1.1 Review of Senge’s Learning Organization Model
Peter Senge’s model has been developed on the following five basic concepts:- Personal Mastery: this concept relates to individuals understanding of
themselves in the context of the environment they find themselves in. The concept
also encapsulates the role of individuals to work upon their weaknesses in order to
enhance their capabilities. - Mental Models: This relates to the network of concepts that exist in human mind
that plays an important role in learning. When an individual is confronted with a
new or an unfamiliar concept, the individual learns about it only if it fits within
the framework of concepts that already exists in the individual’s mind. According
to Senge (1999), effective learning can only take place when these existing mental
models are broken and a new network of concepts is articulated in the individual’s
mind. - Team building: This concept relates to the fact that a group of people can not
become a team unless each member is enabled and empowered to see him/her self
as an articulate part of the team. Team building is achieved when all members
understand how they themselves and others can affect diverse roles in a team. - Shared Vision: This concept implies that the organizational development vision
should not be developed by a single executive and kept secret. Instead, it should
be developed through a participative process and should be communicated to
everyone in the organization. - System Thinking: This concept highlights the importance of seeing the whole
system and its objectives where parts are seen within an integrated whole. This
means that the role or performance of the components must be judged on the basis
of their contribution to the whole rather than to individuality and in the
meanwhile find opportunities for their personal growth and development.