The Fifth Discipline, Peter M Senge

Random House - £18.99

ISBN: 1-9052-1120-1


Blueprint for a learning organisation

Imagine a business where the employees create the results they desire and where everyone is continually learning. Peter Senge’s book aims to help business produce effective organisations with a competitive edge and an appreciation of what he calls the fifth discipline.

He brings together current management theory, psychology and spiritual values (don’t be put off!) to create a dramatic experience for the reader. His premise that the only sustainable advantage a business can have is its ability to learn is well argued and already claims to have had a profound effect on many businesses. This second edition includes many examples of the organisations already benefiting from Fifth Discipline practices.

This is a big book (over 400 pages) and sometimes a difficult one. But the messages it contains are worth the effort. And there are lighter moments. Even when delivering a serious message about learning, Mr Senge uses the ‘beer game’, a strategy game that everyone gets wrong, to illustrate his point. He has amusing examples of self-delusion, such as the Detroit motor magnates conclusion that the Japanese were showing visitors around fake factories in the 1970s to keep them from finding their ‘secrets’.

He covers weighty topics such as personal mastery and mental models with a commendable clarity and he is not afraid to talk about ‘difficult’ topics such as spiritual considerations and even the Gaia theory.

Worth reading but be prepared to rethink your current startegies.