Senges Five Disciplines and Their Applications Research Paper

Senges Five Disciplines and Their Applications - Research Paper Example The Senger’s five disciplines are identified elements of a learning organization. It consists of â€Å"personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team learning, and systems thinking† (Bente, 2001, p. 2). The elements form a set that was developed to facilitate learning in an organization by developing knowledge of people’s environments and strategies for future adaptabilities. Personal mastery, as a discipline, refers to an individual’s knowledge potential. It includes a person’s ability to focus, personal potentials, and attributes towards environmental awareness. It, therefore, defines micro components of an organization that cannot separately initiate or sustain organizational change but is essential towards such changes as learning. The personal mastery, for example, helps an individual to identify the need for learning and promotes a learning spirit in an organization. The shared vision is another of the Senge’s disciplines that def ine a common perspective of members of a group or a team in an organization. Such a perspective is derived from individuals perspectives that are converged to a common plan for a future development (Bente, 2001). Team learning, however, defines a process of ensuring symmetry of potentials within a team towards desired achievements. It, therefore, involves an integration of personal mastery and the developed common vision in order to crown learning in an entire organization and identifies communication for sharing knowledge and potentials that are developed at personal levels. Mental models are another set of elements that are fundamental to a learning organization. The models consist of theories and postulates that influence learning at individual levels. Consequently, they develop frameworks upon which learning can take place. The last component of the Senge’s five disciplines is the systems thinking that observes an organization as a system of distinct parts that operate in terdependently for overall results. System thinking, therefore, relates the other four elements for an all-inclusive learning in an organization through development and implementation of changes towards future adaptability. The five disciplines, therefore, work together to identify learning opportunities at individual levels, development of a common vision among members of an organization and incorporation of such developments towards an organizational approach to learning (Bente, 2001). Senge’s five disciplines and characteristics of a learning organization A learning organization, according to Robert, is a framework that is based on â€Å"systems theory† (Robert, 2012, p. 2). This identifies the systems thinking the discipline of the Senge’s model as its fundamental concept. The property of system’s thinking that links other disciplines of the Senge’s model, therefore, identifies the significance of his approach as the basis of a learning organiz ation. Robert’s idea of qualities of a learning organization also illustrates the relevance of the five disciplines an organization. The first characteristic of a learning organization is availability means for knowledge development. This may happen at individual level such as an innovative environment or at an organizational level. While at an individual level, learning opportunities correspond to the personal mastery discipline.