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The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization (平装)
by Peter M. Senge
| Category:
Learning organization, Change management, Corporate transformation |
| Market price: ¥ 258.00
MSL price:
¥ 218.00
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MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
Peter Senge, who was associated with the "learning organization" concept, wrote a great cookbook for change management. |
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AllReviews |
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Richard Teeerlink (President and CEO, Harley-Davidson, Inc.) (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-27 00:00>
If you believe, as I do, that people are only competitive advantage and lifelong learning is the way to fully develop that advantage, you must read this book. |
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D. Nishimoto (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-27 00:00>
The bottom line to Senge's book, "The fifth Discipline" is the message companies need to leverage. Leveraging is removing barriers, responding to customer feedback, and making changes that have a big effect. Leveraging requires a change in thinking.
A shift in mindset from linear too circular thinking; circular thinking helps the individual too understanding the balancing processes of the organization and increases organization learning about these process. As the organization learns it improves by designing additional balancing process giving the managers leverage to expand and grow. Circular thinking is the ability to see the forest through the tree or in other words the ability to see the long-term vision of the company and be able to communicate the vision through out the organization.
Whereas, Linear thinking states "I see a problem and the effect must be this." Linear thinking tends to be a trial and error approach to problem solving. It attempts to change one factor at a time and what the resulting effect. It is a deductive approach to problem solving assuming that the cause is directly linked to the effect in a simple one to one basis. This assumption and problem solving approach is not always effective or true as systems become more complex.
Whereas, system thinking is looking for all the factors that make up the balancing system and examining who each factor effects the other factor or combinations of factors combine to cause a process imbalance. Circular thinking helps eliminates fragmented thinking about a system by providing a comprehensive series of factors describing the processes of the system.
What is leveraging? Leveraging is system thinking at its best. Leveraging is anticipating and designing for future needs that will occur from potential growth. Leveraging is designing and implementing plant expansion before the demand crisis occurs and causes cyclic production patterns caused by performance breakdowns.
Most company's fight system thinking, settling on operational thinking by advocating, "How can I ask the board to expend millions of dollars without proof of demand?" or more generically, "if it is not broke why invest in expansion." Feedback rather than demand is the motivating force behind the fifth discipline. Demand is both difficult to predict and measure with many companies measure the wrong components of demand and thus investing the their money in the wrong place, such as, Airlines investing in customer service rather than convenience and punctuality. Feedback is listening to the customers that support your business and giving them what they want and need. Profit occurs, as customers are willing to pay for what they need.
These stochastic arguments hold up in stagnate business environments where the company has matured its business models. However, in fast growth and high demand business models high lights elements of constraint theory. Constraint theory looks at the whole system and examines the effects of "bottle-necks" and further examines the behavior of the buyer, middleman, and supplier. Senge illustrates in his analogy of lover's beer the problem constraint theory creates for the retailer, the consumer, and the beer manufacturing plant and in the case study, Senge tells about how a bar which serves lover's beer responses to sudden consumer demand for the beer and over purchases the beer inventory in response to delays or backlogs in his inventory from the wholesaler with his inventories reaching 10 to 20 times their normal counts and the wholesaler delays caused by production cycles to ferment the beer and plant capacity.
The lover's beer case study ends with the consumer becoming disinterested in the beer partial caused by a poor reputation by the bar to provide the product even though the reasons to try the beer originally were very important. Interesting what started the trend was a ending phrase "lover's beer" from a popular music group with the patrons wanting to try lover's beer even with a two week wait, obviously a loyal customer.
Senge further explains business model fortifies the concept of leveraging with the case study of "Wonder-Machines". Wonder-Machines is a new company with a breakthrough PC that everyone wants. Wonder-Machines starts out with an adequate production line capable of meeting existing customer orders and due to the quality and price of the new machine it reputation improves significantly causing an increase in demand.
"Wonder-Machines" experiences 200 percent growth annually and sells a product customers and potential customer will want, so it meet higher than expected increases in customer demand. Thinking linearly management reacts by increasing the number of shifts which provides a short-term solution to a large problem, rapid growth.
Wonder-Machine errors by holding off building a new plant taking a "wait and see" approach for production expansion. So, Wonder-Machine production delays increased eventually forcing the company to invest in another plant and about the plant is completed, demand suddenly drops.
