The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization

by Peter M. Senge

Senge's best-selling The Fifth Discipline led Business Week to dub him the "new guru" of the corporate world; here he offers executives a step-by-step guide to building "learning organizations" of their own.

Genres: Business, Leadership, Management, Nonfiction, Professional Development, Organizational Development, Entrepreneurship

593 pages, Paperback

First published June 20, 1994

About the author

Peter M. Senge is a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also founding chair of the Society for Organizational Learning (SoL), a global community of corporations, researchers, and consultants dedicated to the "interdependent development of people and their institutions."
--from the author's website

Reviews

[Morgan Blackledge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it.

Great application of the theories and principles discussed in the primary text.

I actually liked it better than the Fifth Discipline.

It’s a real value add.

Good stuff.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read for a class.

I read this as a required textbook for doctoral study. I did not read the entire book, I only read sections that were assigned. It was pretty easy to read, I liked the formatting and the side bars throughout. Definitely has good information in it for those in leadership positions or looking to move into leadership. A lot of the examples revolve around business, so I had some difficulty connecting it to my profession (education) but it still had valuable information.

[Barry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another book recommended from an Organisation Design and Development course I have recently completed and is a companion volume to Peter Senge The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization. The book is firmly aimed at practitioners, and is for people who want to apply the learning from 'The Fifth Discipline' in their own organisation.

In some respects I prefer this book to 'The Fifth Discipline'. If 'The Fifth Discipline' presented five disciplines to master for an organisation to be considered a learning one, this book gives the reader plenty of ideas to implement them. In over 600 pages, each discipline has some essays around guiding ideas, some theory, method and tools and also some case studies or innovative practices showing how to utilise the disciplines.

As far as the structure goes there is an awful lot to get through, but most of the 95 chapters can be read relatively quickly. This is a book which I would much rather have in print rather than digital as it feels like something that needs to be flicked through or quickly referred to and I know I prefer print media for that. It is very much intended to sit on a home or office shelf and to be used.

The Systems Thinking section is my favourite and there is a very fine refresher on Systems Dynamics (albeit a relatively simplified approach) which on it's own provides an awful lot of value. I also appreciated the critique of Senge's System Dynamics approach (I prefer this approach which factors in positive and negative causal loops). The sections are aimed at the beginner and I think the book is better for that as it encourages people having a go. I do find in Senge's work that for him Systems Dynamics is Systems Thinking and he doesn't explore other approaches which limits the book somewhat. I do think the book is very much a product of it's time in that a lot of the Systems improvements are rooted in Total Quality Management methodologies and Lean thinking. Some of these methodologies are definitely out of fashion now, but there is still much learning in here.

I loved the concept of 'Personal Mastery' being the creative tension, like a rubber band between our present reality and our desired reality. It resonated quite strongly with some of the work I am doing at the moment around human resilience and growth. There was an example in here though that made me wince. It was meant to sound positive but example was of a gay man coming out to his colleagues and it was described as a 'stretch' (okay) but also 'controversial' (not okay) and with a 'well if people don't like it, you know and you can get another job' (not okay). I know it was 1994 but that didn't sit so well.

My favourite part of the 'Mental Models' section was an exploration of scenario planning and I really think teams and organisations don't do enough of this. We assume the world will continue in the way we have imagined it. Technological and political disruptors are everywhere and a really powerful question when working with assumptions about the world, is, 'what if this happens instead?' I think I notice an awful lot of misplaced surety in organisations and actually testing our assumptions and mental models is really important.

The 'Shared Vision' section felt a little dated in the sense that most organisations have got on a version of this train, but there was some good nuance in how to generate a shared vision and the approach is determined by the external factors. That said, the book basically says, if you don't involve people in crafting a vision, don't be surprised when they don't buy into it. I did feel a little sad reading one author suggest that in the near future top down hierarchy and centralised decision making will be obsolete. It feels like I have been reading this in business literature for forty years and in anarchist literature for centuries. It's like each generation discovers the hierarchy doesn't work. What I also note is that in business literature they rarely mention that the hierarchy has wealth attached to power and therefore the people who can change the system won't because their financial wealth is attached to presiding over a broken system.

I thought the 'Team Learning' section would be of most interest to me, but sadly it felt a slog to get through. Most of this section explored Dialogue theories and whilst interesting enough it felt a little dry and overwritten. There are better approaches and theory today around team dynamics and communication and collaboration. I also particularly liked the introduction of the concept of 'structural dynamics' and how the structure of organisations drive relationships. I think I would like to read more here because it ties in with a lot of my thinking around systems 2 and 3 in the Viable System Model and how information flows. I think a lot is said about how 'leadership influences culture' and how silos and hierarchy influence decision making and hierarchy but I am glad the specific structure is called out. It's something I bumped into today.

