One of the learning disabilities demonstrated by Peter Senge is that of The parable of the boiling frog. In this parable, Peter Senge gives the story of a boiling frog. He explains that when a frog is placed in a pot of boiling water, it will try to come out immediately. This is because there is sudden change of temperature. When the frog is placed in a pot of cool water, it will feel comfortable and will not try to move out. If there is a power source inserted at the bottom of the pot gradually, the frog will not realize the change of temperature. The frog will not realize that the water has boiled and will be boiled inside the pot. The same case is seen with most organizations. Most organizations which have good margins have no hurry to change. They end up being overtaken by change and overtaken by events.
I have an experience with an organization I worked with for five years. There was competition from a similar organization which was undertaking similar products. The organization gradually increased the market share as my organization kept on losing. The loss was gradual and my organization did not realize nor take the necessary corrective measures to reclaim the market. By the time I was leaving the organization, the organization was almost losing grip of the market.
Another learning disability by Senge is that I am my position. In this regard, Peter Senge argues that many people look at the position they hold and value it more than what they are supposed to bring to the organization. I have had an issue with this learning disability when I was promoted to be project in charge in a certain task that I was undertaking. The issue with this is that I valued the position so much that I forgot to set objectives to be achieved. The project did not achieve what was supposed to be achieved on time because I did not have the objectives defined. I valued the position I had more than what I was required to undertake.
The other learning disability that is experienced in most organizations is that of The enemy is out there. In this learning disability, we often blame on others for the mistakes we make. It is related to the I am my position learning disability. In this learning disability, I have had experiences with it where the place where I worked for blamed some departments for the wrongs and the mistakes that we made ourselves. In the place I worked there was a decline in profitability. The marketing department blamed it on the sales department while the sales department blamed it on the marketing department. The CEO of the company also blamed both the sales and marketing department. The issue is that the blame game is not the solution. The CEO had his share of the decline because he did not steer and set objectives for the organization. The blame game should not come up when there is a problem that is experienced in an organization. There is a need to ensure that each and everyone do their role in an organization.
Another learning disability in an organization is that of The delusion of learning from experience. I this regard, the actions we do will be realized in the distant future. There is no powerful to learn from experience than learning from direct experience. Most actions we undertake bear results in the distant future. It is not right to do things and assume that we will learn from the experience. It is important to do things right the first time and strive to get the right things done and learn from direct experience.
In the I am my position, Senge argues that people in their positions should not look at the positions they hold but should look at responsibilities that come with these positions. This will help them to do their part and have positive results. In my case, the possibility is that I should have taken the responsibility as a project in charge. This would have helped the organization achieve their target on time. It is a possibility to achieve the set target and have the whole organization to achieve their goals. As a project manager, I should have set objectives to be achieved in the long run.
In the third learning disability of The enemy is out there, the organization CEO should have taken charge and make things happen in the organization. This would have avoided the various challenges that the organization was facing. One impossibility here is that the sales decline could have been due to an external factor like economic recession. It is hard to influence external factors.
In the fourth learning disability of The delusion of learning from experience, Senge argues that learning should be immediate. The experience should be immediate and not take time to learn the facts and experience. In this situation, my organization could have learnt from immediate lessons that have immediate learning facts and lessons.
References
Senge, P. (1999). The fifth discipline. Random House Audio.
Senge, P. (2010). The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization. New York: Crown Publishing Group.