In response to the drop in sales an aggressive sales campaign is launched to turn the company back into profit and because marketing and sells are a direct line between the company and the customer, poor performing salesmen are fired and higher performing salesmen are given larger financial incentives.
The sales campaign works too well causing more orders to come in than the company can handle and a twelve-week time lag starts to emerge. Twelve weeks is created a group of angry customers and faced with growth, high costs for another plant, and inconsistent sales demand the company eventually invests into another plant but because of poor time delivery times the company has gained a reputation of being late on delivery and the customer types are shifting from loyal customer who prize the quality of the product to ones that look for price. Competitors see the market inefficiency and start to create their niche on price and Wonder-Machines goes bankrupt.
Fifth discipline suggests that the problem is not aggressive promoting reinforcement of factor but removing system barriers. Removal of barriers is the results of system thinking. System thinking assumes "cause and effect" is a complex process of discovering all the big picture factors and because the process is complex multiple people will be required to create the big picture. Leveraging examines the balances in the process and designs parallel balancing processes to meet future growth. Leveraging is not guessing at the future rather leveraging is removing obvious barriers to growth and profits. Leveraging allows for sudden increased loads caused from demand and reduces delays, and allows small changes to produce large results; such as full service grocery stores to self service grocery stores.
Feedback is the driving force behind leveraging. Customer feedback helps manager understand areas to start leveraging and building to meet customer needs. Meeting customer needs drives system thinking about the balancing processes that must be consider to meet the customer needs. The circular series of factors interacting with the balancing process is access against customer feedback to determine whether the solutions are working. |
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Robert Crawford (MSL quote), France
<2006-12-27 00:00>
All too often, I find myself acting cynically about my field and ready to dismiss just about anything as mediocre, no matter how popular or praised. Well, this is one book that I think is really excellent - for content, for clarity, for sincerity, for the stories reported in it.
When I plow through a business book, I try to see if I can remember the central ideas, the essence of what the author has to say from the mass of details and stories that make up every business book. Most often, they are appalingly banal and pathetically over-applied, touted as able to solve just about every problem, in particular if a fee is paid to the authors to come and talk about it in person. I was preparted to treat this book the same way, and was simply delighted to find a truly excellent and useful book. And gee, I am glad that I can get inspired by a book in my chosen field, rather than bored!
As I see it, this book has three principal ideas. First, we must think of organizations and their missions as complex systems rather than as conglomerations of isolated problems. It is pitch for the development of a holistic view - how everything interacts and what factors act upon what other factors. This is an analytical tool that can pinpoint what should be done, breaking mental habits of looking only at the bottom line of sales revenues, for example, rather than the need to provide better service or delivery times. Second, employees must be empowered to make their own decisions locally, requiring honesty and openness throughout the organization as standard practice. This enables them to question and learn, not just individually but as part of a unified team, hence the subtitle of a learning organization. Mistakes are part of this process and should be allowed as valid experiments. Third, the task of a leader is to design an organizational system within which this can all be accomplished. Rather than control all decisions in a centralized manner in accordance with a rigid plan, the leader must develop a vision of where they organization should go and then allow his employees to pursue that vision as a team with great autonomy.
I have wanted to read this book for almost ten years. It was first pointed out to me by a remarkable business leader in mainland China, Zhang Ruimin, the founder of the Haier Group, as a seminal text for him. He said that he had built a learning organization in accordance with Senge's prescriptions, and after so many years, I see that indeed he did. What this book did for me was to give me a better idea of Zhang's mind and what went on in it. But it has also given me a clearer idea of many other remarkable entrepreneurs whom I have had the pleasure and honor to meet over the years in my work. As Senge explained, these men had a vision, but used the gap that existed between their vision and current reality to inspire their workers to achieve remarkable things. And they created self-reinforcing systems to do so.
Another fascinating aspect of this book is that, in spite of being nearly 15 years old, it felt fresh and its examples did not feel stale and in need of updates. Many books that old extoll Japan as the model to emulate and explain why that country does everything better than everyone else. Just take a look at Porter's books! While this book has some examples from Japan, it does not fall into that trap - for me, that means its analyses have stood the test of time.
