| |
 |
|
|
| The
Five Disciplines |
|
|
The five "learning disciplines" are a set of practices
for building learning capabilities in organizations. Drawn from
the fields of organizational learning, system dynamics, action science,
"double-lop learning," process consultation, the creative
orientation, dialogue, governance design, scenario planning, quantum
physics, and ecology, the five disciplines were first codified by
Peter Senge in his book The Fifth Discipline (Doubleday,
1990). Each of the disciplines represents a lifelong body of study
and practice for individuals and teams in organizations.
|
|
|
Personal Mastery:
This discipline of aspiration involves formulating a coherent picture
of the results people most desire to gain as individuals (their
personal vision), alongside a realistic assessment of the current
state of their lives today (their current reality). Learning to
cultivate the tension between vision and reality can expand people's
capacity to make better choices, and to achieve more of the results
that they have chosen.
|
|
| Mental Models: This discipline of
reflection and inquiry skills is focused around developing awareness
of the attitudes and perceptions that influence thought and interaction.
By continually reflecting upon, talking about, and reconsidering these
internal pictures of the world, people can gain more capability in
governing their actions and decisions. One of the more powerful principles
of this discipline is the "ladder of inference," which can
show how people leap instantly to counterproductive conclusions and
assumptions. |
 |
| Shared Vision: This collective discipline
establishes a focus on mutual purpose. People learn to nourish a sense
of commitment in a group or organization by developing shared images
of the future they seek to create, and the principles and guiding
practices by which they hope to get there. |
|
| Team Learning: This is a discipline
of group interaction. Through techniques like dialogue and skillful
discussion, teams transform their collective thinking, learning to
mobilize their energies and actions to achieve common goals, and drawing
forth an intelligence and ability greater than the sum of individual
members' talents. |
|
| Systems Thinking: In this discipline,
people learn to better understand interdependency and change, and
thereby to deal more effectively with the forces that shape the consequences
of our actions. Systems thinking is based upon a growing body of theory
about the behavior of feedback and complexity - the innate tendencies
of a system that lead to growth or stability over time. Tools and
techniques such as system archetypes and various types of learning
labs and simulations help people see how to change systems more effectively
and how to act more in tune with the larger processes of the natural
and economic world. |
|
| |
|
|