Copyright: 1990, 2006
Publisher: Random House Inc.
ISBN: 0-385-51725-4

In The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization,  Peter Senge takes us through a fairly practical application of systems thinking to the business organization.  This is an important shift in thinking that more business leaders should understand but few seem to.  Working in an Agile Software development shop as I do, I daily see the value of using systems thinking to analyze both product requirements and the processes by which we fulfill them.  Peter Senge does a decent job of covering the material, although I wish the book had been 100 pages shorter (apparently the 1990 version was indeed shorter!) and I wish he hadn't spent as much time trying to somehow connect "global warming" with "systems thinking".  All in all though it was an excellent read. 

Premise

Beyond being a catchy title, the Fifth Discipline refers to systems thinking.  Oddly enough, in a book with the word "Fifth" in it... there is no real reference to the First, Second, Third or Fourth Disciplines. They are mentioned almost in passing.  Unless I completely missed the whole point of Part III of the book, I believe the other four disciplines are:

  1. Personal Mastery
  2. Mental models
  3. Shared vision
  4. Team learning

The idea is that by using the fifth discipline, systems thinking, in conjunction with the other four disciplines, you will build a truly effective organization.  Unfortunately this point is lost in the academia of proving his point.  I suppose that's what makes authors look "smart" though so I will forgive Senge for tacking a title on his book.

Be Proactive

There are different levels of complexity in systems:

  • System Structure complexity - Generative in nature
  • Patterns of behavior - Responsive in nature
  • Events - Reactive in nature

These explanations of complexity, and how they are used to develop solutions, are important when analyzing a system.  If observed events seem complex and that is all you see, your solutions will generally be reactive.  Likewise if you take a step back from events and see the patterns behind them, you will develop a responsive solution.  Only when you can truly see the systemic nature of complexity will you be able to generate a solution proactively. 

Thus, true proactiveness comes from seeing how we contribute to our own problems.

Laws of the Fifth Discipline
  1. Today's problems come from yesterday's solutions
  2. The harder you push, the harder the system pushes back
  3. Behavior grows better before it grows worse
  4. The easy way out usually leads back in
  5. The cure can be worse than the disease
  6. Faster is slower
  7. Cause and effect are not closely related in time and space
  8. Small changes can product big results... but the areas of highest leverage are often the least obvious
  9. You can have your cake and eat it too... just not at the same time
  10. Dividing an elephant in half doesn't produce two small elephants
  11. There is no blame
Observations
  • In systems thinking, the actor is part of the system, not just an observer.
  • Solving the problem is not enough; you must solve the thinking that caused the problem.
  • Don't push for growth; remove obstacles to growth.
  • "A Covenant Relationship rests on a shared committment to ideas, to issues, to values, to goals, and to management processes."
  • It is not what the vision is, it is what the vision does.
  • "Reflective Practitioners" are those who think about what they are doing while they are doing it.
  • "Knowledge is what we know how to do."  Collaboration is the key to knowledge management.
  • "There is no defense against an excellence that meets a pressing public need."  - John H. Johnson, Publisher Ebony
Dialogue and Discussion

In dialogue, ideas flow freely;  In discussion, someone seeks to win.

Some ground rules for dialogue are:

  1. Suspend assumptions
  2. Act as colleagues not adversaries
  3. Engage a spirit of inquiry
Conclusion

I felt the first half of this book contained a number of gems of insight.  As the book drug on though, I felt that Senge was more interested in making me think he was smart than he was in helping me solve any particular problems.  As with a lot of business oriented books, if the publishers would just chop off the last 1/3 of the book after the author has made his or her point, it would have been a better book.  All in all though, I think it's a worthy read for anyone who wants to develop a better team.