Handbook of Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management, Second Edition

Introduction

An organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.

Jack Welch

Peter Senge’s 1990 book The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization presented a compelling frame for a collection of ideas and gave structure to a ‘new’ TLO concept. Senge explained that people need to conceive of the world as systems on which humans have imposed structures that both serve purposes and impose constraints. Senge explained TLO as a process of understanding and continually working to master five important disciplines. Each discipline has at its core a critical truth about a learning organization and adds to the total meaning of TLO. Senge’s rich book was highly successful and attracted enthusiasts. Yet now, twenty years later, many commentators are dismissing TLO as a fad. This chapter evaluates Senge’s TLO story and uses it to consider the contribution of fads and fashions to knowledge creation.

TLO is more than just a set of ideas promoted by a specific individual. Although TLO gained much impetus from its active champion, its emergence followed a latency period. Senge did not invent his concept of TLO out of nothing. He pulled together ideas that had originated separately in various places over several decades. Even the specific term ‘the learning organization’ had appeared in print earlier (Garratt, 1987; Korten, 1980). The success of Senge’s book was partly a result of its timing. Senge ...