This is one of the best business books I ever read - and I have read way way too many of them! Warmly recommended. |
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Krystle (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-27 00:00>
If I had to choose one book to teach people what organizations are supposed to be all about, this would be it. The Fifth Discipline is one of those rare, classic points of reference...It's to business what A Pattern Language is to architecture. Peter Senge gets to the core of what people working in groups can achieve, and what stops them from getting there.
I have to admit, however, that when I first heard about this book, I didn't really want to read it. I'd just started getting into sustainability, and I'd heard the name of this book thrown around in the subject more than once. But to me it seemed like just another dry business book. It wasn't till years later when someone recommended I read it as an introduction to systems thinking that I went out and borrowed a copy from the library. After reading only a few chapters, I knew this was one of those books I had to have for myself. And yes, it IS filled with a lot of business talk, but it's also packed with concepts and principles that are applicable to ANYONE trying to be more effective in his or her life.
In fact, my favorite chapter in this book was the one on personal mastery. I've read my fair share of both business and self-help books, and this chapter alone is by far the clearest description I've ever read of individual success. I bought myself a copy of this book based solely on the merit of this one chapter. So the rest, for me, was like a bonus. When I finally finished reading it, I felt like I got a lot more than I paid for.
For one thing, I came away with a solid understanding of systems thinking, or the "fifth discipline" that the book is named after. This book is PACKED with examples and stories to help readers understand a handful of eye-opening, timeless principles. While some of the business-based illustrations are SO in-depth that I couldn't help but skip over them, it's nice having them there for future reference. Even if you have very little tolerance for business jargon, then get a copy from the library and read it for the concepts, especially Chapters 1, 4, and 9.
While The Fifth Discipline might seem like it caters to business people who want to achieve this thing called a "learning organization," don't be fooled. Peter Senge has succeeded in writing a book is useful for anyone who wants to change things, and ESSENTIAL for those of us who seek to do it through business. |
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Bruce Rhodes (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-27 00:00>
The Fifth Discipline is a liberating work, inasmuch as it offers a well thought out methodology for creating organizations that have the chance to learn in a purposeful, sustainable way. Mr. Senge provides a sound set of principles to supplement, if not replace, the traditional management toolkit of reactive, linear thinking that is sadly primitive and inadequate in this world of growing complexity.
Contrary to comments I've heard and read in respect to this book, I found The Fifth Discipline to be fairly easily digestible, and not a 'heavy read' as some have suggested. To be sure, the concepts are often quite profound, and challenge traditional views toward management practice; however, Mr. Senge's agreeable writing style delivers the material comfortably and effectively.
I've had the chance to hear Mr. Senge speak at 'Systems Thinking in Action' conferences, and concluded on those occasions that he is a much-needed visionary with a firm grasp of reality. Reading The Fifth Discipline has only reinforced my high level of regard for him. |
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Michael Iacona (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-27 00:00>
I read The Fifth Discipline back in 1999 and it is probably one of the best books I have read in terms of being in-line with my beliefs on continuous learning. The author, Peter Senge, examines five disciplines of a model he calls the "learning organization". These components are: Systems Thinking, Personal Mastery, Shared Vision, Team Learning, and Mental Models. Although all of the disciplines are interrelated and make up the "learning organization", Senge highlights Systems Thinking as the 5th discipline. Using The Beer Game [...] as an example, Senge makes a powerful case in regard to the need to think beyond what we see is our own "world" and what we perceive is happening. In-line with systems thinking, I frequently see people who do not realize that the decisions they make often have negative impacts on themselves; they don't see it because they either don't know or don't acknowledge that they are a part of a larger system at work - they lack systems thinking. This may be hard to understand, but Senge's discussion of the Beer Game makes it very clear.
