creating Company. Nov-Dec 1991. Harvard Business Review. Pp. 96 - 104 Senge, P. (1990).
The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. New York, Doubleday
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Research essay sample on Harvard Business Review Shared Vision
