The Fifth Discipline

In The Fifth Discipline, Peter M. Senge explores how an organization’s capacity to learn can be enhanced by the practice of five disciplines. The first discipline is personal mastery; it is a personal commitment to lifelong learning. The second discipline is mental models, or preconceived notions of how the world works. Shared vision is the third discipline. If individuals at all levels in an organization share the same vision, then they can focus their excitement on attaining common goals of the organization. The fourth discipline is team learning. When the energy of a team is aligned, they work more effectively together. Systems thinking is The Fifth Discipline. It helps businesses identify patterns and effectuate change. It involves seeing the whole, not just the individual parts, and it emphasizes actively shaping the future rather than passively reacting to the present.