Peter Senge's The Fifth Discipline

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Recommended: Theory of systems thinking

Peter Senge’s book The Fifth Discipline is truly the authority on “systems thinking.” This is a leadership framework used by organizations to improve learning within their system. Senge further develops a strategy on how we can renew our minds to see the dynamic complexity within any given system. Senge defines an element of dynamic complexity within system thinking as “seeing wholes.” (p. 68). He describes that we can develop a framework to seeing interrelationships rather than just “snapshot.” (p. 68). This is why Senge stresses that we renew our thinking on how we perceive the world: “Perhaps for the first time in history, humankind has the capacity to create far more information than anyone can absorb, to foster far greater interdependency than anyone can manage, and to accelerate change far faster than anyone’s ability to keep pace… organizations break down, despite individual brilliance and innovative products, because they are unable to pull their diverse functions and talents into a productive whole.” (p. 69). As Senge mentions, this is the first time in history that humans a...

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