The Fifth Discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization  (English, Paperback, Senge Peter M)

The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice Of The Learning Organization explains the concept of the learning organization. The author shows how an organization can grow, by encouraging the collective creative capacities of its employees.

Summary Of The Book

The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice Of The Learning Organization says that no organization can rely on just a few individuals to take it forward. It states that an organization needs to encourage and utilize the creativity and talent of all its employees to realize its full potential.
The author explains that the solutions to all problems are within reach if people will learn to work together and see things from a new perspective. He shows that an organization can benefit by encouraging this kind of collective vision.

The author explains learning disabilities, and the factors that prevent a person from thinking clearly. Among these are the individual's urge to protect their personal status, the idea that problems are caused by external factors rather than looking into how they themselves might be contributing to the situation. The book talks about how many people focus on short term results, and are unable to function well in a team.

The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice Of The Learning Organization then goes into the five disciplines that can help an organization overcome the learning disabilities and function well. These are Personal Mastery, Mental Models, Shared Vision, Team Learning, and Systems Thinking.
Personal Mastery is the ability to improve one’s vision, to learn to think clearly in terms of the highest goals, and to define the things that are of vital importance. Mental Models is the ability to identify and clear out ingrained ideas and preconceived notions, and getting rid of generalizations.

Shared Vision is the capacity of individuals to get together and build a clear vision of their collective future, in which each of them benefit because the organization benefits. Team Learning is the talent for collaboration, to improve communication skills, and to enhance one’s ability to work smoothly as part of a team.

Systems Thinking is the ability to recognize patterns and correlations in thought processes, to integrate all the other previous disciplines in order to to work effectively as a team for the growth of the organization.

The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice Of The Learning Organization defines an organization that encourages all its individual members to maximize their potential and to work as a team to effectively reap the benefits.

About Peter M. Senge

Peter M. Senge is a scientist, teacher and author.

Some of his other books are The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, Schools that Learn: A Fifth Discipline Fieldbook for Educators, Parents, and Everyone Who Cares about Education, The Dance of Change, and Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, ‘Organizations, and Society’.

Peter Senge was born in 1947. He graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering. He earned an M.S. in Social Systems Modeling from MIT, and later a PhD from MIT Sloan School of Management. Senge has established himself as an authority on organizational behavior and development. He served as the Director of the Center for Organizational Learning at MIT and is the Founding Chairman of the Society for Organizational Learning. He is a lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management.