The fifth discipline

"Considered by the Financial Times one of the five greatest business books of all time, this book presents essential techniques for a successful business organization. At a time when decisions were centralized in managers and planning was done in the short term, Senge broke the taboo on teamwork and disseminated new thinking patterns in the corporate world. First published in 1990, the author wrote six new chapters based on practical examples of how his arguments were implemented. Companies such as Unilever and the World Bank used "learning organization" strategies to eliminate communication and learning deficiencies that limited future growth. The fifth discipline defined the new role of leaders in a decentralized work structure. The book presents learning programs based on five important "disciplines": personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team learning, and systems thinking. According to Senge, it is vital that all disciplines develop together. "Therefore, systems thinking is the fifth discipline, the one that integrates the others, fusing them into a coherent body of theory and practice. By expanding each of the disciplines, systems thinking continually reminds us that the sum of the parts can exceed the whole," states the author.