There are a couple more sections in the book which are added at the end which don't have a natural place but fit the theme of the book. I really liked the 'letter to policymakers' which essentially is a letter to complex systems and that rather than trying to control the world through policy we should accept we will make mistakes, should expect errors and there will always be unknowns. Much of this book is about using computer models to understand the world and really what this section is saying is, 'yes you should model the world, but you will get it wrong and that's okay because you can try again'.

I also found a later piece about community development really positive and the idea of an organisation as a community, rather than a family or a machine. A community is diverse. It can be mutually supportive. It can have an identity, but not a singular identity. It can have a reason to be, but it can be volunteered to and left. There is a piece that touches on the thinking in what would become asset based community development.

Bearing in mind this was 1994 there was quite a chunky section about using software to build 'systems dynamics modellers' and 'management simulators'. It's kind of cute that the thinking behind these simulators would be nowhere near as close in complexity to strategy and simulation games today. That said, I did smile about the need to 'know your subject matter before you build the product'. It's still a problem in 2025 of people implementing tech without knowing the problem they want to solve!

Finally there are a lot of recommendations of further books in here. I suspect most will be out of print and most will seem quite dated now. However, I love the enthusiasm of writing a piece and saying, 'we were really influenced by these writers and you should check this out'. It's a recognition of ideas and where the thinking has come from.

Overall, despite being dry in places and dated, I can see why this is still on reading lists thirty years after publication.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

The companion to The Fifth Discipline - the parent book lays out the principles and provides some examples, and this work goes further in helping readers put the concepts to practical use. Highly recommended for anyone who is working to improve the functioning of any human system.

[Antony Mayfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended by our leadership consultant, this is a classic text and full of useful case studies and models. Quite specialised and technical in parts, but if you are interested in the idea of being a learning organisation, it is a good place to start.

[Rankedhi Ops · Rating 4 out of 5]

These 5 key disciplines keep coming up in others books about how to manage successfully. This is the step by step with check points version

[Angela Lam · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 2.5*? I liked The Fifth Discipline, even though it was hard to read. I was excited to read this book, thinking I would get tons of great application tips. But it was meh.

It has the same academic writing style. PLUS the entire book was like a messy notebook. Contributions and ideas strewn everywhere…just hard to read, hard to follow, and hard to understand. Perhaps I was reading an pdf ebook that might not have been well-formatted. But I was really looking forward to useful tips and insights and instead found a bunch of messy content. Given the book was almost 700 pages, there WAS useful content inside. But extracting them was a pain. I think I would have preferred this as a 100-page book giving an overview of learning organizations, then pick up my insights on each of the 5 disciplines separately from other books. I mean, each of teh disciplines (e.g. systems thinking or personal mastery), is a complex topic all on its own and warrants its own book. The book touches on all the topics, with some strategies and exercises here and there. But it felt like trying to do too much at one go and ended up being a big, confusing lump of loose information. Add in the terrible academic writing and I was ready to finish the book last month already.

Usually when I read books like these, I'm busy making notes of how I'd want to apply them. Nothing at all from this monster of a book. So, the ROI on time and effort to plough through this book was super low.

Book summary at: https://readingraphics.com/book-summa...

[Robert Bogue]

Sometimes it takes a long time to get to something – like The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook. I remember reading The Fifth Discipline decades ago and wondering slowly how to apply what it was talking about. The learning organization is an interesting concept, but what does that mean and how does one do it? My oldest draft blog post is about explaining how to build a learning organization. It’s still in draft, because I’m still not sure I know how to provide clear guidance on what it is or how to convert your organization into it.

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[Justin Blount · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a modular book made up of dozens of essays written by various authors - one can jump into any chapter and be more or less comfortable with the material. I found most interest in the systems thinking and personal mastery chapters. Half of the essays are involved with the complexities of team dynamics in organizations. A few sections about computer programs are outdated (published in ‘94) but the explanations of the computer models are still relevant and easily can be applied to modern applications.

[Suzanne Crane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started this book years ago then forgot all about it. Glad I picked it up again to finish. So many golden nuggets. As a new VP in the Learning Organization at my company, it feels serendipitous this is all about building an organization that learns. Many of the tips I’ve already been using on instinct but there is a clarity herein I found extremely useful as I seek to tighten the aperture on excellence in my team. A Goodread indeed!

