Building a learning organization towards Senge's five disciplines

What is a learning organization?

Learning organization is a term which is in discussion for many years. As the term comes it is used to identify that being a such organization is better. But still it is arguable that how an organization become a learning organization.

According to Senge, (1990) learning organization is an organization that encourages and facilitates learning in order to continuously transform itself to survive and excel in a rapidly changing business environment. He introduced five disciplines to follow to in order to become a learning organization. Further, he emphasized that the characteristics of a learning organization will help managers and employees to meet the challenges by providing them tools to pursue a creative vision, learn and work together effectively, and adapt to change.

Huber, (1991) believed that knowledge acquisition, information distribution, information interpretation and organizational memory are the four constructs which integrally linked to the organizational learning. Further he clarifies that learning need not to be conscious or intentional.   

McGill et al, (1992) defined the learning organization as a company that can respond to new information by altering the very 'programming' by which information is processed and evaluated.

Senge's five disciplines of learning organizations

Researches of Senge, (1990) shows that one-third of 500 companies will disappear within 15 years and the average life time for the biggest companies is approximately 40 years. Moreover, he stressed the importance of becoming an learning organization rather than running the business as a traditional organization and it will direct the organization to the success where the people continually expand their working capacity through expansive patterns of thinking. It includes five main disciplines. 

1. Building a shared vision

This is where the vision of the organization should be created through interaction of the the employees. This is possible when the organization's vision and the individuals' visions are compromised. The employees will begin to complete the tasks because they want to instead of they are told to do so. This will positively effect on the employees relationship with the company and it turns its performance in a learning mechanism. 

      2. Systems thinking

This is a framework for seeing the patterns and the interrelationships of an organization. In other words, this is about the observational process of the entire system of an organization and this allows the managers to understand that every action and the consequence is correlated with another. Rather than focusing on the individual issues, this process enables to see the world as a whole as it grows more and more complex. 

       3. Mental models

This is where the employees must identify the values of the companies and what the business is all about. A correct understanding of this will enable the organization to visualize where to direct and how to develop further. The organizations must be flexible enough to accept the new mental model changes. Those companies which can learn and adapt to new mental models will get more success than the competitors.

       

       4. Team learning

This is the discipline where personal mastery and shared vision are brought together. This teaches the workforce to consider its colleagues as team members instead of rivals. Accordingly this will enable the employees to express their real personality. Further, this is where the working environment should be safe where honest mistakes are forgiven. 

       5. Personal mastery

This occurs when an individual has a clear vision of goal, combined with an accurate perception of reality. The space between the reality and the vision will make the employee to work towards the required activities to realize the vision. Sometimes, the employees might think that they lack the competencies to achieve their goals. Senge's studies shown that how to train the subconscious mind as it can handle more complex problems than the consciousness can. When people believe in their own powerlessness, it will hold them back from realizing their vision. For this reason, we should train the subconscious mind to tackle the stress and problems in reality. 

Applying the five disciplines 

Since all these five disciplines are interlinked, the utilization of these will be challenging to an organization. However, organizations will gain competitive advantages even if they focus more narrowly on one or few disciplines. 

Talking further, if an organization begins to build a Shared vision with its team, its more important to have a conversation with its team members where the Team learning should be implemented. If an organization starts to work on system thinking to identify the common problems, its employees are required to understand the mental models. 

It is not required to an organization to focus on all disciplines at same time, and even it doesn't matter where to start as all five disciplines are inter-linked. 

Reference

Huber, G. P. (1991). Organizational learning: The contributing processes and the literature. Organization science

McGill, M. E., Slocum Jr, J. W. and Lei, D. (1992). Management practices in learning organizations. Organizational dynamics

Senge, P. M. (2014). The fifth discipline fieldbook: Strategies and tools for building a learning organization. Crown Business.

Yadav, S. and Agarwal, V. (2016). Benefits and barriers of learning organization and its five discipline. Journal of Business and Management, 18(12), 18–24. https://doi.org/10.9790/487X-1812011824

Zeeman, A. (2019). Senge’s Five Disciplines of Learning Organizations | ToolsHero. ToolsHero. Retrieved from https://www.toolshero.com/management/five-disciplines-learning-organizations/