Learning Disciplines of Learning Organizations

The third chapter of the book Managing Learning Enterprises entitled “Learning Disciplines of Learning Organizations” from the first part entitled “Characteristics of a Learning Enterprise” deals with the individual level or individual behavior in learning organizations, based on the basic assumption that by changing individual behavior, the entire organization can be transformed into a learning organization. Individual behavior is analyzed primarily through the prism of the learning disciplines proposed by Senge (The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. Doubleday, 1990): personal mastery, team learning, mental models, systems thinking, and shared vision. It is shown how and why all learning disciplines are interrelated and interconnected, so that practicing one discipline provokes and stimulates the others. However, by practicing these disciplines, the individual acts in a creative, productive, and authentic way by changing his or her behavior and perceiving reality differently. In this way, the individual does not act on the basis of external forces, but is driven by intrinsic motivation, personal responsibility, and accountability to express their own purpose. Later in the chapter, the behavior of the individual is further explained by analyzing the laws of systems thinking proposed by Senge (The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization, Random House, 2006) and numerous examples from different areas of life are given to show how individuals fall into the trap of their own flawed behavior when it is not viewed from a system perspective.