Fifth Discipline

Book Review
Senge Peter M. The Fifth Discipline. The Art & Practice of Learning Organization. Currency Doubleday. 2006.
P.S.- senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the founder of Society for Original Learning (SoL). He is widely known as one of the most innovative thinkers about management and leadership in the world.
Comment. Henry.
I would use the metaphor of a visit to an art gallery to describe the reading of this book. Appreciation was a delight, comprehension was a challenge. It was a delight to run into a retired executive from the pulp and paper industry on the golf course (yesterday) who was a practitioner of the learning organization that is being described in this book. My son, who is doing a course on this topic, put me on to this resource. The evolution of the learning organization is a global phenomenon.
“The organizations that will truly excel in the future will be the organizations that discover how to tap people’s commitment and capacity to learn at all levels in an organization” (4) (For me this statement summarizes what this book is all about.) There are five “new component technologies” (6) that characterize learning organizations: “Systems thinking, personal mastery, mental modes, building shared vision and team learning”. (6-9) Systems thinking integrates all the disciplines and is therefore labelled the “Fifth Discipline”.
Organizations have learning disabilities. This is illustrated by the “beer game” (27) involving problems that are encountered between retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers (brewery). There are “eleven laws of the fifth discipline”. (57) Systems thinking is “a shift of mind from seeing parts to seeing the whole, from seeing people as helpless reactors to seeing them as active participants in shaping their reality”. (69) “The essence of the discipline of systems thinking lies in a shift of mind: seeing interrelationships rather than linear cause-effect chains and processes of change rather than snapshots.” (73)
When the building-blocks of systems thinking are put to proper use a “systems archetype” (93) is developed. “Self-limiting or self-sustaining growth” (113) is part of the fifth discipline.
The discipline of personal mastery is examined as it relates to personal vision and structural conflict. Personal mastery must be an ongoing goal and must be committed to diligent truth telling.
Mental modes shape our perceptions of reality. They are formed through “openness and merit”. (173) “Reflective practice is the essence of the discipline of mental modes”. (177)
“A shared vision (fourth discipline) is- a force in people’s hearts, a force of impressive power.” (192) Shared visions are built on personal visions. They are not built from the top down. There are some hazards that hinder shared visions. “Systems thinking reveals how we have created what we currently have” (214) re: shared vision.
Organizational learning is built on team learning. Dialogue and discussion are fundamental to team learning. David Bohm is a significant contributor when it comes to explaining how team learning functions. “In great teams conflict becomes productive. Defensive routines” (232) must be dealt with to make conflict productive. “Practice” (240) must be an activity of team learning.
Since learning organizations are built on relationships they must be viewed as “living systems”. (271) “Practices, skills and capabilities, awareness and sensibilities, beliefs and assumptions are elements of a deep learning cycle.” (284) Learning must include both action and reflection over an appropriate time frame.
Building organizational learning capabilities is all about leadership are various levels. “Organizations grounded in systems thinking and related disciplines can make a difference” (349) regarding the global energy system.
What about the future? Women and youth as pools of leadership will become more significant. Profound change will come to our planet through “opening the head, opening the heart, and opening the will” (372)

The Emerging Christian Way

Book Review.
Schwartzentruber Michael. (Editor). The Emerging Christian Way. CooperHouse. 2006.
Comment. Henry.
The editor has assembled fourteen essays by authors of his choice that address for him “The emerging Christian way”. These authors are all associated with mainline churches, i.e. mostly United Church and several Anglican Church. It is their view of ‘emerging’, and some of the distinctives of those church views are a strong thread in their presentations. The ‘evangelical’ authors on this topic are not represented. Since there are so many authors my review will be limited to the titles, authors and brief comments on their point of view.
Marcus Borg. An Emerging Christian View. This essay is a condensed version of his book, The Heart of Christianity, sees book review on this one. Other authors make frequent references to this author.
Tim Scorer. Experience: The Heart of Transformation. Tim is a United Church pastor in Penticton. He was a member of the management team at the Naramata Centre, a retreat and education centre of the United Church of Canada.
Tom Harper. New Creeds. Tom is an Anglican priest who is best known as a Canadian author of topics of religion and contemporary spirituality.
Berry Thomas. The Great Work. Berry entered the monastery in 1934. From 1970-1995 he was the director of Riverdale Centre of Religious Research. The present ‘Great Work’ is to somehow reverse the destruction of the earth’s biosystems, to stop humans from being a “disruptive force on planet earth”. (75)
Sallie McFague. How Should Christians Love Nature. Sallie is a ‘feminist’ (her label) theologian in residence at Vancouver School of Theology. Nature should be viewed “with a loving eye- in terms of a subject knowing another subject especially on the analogy of friendship”. (91)
Matthew Fox. On Being a Postdenominational Priest in a Postdenominational Era. Matthew’s ‘thing’ is “Creation Spirituality”.
Bruce Sanguin. Being Christian in a World of Many Faiths. Bruce is a United Church minister in Vancouver. Bruce presents a “homage based ecumenicalism”. (139) The key to being Christian is being inclusive not in converting.
Anne Squire. Radical Inclusion. ‘Radical inclusion’ describes how Anne interprets Jesus’ teaching on the Kingdom of God.
Bill Phipps. Social Justice and a Spirituality of Transformation. B.P.-United Church activist. Without social justice there can be no spiritual transformation.
Mark Maclean. Worship: Pilgrims in the Faith. M.M.- National worship program coordinator for United Church of Canada.
Bruce Harding. To Sing or Not To Sing. Bruce is a musician/composer who has a concern about a trend that causes less and less actual involvement of congregational singing because of the overpowering amplification of worship teams and their band accompaniment. (I resonate with this evaluation.)
Susan Burt. Christian Education and the Imaginative Spirit. S.B.- Co-ordinating editor of an ecumenical publication in S. Australia. Her focus of Christian Education is within the activities of the church setting.
Donald Grayston. Pastoral Care for the 21st Century. D.G. - is an Anglican theologian and spiritual director. Spiritual direction needs to happen in an age appropriate schedule, i.e. child, adolescent, young adult, etc.
Nancy Reeves. Spiritual Discernment. N.R. - clinical psychologist, psychotherapist, author and poet. “Spiritual discernment is undertaken not just to make good decisions, but to develop a richer relationship with God.” (236)
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