Identify Senge’s five disciplines for learning organizations

According to Wikipedia, a learning organization is the term given to a company that facilitates
the learning of its members and continuously transforms itself. Learning organizations develop
as a result of the pressures facing modern organizations and enables them to remain
competitive in the business environment.

The Learning Organisation concept was devised through the work and research of Peter Senge
which encourages organisations to move to a better interrelated way of thinking.

1. Systems thinking: Senge's whole approach to organisations is a `systems' approach that

views the organisation as a living entity, with its own behaviour and learning patterns.
He introduces the idea of `systems archetypes' to help managers spot repetitive
patterns leading to recurrent problems or limits to growth. 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 systems 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. The circle in
this icon represents the fundamental building block of all systems: the circular
"feedback loop" underlying all growing and limiting processes in nature.
2. Personal mastery: every modern manager recognises the importance of developing skills
and competencies in individuals, but Senge takes this notion further by stressing the
importance of spiritual growth in the learning organisation. True spiritual growth
exposes us to a deeper reality; it helps us to learn how to see the current reality more
clearly and by highlighting the difference between vision and the current reality
generates a creative tension, out of which successful learning arises. 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 (represented in this icon by the rubber band) can expand
people's capacity to make better choices, and to achieve more of the results that they
have chosen.

3. Mental models: the systems approach is continued with Senge's emphasis on mental
models. This discipline requires managers to construct mental models for the driving
forces behind the organisation's values and principles. Senge alerts his readers to the
 impact of acquired patterns of thinking at the organisational level and the need to
develop non-defensive mechanisms for examining the nature of these patterns. 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.
4. Shared vision: according to Senge, true creativity and innovation are based on group
creativity and the shared vision the group depends on can only be built on the personal
vision of its members. He claims that shared vision occurs when the vision is no longer
seen by the team members as separate from the self. 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
(symbolized by the eye), and the principles and guiding practices by which they hope to
get there.

5. Team learning: effective team learning involves alternating processes for dialogue and
discussion. Dialogue is exploratory and widens possibilities, whereas discussion narrows
down the options to find the best alternatives for future decisions. Although these two
processes are complementary, they need to be separated; sadly, most teams lack the
ability to distinguish between these two modes and to move consciously between them.
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 ability greater than the sum of individual members' talents. The icon symbolizes the
natural alignment of a learning-oriented team as the flight of a flock of birds.