The Fifth Discipline

Submitted by WorkCreatively on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 07:10

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Title	The Fifth Discipline
Publication Type	Book
Pub Year	1990
Authors	Senge, P. M.
Publisher	Doubleday Business
Keywords	blame, dialogue, group, groupthink, ideals, learning, play, relationships
Notes	blame"All too often, teams in business tend to spend their time fighting for turf, avoiding anything that will make them look bad personally, and pretending that everyone is behind the team's collective strategy--maintaining the appearance of a cohesive team. To keep up the image, they seek to squelch disagreement; people with serious reservations avoid stating them publicly, and joint decisions are watered-down compromises reflecting what everyone can live with, or else reflecting one person's view foisted on the group. If there is disagreement, it's usually expressed in a manner that lays blame, polarizes opinion, and fails to reveal the underlying differences in assumptions and experience in a way that the team as a whole could learn." relationships"To see people's development as a means toward the organization's ends subtly devalues the relationship that can exist between the individual and organization." (p. 134) dialogue"First, everyone involved must truly want the benefits of dialogue more than he wants to hold onto his privileges of rank. If one person is used to having his view prevail because he is the most senior person, then that privilege must be surrendered in dialogue. If one person is used to withholding his views because he is more junior, then that security of nondisclosure must also be surrendered. Fear and judgment must give way." (p. 228) groupthink"Until we have some theory of what happens when teams learn (as opposed to individuals in teams learning), we will be unable to distinguish group intelligence from 'groupthink,' when individuals succumb to group pressures for conformity." (p. 221) play"Dialogue is playful; it requires the willingness to play with new ideas, to examine them and test them. As soon as we become overly concerned with 'who said what,' or 'not saying something stupid,' the playfulness will evaporate." (p. 228) ideals"Scratch the surface of most cynics and you find a frustrated idealist--someone who made the mistake of converting ideals into expectations. For example, many of those cynical about personal mastery once held high ideals about people. Then they found themselves disappointed, hurt, and eventually embittered because people fell short of their ideals. O'Brien used to point out that burnout does not just come from working too hard. 'There are teachers, social workers, and clergy,' says O'Brien, 'who work incredibly hard until they are 80 years old and never suffer "burnout"--because they have an accurate view of human nature, of our potential and limitations. They don't over-romanticize people, so they don't feel the great psychological stress when people let them down.'" (p. 135)
URL	http://books.google.com/books?id=b0XHUvs_iBkC&pg=PA228

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