Senge Fifth Discipline - Learning Organization
Peter Senge's framework for building learning organizations as published in 'The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization' (1990, revised 2006). The core premise is that an organization's competitive advantage comes from its capacity to learn faster than competitors. Introduces five interrelated disciplines and eleven laws of systems thinking.
Senge Fifth Discipline - Learning Organization is a compliance framework from International with 9 domains and 49 controls that map to 6 other frameworks. The largest domains are Learning Organisation Practices (20 controls), Laws of the Fifth Discipline (11 controls), Systems Archetypes (8 controls). Every control below carries what it requires and what an assessor expects to see.
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Framework Domains (9)
Laws of the Fifth Discipline
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| SENGE-L01 | Today's problems come from yesterday's solutions |
| SENGE-L02 | The harder you push, the harder the system pushes back |
| SENGE-L03 | Behavior grows better before it grows worse |
| SENGE-L04 | The easy way out usually leads back in |
| SENGE-L05 | The cure can be worse than the disease |
| SENGE-L06 | Faster is slower - systems have an optimal rate of growth |
| SENGE-L07 | Cause and effect are not closely related in time and space |
| SENGE-L08 | Small changes can produce big results but leverage areas are not obvious |
| SENGE-L09 | You can have your cake and eat it too - but not at once |
| SENGE-L10 | Dividing an elephant in half does not produce two small elephants |
| SENGE-L11 | There is no blame - systems thinking shows no outside |
Learning Organisation Practices
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| SENGE-1.1 | Personal Mastery Commitment |
| SENGE-1.2 | Creative Tension Management |
| SENGE-10.1 | Leader as Designer Steward Teacher |
| SENGE-11.1 | Integrating the Five Disciplines |
| SENGE-12.1 | Measurement of Learning Organisation Maturity |
| SENGE-13.1 | Localness and Distributed Authority |
| SENGE-14.1 | Continuous Reflection Routines |
| SENGE-2.1 | Surfacing Mental Models |
| SENGE-2.2 | Balancing Inquiry and Advocacy |
| SENGE-3.1 | Building Shared Vision |
| SENGE-3.2 | Personal Visions Aligned to Shared Vision |
| SENGE-4.1 | Team Learning Practice |
| SENGE-4.2 | Dialogue and Skilful Discussion |
| SENGE-5.1 | Systems Thinking Integration |
| SENGE-5.2 | Identifying Systems Archetypes |
| SENGE-5.3 | Leverage Points and High Leverage Interventions |
| SENGE-6.1 | Laws of the Fifth Discipline Awareness |
| SENGE-7.1 | Eleven Laws Applied to Decisions |
| SENGE-8.1 | Organisational Learning Disabilities |
| SENGE-9.1 | Microworlds and Practice Fields |
Mental Models
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| SENGEFIVE-2 | Mental Models |
Personal Mastery
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| SENGEFIVE-1 | Personal Mastery |
Shared Vision
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| SENGEFIVE-3 | Shared Vision |
Systems Archetypes
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| SENGE-A01 | Fixes That Fail - quick fix works short-term but worsens the original problem over time |
| SENGE-A02 | Shifting the Burden - symptomatic solutions erode capacity for fundamental solutions |
| SENGE-A03 | Limits to Growth - reinforcing growth encounters balancing constraints |
| SENGE-A04 | Escalation - two parties in mutually reinforcing aggressive reactions |
| SENGE-A05 | Success to the Successful - competing activities where winner takes more resources |
| SENGE-A06 | Tragedy of the Commons - shared resource degraded by individual overuse |
| SENGE-A07 | Growth and Underinvestment - growth limited by failure to invest in capacity |
| SENGE-A08 | Eroding Goals - lowering standards rather than investing in achieving them |
Systems Thinking
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| SENGEFIVE-5 | Systems Thinking |
Team Learning
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| SENGEFIVE-4 | Team Learning |
The Five Disciplines
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| SENGE-MM | Mental Models - surfacing, testing, and improving internal pictures of how the world works |
| SENGE-PM | Personal Mastery - continually clarifying personal vision, focusing energies, developing patience |
| SENGE-ST | Systems Thinking - the fifth discipline, seeing interrelationships and patterns rather than events and parts |
| SENGE-SV | Building Shared Vision - unearthing shared pictures of the future fostering commitment not compliance |
| SENGE-TL | Team Learning - aligning team capacity through dialogue and skillful discussion |
Your Compliance Coverage
If you comply with Senge Fifth Discipline - Learning Organization, you already cover:
ISO 37000:2021
10%
5 controls mapped
Compare →VUCA Leadership Framework
8%
4 controls mapped
Compare →WHO Global Competency Model
8%
4 controls mapped
Compare →+ 3 more: Argyris Double-Loop Learning (8%), Hersey & Blanchard Situational Leadership Model (6%)
See all 6 mapped frameworks ↓Maps to 6 other frameworks
What is Senge Fifth Discipline - Learning Organization and who does it apply to?
Senge Fifth Discipline - Learning Organization is a compliance framework from International with 9 domains and 49 controls. Peter Senge's framework for building learning organizations as published in 'The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization' (1990, revised 2006). The core premise is that an organization's competitive advantage comes from its capacity to learn faster than competitors. Introduces five interrelated disciplines and eleven laws of systems thinking. It is used by organisations to establish and maintain compliance with industry standards and regulatory requirements.
What does Senge Fifth Discipline - Learning Organization actually require?
Senge Fifth Discipline - Learning Organization has 49 controls organised across 9 domains. The largest domains are Learning Organisation Practices (20 controls), Laws of the Fifth Discipline (11 controls), Systems Archetypes (8 controls). Each control defines specific requirements that organisations must implement to achieve compliance.
If I already comply with another framework, how much of Senge Fifth Discipline - Learning Organization do I already cover?
Senge Fifth Discipline - Learning Organization maps to 6 other compliance frameworks. The top mapping partners are ISO 37000:2021 (10% coverage), VUCA Leadership Framework (8% coverage), WHO Global Competency Model (8% coverage). Use our comparison tool to explore control-level mappings between frameworks.
How do I implement Senge Fifth Discipline - Learning Organization?
Start your Senge Fifth Discipline - Learning Organization compliance journey by running a self-assessment on our platform to identify your current compliance posture. Our AI advisory can answer specific questions about Senge Fifth Discipline - Learning Organization requirements, and cross-framework mapping helps you leverage existing controls from other frameworks you may already comply with. Create a free account to access all 49 controls and track your progress.
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