Overall I highly recommend this book although it does not provide quick fixes to organizational problems, it does provide a very good framework (disciplines) that collectively applied can help any organization. |
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Valencia (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-27 00:00>
I thought that this book was great, yet still left me with a big question in mind. Who is this book directed to? The reason behind my question is the fact that although any person may read and understand the V discipline, not everyone will be able to apply it. To make myself clear, I mean that what good is it that you as an individual read, understand, and desire to put the concepts to work, if you are not empowered to do something about it? That is the main problem behind this book, is the fact that you will only turn your organization into a learning one if you are lucky enough to be empowered to do so, or if the organization has adopted the idea to change and wants to do something about it. Besides the applicability issue, everything else in the book is outstanding: it is filled with great examples that will make it easy for you to understand. Best if you also read From Good to Great, for it will help you realize if the organization you are related to wants to change. |
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Rolf Dobelli (MSL quote), Switzerland
<2006-12-27 00:00>
Little can be written that hasn't already been said about Peter M. Senge's classic on organizational learning. So let's keep this review simple: If you haven't read this book, read it now. When this seminal work was originally published in 1990, it was truly ahead of its time in its identification and description of the learning organization. But more than a decade later this concept has become a central component to organizational development, and if you somehow missed Senge's prescient analysis of the evolution of business, work and employment, you're more than a step behind. Why? Because Senge has the rare ability to break new ground in theory and then apply these abstract advances into concrete practices that businesses can emulate. We [...] almost hesitate to call this book a classic, since the term often brings to mind unread tomes that do little but look impressive on a shelf. The Fifth Discipline is a book that should be read, and perhaps re-read, by anyone who earns a living in the corporate world. |
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Bob Halle (MSL quote), Canada
<2006-12-27 00:00>
Peter Senge tapped into the psyche of today's organizations creating a manual for the progressive professional. The information is not presented as a love story yet through a creative touch the information is easily digestible. Examples and scenarios such as the beer game bring this book to the front lines of what organizations face today. Dealing with the fifth discipline and learning organizations Senge seeks the root of many disciplines while creating this masterpiece. Team building, personal mastery and mental models build a framework on which the reader can attach their personal meanings. The information speaks to many different people regardless of the path they have chosen in life. Students, professionals, and volunteers can all equally benefit from the information contained between the covers. Senge spins out in great detail the web of life showing how all parts of a given organization shape and affect the others. Mending one part of the web only creates a short term solution which may eventually become the weakest link or thread. A holistic view of a problem combined with shared vision and continuous learning leads to a better representation of a perfect work environment. In this sense Senge has some terrific insights, we are no longer wiping our noses rather we are opting for the antibiotics to stop the drip. HR departments worldwide should pick up a copy of this book. The field manual was also a helpful tool in putting all of Senge's ideas to work. In addition to the field manual I would suggest picking up a copy of On Dialogue by David Bohm. While Senge outlines some of Bohm's ideas we could all use a refresher on true dialogue versus discussion. The fifth discipline is a convenient package that outlines the pitfalls many organizations step into making it an effective tool for the progressive organization. |
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Yenky (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-27 00:00>
The fifth discipline by Peter Senge is probably the most influential book on learning organizations. It laid the theoretical groundwork for creating learning organizations by defining five essential skills: Systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, shared vision and team learning.
The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage. The organizations that will truly excel in the future will be those that discover how to tap people's commitment and capacity to learn at all levels through systems thinking.
A) Systems Thinking - Seeing events that are distant in time and space as connected within the same pattern. A discipline for seeing wholes: interrelationships; structures that underlie complex situations. Seeing circles of causality vs. straight lines.
B) Personal Mastery - Individuals being committed to their own lifelong learning. Living life from a creative vs. reactive viewpoint; continually clarifying what is important and learning to see current reality more clearly.
C) Mental Models - Breaking free of deeply ingrained assumptions and generalizations; exposing our thinking and opening it to the influence of others; advocating our views, inquiring into others' views.
D) Building Shared Vision - Binding people together around a common identity and sense of destiny. Providing the focus and energy for learning. Pulling toward some goal which people truly want to achieve by encouraging personal vision and blending a shared vision ultimately achieving commitment.
E) Team Learning - Sustaining a "dialogue" in which the team suspends assumptions and genuinely "thinks together". Based in openness.
The fifth discipline to which the book refers is 'systems thinking', which recognizes the connections and interactions between parts of the whole (person, group, organization) within the 'big picture', rather than seeing the parts in isolation. The book discusses this type of thinking as a discipline central to working towards a shared vision within a team. There is a potentially useful exercise ('The Beer Game'), which provides an experience of the power of systems thinking over conventional linear thinking. I think it would be worth us trying this game out. |
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