The fifth discipline - An overview of Peter Senge's Fifth Discpline

An overview of Peter Senge's Fifth Discipline

1. The Fifth Discipline
Peter Senge
SrinathRamakrishnan

2. Learning Organization
People continually expand
their capacity to create
the results they truly desire
Newand expansive
patterns of thinking
arenurtured
Collectiveaspiration isset
free
Peopleare continually
learning to see the
whole together

3. Learning organizations
In times of rapid change, only organizations that
are flexible, adaptive and productive will excel
For this to happen, organizations need to discover
how to tap people’s commitment and capacity to
learn at all levels
Besides having the structures, tools and practices in
place, it requires a fundamental shift of mind
among the members to embrace a learning
organization

4. Learning organizations
For a learning organization, it is not enough to
survive.
Survival learning or adaptive learning is necessary
For learning organizations, adaptive learning must
be joined by generative learning –that enhances
our capacity to create.

5. Learning Culture
A learning culture is one with organizational values,
systems and practices that support and encourage
both individuals, and the organization, to increase
knowledge, competence and performance levels on
an ongoing basis. This, in turn, promotes continuous
improvement and supports the achievement of
business goals, innovation and the ability to deal
with change.

6. 5 disciplines of Learning Organizations
Personal
Mastery
Mental
Models
Team
learning
Building
Shared
Vision
Systems
Thinking

7. Personal mastery
Discipline of
continually clarifying and deepening our personal vision
Of focusing our energies
Of developing patience
Of seeing reality objectively
People with high level of personal mastery
Live in continual learning mode
Are acutely aware of their ignorance, their incompetence
and growth areas
Deeply self confident

8. Personal mastery
When we experience personal mastery, there is a
sense of effortless “flow” done with little conscious
effort
Involves a dual process of
Clarifying what is important and envisioning it vividly
Continually learning how to assess current reality in
relation to progressing towards that vision

9. Personal mastery
How do you do it?
Compare people’s individual’s visions with the vision of
the company
Identify and discuss behaviors that are personally and
professionally important to the success of the team
Educate the members on how the financials/ budgets
are determined and how they relate to meeting the
organization’s mission

10. Mental Models
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.
Includes
the ability to carry on “learningful” conversations that
balance inquiry and advocacy
Where people expose their own thinking effectively
Make that thinking open to the influence of others

11. Mental Models
Involves discerning the actual data that supports (or
doesn’t) the generalizations that we hold about the
world
Working on mental models requires openness and
honesty with ourselves and with others
Requires art of listening and inquiring
Walk the talk –learn about others and ourselves
through how well we integrate what we say with
what we do

12. Mental Models
If organizations are to develop capacity to work
with mental models then it will be necessary for
People to learn new skills and develop new
orientations
Fostering openness
Seeking to distribute business responsibly while
retaining coordination and control

13. Team Learning
When teams learn together, not only there will be good
results for the organization, members will grow more
rapidly than could have occurred otherwise
Discipline of team learning starts with a “dialogue”, the
capacity of the members of a team to suspend
assumptions and enter into a genuine “thinking
together”.
On a qualitatively deeper level than simple team work
or work in teams
it is getting to know how to create a space where
people are able to relax, work hard, have fun, and
creatively produce

14. Team Learning
When team learning exists, there is
A flow of information
Feedback freely given, eagerly accepted and valued
Generative thinking
Innovative problem solving
People learn to ask questions that help learning, not to
make expert points
People learn how to inquire genuinely, with care, and
advocate clearly with balance and data
Becoming comfortable with feedback builds trust, care,
listening skills and integrity in how people talk with one
another

15. Building a shared vision
Discipline for bringing into alignment the vision and
efforts of people organization wide
The practice of shared vision involves the skills of
unearthing shared “pictures of the future” that
foster genuine commitment and enrollment rather
than compliance.
Where there is a genuine vision, people excel and
learn, not because they are toldto, but because
they want to.

16. Creating a shared vision
Telling : “this is the vision of what the orgznis going to
look like 2 years from now”
Selling: “the leader attempts to enroll people in the
vision, enlisting as much as commitment as possible”
Testing: “the leader needs to find out how
enthusiastically members support and accept the vision”
Consulting: “enlisting the support of the members to
make the vision stronger –the boss as a consultant
Co-Creating: “members begin to work for what they
want to build … creating a future that we individually
and collectively want”

17. Systems thinking
Discipline that integrates the others, fusing them into
a coherent body of theory and practice
Way of seeing the connections, links or relationships
between things
Process for understanding the interrelationships
among key components of a system such as
hierarchical relations, process flow, attitudes and
perceptions, product quality, sales, production, cash
flow, customer service, delivery, R&D etc

18. Systems thinking
Comprehend and address the whole and examine the
interrelationships between the parts , which were
previously thought to be unrelated variables
Use feedback loops, reinforcing loops and balancing
mechanisms to maps the desired systems and the
outcomes
Mapping and analyzing at the systems level allow a
careful tracking of factors affecting inputs, processes,
output and outcomes that might otherwise have
remained invisible or misunderstood

19. Systems Thinking
Systems view point generally oriented towards long
term view –hence delays and feedback loops are
important
Can be ignored in the short run, they come back to
haunt you in the long term
Egcut in advertising budgets cost savings
Little impact in the short run, in the long term
decline in visibility will impact sales

20. Thank you