[Scott Wozniak · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an articulate discussion on the ideas of the Fifth Discipline by consultants who have been using it with clients. It doesn't have new concepts, but it has diagrams, discussion exercises and stories of how companies have implemented the various systems.

[DAVID EDWARDS · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Fifth Discipline introduced us to the five disciplines. In response to feedback this book was an attempt to show how one might apply those principles. A great effort, only exceeded by the next book, "The Dance of Change".

[Mohamed Yehia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a complementary book to "The Fifth Discipline". The aim of the book was to provide toools to the first book, but I found it a bit weak & not that practical.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my "go to" books when it comes to organisation performance and improvement. Although the book has been around for a long time, the lessons remain as valid today as ever.

[Roberto Caminos · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an extraordinary book that outlines the benefits of transforming your organization into a learning organization.

[Robert Higham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Far nore consumable than the actual fifth discipline book. Thoroughly enjoyed the examples and real life stories from the various authors.

[Manoj]

Highly recommended for leaders and change makers in organization

[Mark Simmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful examples.

[Sam Bush · Rating 1 out of 5]

Super boring

[Shannon Coughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Became a point of reference in the office some years back when we were going through massive changes.

[Sunny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book which gives some excellent insights about how to build a successfully organisation by building a learning organisation. one of the key tools that i took away from the book was the theory (not new by any means) around systems thinking. the ability to view an action in its holistic sense with an awareness of the interdependencies that act has with others and what the ramifications are. it gives you some very practical insights into improving your consulting skills but i guess some of the tools shown can be equally well applied in real life to relationships as well. Senge calls systems thiking the 5th discipline which intergrates these 4:
1."Personal mastery is a discipline of continually clarifying and deepening our personal vision, of focusing our energies, of developing patience, and of seeing reality objectively."
2."Mental models are deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even pictures of images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action."
3."Building shared vision a practice of unearthing shared pictures of the future that foster genuine commitment and enrollment rather than compliance."
4."Team learning starts with dialogue, the capacity of members of a team to suspend assumptions and enter into genuine thinking together."

[Bob Wallner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember when I got out of my undergraduate studies in the early 1990s the buzzword “Learning Organization” was all in fashion. At the time there were a lot of discussions around making our organization a learning organization to compete with the Japanese.

We didn't have a good understanding of what was happening with the Japanese invasion, so we played whack-a-mole trying different things to see what worked. Within a couple of years “Learning Organization” was not talked about much other than by a few, die-hard zealots.

This book tries, at times not too successfully, to separate the practice from the theory of building a Learning Organization.

The audiobook brings you back to the days of “books on cassette.” The chapters are long and seem to cut off in weird places. Although the book is written to create a Learning Organization, I think that it can be equally valid as a book for a Learning Individual. The various disciplines are useful for an organization of 10,000 or an organization of 1.

[Alabama Best Practices Center · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though this book is rather dated, I refer to it frequently. Peter Senge is the father of learning communities and this book contains a wealth of information about how effective learning organizations function. From the Ladder of Inferences, to dealing effectively with conflict and change, this book is a treasure.

[Jeffrey Jablonski · Rating 1 out of 5]

Most of the themes discussed are not his own. He does write it so that it can more easily be read by a larger audience. In general found it to be the Dr Phil version of management 101. Lots of generalities without much real substance. Heard a lot of good things about it prior to reading it, but can't say I agree with them.

[Zhi Han]

One of the good things about the books written by academic people is that they focus on the principle and simplify the discussion. This book is very well written for organizations. However it also appears to be on the abstract side, maybe it can be improved a little bit by adding more concrete case studies.

[Samir Dhond · Rating 4 out of 5]

I storngly recommend this book to all HR and OD prationers. Such a useful book. Talks about tools and techniques that we can use while working on developing and building organizations. I particularly liked the "Lefthand Column Exercise.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

My copy is highlighted, dog-eared and post-it noted. Used it as a text and some of my former students have told me they still use it as a reference also. Probably the most useful book on management I've ever read.

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for my change management class. It it s a good reference book. It is not a book that you would voluntarily sit down and just read; but it is one of those books that is full of good information and deserves shelf space on any managers personal reference library.

[Vincent Musolino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of interesting content, including exercises and templates; the Kindle edition makes it difficult to understand the structure of the book. I would actually recommend this book over the original simply because it contains many more practical aspects to the 5 disciplines.

[Christine Galvin-Combet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Methods on cultivating and sustaining a "learning" organization. In my opinion, it's more of a resource that you absorb over time rather than in a short period.