The Fifth Discipline is a book that focuses on the importance of organizational learning. Coming from a systems perspective, it takes the view that we are so much more collectively than individually. Solving problems requires getting beyond simplistic explanations, e.g., Fred is incompetent, to more realistic and rounded views, e.g., Fred might be incompetent but there are bigger problems. Peter Senge’s view of the learning organization and sustainability has inspired many.
Old And Long
Reading this book is a commitment. Though written well before the Marvel movies took over cinemas it still works on the Marvel principle that giving the punter more will provide their money’s worth. His explanations can be a bit tedious.
The limits to growth structure is useful for understanding all situations where growth bumps up against limits.
Senge, 2010, page 133
I would have cut a bit to be honest — especially given that even the 2010 updated version I read was dated. Strange uses of phrases forced me to stop reading several times. He talks of organizations having a learning disability which I wouldn’t use as a term nowadays (or even in 2010). He talks of feeding the hungry as something that only perpetuates problems which seemed weird and heartless. He illustrates another point with the death of a young man he watched (in a tragic drowning). He quotes Henry Ford approvingly. (I’m finding the antisemitism a bit hard to get over on the Ford front). In general, he hasn’t met a quote or a name drop he didn’t like. If this is is the 2010 updated version, gawd knows what the old-fashioned version was like.
Seeing The Entire System
I wish I liked the writing more as I do believe he has a lot of important points to make. His basic idea is that we need to link together ideas, in a way that we often don’t. We fix this, or we fix that, but we don’t think of how all the bits fit together. At its crudest, things won’t work well despite having lots of good pieces if they fitted together in an unhelpful manner.
Many students, like my MBA class at Darden, have played The Beer Game that he explains in detail. Each individual makes what they think are reasonable responses but the inability to see the big picture ends up with wild oscillations in orders. Everyone ends up overcompensating and swimming (not literally) in beer. Seeing the big picture of the system is vital to good decision making.
The Learning Organization And Sustainability
To Senge the learning organization and sustainability go together. To be sustainable we need to be constantly improving. That seems a reasonable point to me.
When I interviewed people … they used ‘sustainability’ and ‘learning to become a learning organization’ almost interchangeably. People [believed] that building a sustainable enterprise is not possible without creating a learning culture.”
Senge, 2020, page 472
He also talks about the need for an organizational purpose to generate commitment. It is amazing how many people don’t seem to agree with him, but I certainly do.
The Benefit of Systems Thinking
Senge addresses a concern with systems thinking. Namely that it makes intuitive sense to most readers that we should think about systems but it is hard to achieve system change. How can Senge help? He argues that one thing he can do is to provide an antidote to feeling that nothing can be achieved.
…systems thinking offers a language that begins by restructuring how we think.
Senge, 2010, page 99
The language of complexity allows people to think about complexity. Seems worth a try.
Learning To Be Better At Making Vehicles
In a not very humorous book, he does give a (unintentionally) pretty funny take. He gives an extended discussion of how the big US car manufacturers were short-sighted and didn’t see competition coming. (In this case the Japanese cars of the 70s and 80s). At least he didn’t need to update that part of the book. It feels like it was written in 2026, just substitute China for Japan and it all fits perfectly.
For other approving quotes (of especially bigoted ideas) from Henry Ford see Jason Hickel’s work Messaging About Sustainability.
For more on systems see Systems Matter
Read: Peter M, Senge (2010) The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization, Crown Currency
