Post #1 Employee empowerment has allowed organizations to have quicker response times to customers for resolutions, but my thoughts of this quick solution being beneficial shifted as I read Senge’s studies. “Today, many executives are articulating a new philosophy revolving around ‘empowering people.’ But few organizations are working hard to introduce tools and methods to actually help people to make more intelligent decisions, especially decisions that improve systemwide performance” (Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, & Smith, 1994, p. 40). It is important for organizations to consider the impact of the training systems, as well as how to evaluate their effectiveness. Without the proper ‘tools’ it is difficult for employees to make decisions that are best for both the business and the customer. This also makes it difficult for leaders to be confident in backing their employees decisions or in holding them accountable to the decisions made when effective learning systems were not developed prior to training. “Once we learn to distinguish our assumptions from the ‘data’ upon which those assumptions are based, we are forever more aware of our own thinking” (Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, & Smith, 1994, p. 43). “Motivation also appears to be an important correlate of leadership” (Vidic, Burton, South, Pickering, & Start, 2016). By utilizing the teachings of each section and putting them into practice within real life situations I can support my learning while also utilizing success stories of the implementation of my practices of the materials to share with the class for discussions. Many of the teachings discussed in this week’s material would work for the current organization I work for. Senge mentions situations where employees are placed into quick training courses that only last a few days, but later the training is not reinforced or further developed upon. Organizations will then give up on the current training practices as they believe them not to be effective. In the organization I work for there is always change. Changes in culture, leadership, and even training styles. There is an opportunity to evaluate the importance of each change prior to implementation and utilize different metrics to evaluate success which could include quantity, but most importantly quality of the results with the success of the organization. References Senge, P., Kleiner, A., Roberts, C., Ross, R., & Smith, B. (1994). The fifth discipline fieldbook: strategies and tools for building a learning organization. New York: Doubleday. Vidic, Z., Burton, D., South, G., Pickering, A. M., & Start, A. (2016). Emotional and Motivational Correlates of Leadership Styles: A Comprehensive Framework for Understanding Effective Leaders. Journal Of Leadership Studies, (3), 22. doi:10.1002/jls.21485 Post #2 I found it interesting how Kleiner, Roberts, Ross , Senge & Smith (1994) discussed team development as a learning organization. They note that team members “develop new skill.

1. Post #1
Employee empowerment has allowed organizations to have
quicker response times to customers for resolutions, but my
thoughts of this quick solution being beneficial shifted as I read
Senge’s studies. “Today, many executives are articulating a new
philosophy revolving around ‘empowering people.’ But few
organizations are working hard to introduce tools and methods
to actually help people to make more intelligent decisions,
especially decisions that improve systemwide performance”
(Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, & Smith, 1994, p. 40). It is
important for organizations to consider the impact of the
training systems, as well as how to evaluate their effectiveness.
Without the proper ‘tools’ it is difficult for employees to make
decisions that are best for both the business and the customer.
This also makes it difficult for leaders to be confident in
backing their employees decisions or in holding them
accountable to the decisions made when effective learning
systems were not developed prior to training. “Once we learn to
distinguish our assumptions from the ‘data’ upon which those
assumptions are based, we are forever more aware of our own
thinking” (Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, & Smith, 1994, p.
43).
“Motivation also appears to be an important correlate of
leadership” (Vidic, Burton, South, Pickering, & Start, 2016). By
utilizing the teachings of each section and putting them into
practice within real life situations I can support my learning
while also utilizing success stories of the implementation of my
practices of the materials to share with the class for discussions.
Many of the teachings discussed in this week’s material would
work for the current organization I work for. Senge mentions
situations where employees are placed into quick training
courses that only last a few days, but later the training is not
reinforced or further developed upon. Organizations will then
give up on the current training practices as they believe them

2. not to be effective. In the organization I work for there is
always change. Changes in culture, leadership, and even
training styles. There is an opportunity to evaluate the
importance of each change prior to implementation and utilize
different metrics to evaluate success which could include
quantity, but most importantly quality of the results with the
success of the organization.
References
Senge, P., Kleiner, A., Roberts, C., Ross, R., & Smith, B.
(1994). The fifth discipline fieldbook: strategies and tools for
building a learning organization. New York: Doubleday.
Vidic, Z., Burton, D., South, G., Pickering, A. M., & Start, A.
(2016). Emotional and Motivational Correlates of Leadership
Styles: A Comprehensive Framework for Understanding
Effective Leaders. Journal Of Leadership Studies, (3), 22.
doi:10.1002/jls.21485
Post #2
I found it interesting how Kleiner, Roberts, Ross , Senge &
Smith (1994) discussed team development as a learning
organization. They note that team members “develop new skills
and capabilities” (p. 18) through the learning cycle of team
development. As team members move through the cycles and
change both individually and collectively as a team. Having
been a member (in different capacities) of many teams
throughout my career, I agree that teams grow or change as they
progress through a work process. Kleiner et al (1994) note that
the learning cycle includes: (a) development of new skills and
abilities, (b) new awareness and sensibilities, and (c) new
attitudes and beliefs. This can be applied to different sized
groups (including individuals) and over different time spans.
For instance, I’ve been part of the Air Force team for over 20
years, and I am very aware of how the learning cycle presented
in the text has applied just to me. As I moved through my
career, I continuously developed (and continue to develop) new
skills. These capabilities shifted my awareness which ked to

3. attitude and belief changes. I know that I certainly look at
situations differently now than I did as a 19 year-old.
Furthermore, Senge (2006) notes that team members each bring
to the team their own mental models regarding a system.
According to Bolman and Deal (2013), mental models are
internally-conceived images that we project onto the external
world (Bolman & Deal, 2013). Humans utilize experiences to
construct internal images of how the world should look or be.
We tend to project that image during an applicable situation.
This distorts our perception of reality as we mentally constrain
that reality to stay within the confines of that mental image.
Bolman and Deal (2013) go on to say that we tend to fill gaps of
information in reality using what we already know, what we
expect, and what we believe (Bolman & Deal, 2013). It is
important to note that the diversity that each team member
brings to the group is what lends to effective problem-solving.
When a team can gain perspectives from each member’s
different mental model, then a situation can be looked at
through different lenses. This will be particularly helpful in this
class, as I know it has been beneficial in my organization.
Bolman, L., & Deal, T. (2013). Reframing organizations:
artistry, choice, and leadership. San Fransisco, CA: Jossey-
Bass.
Kleiner, A., Roberts, C., Ross, R., Senge, P. & Smith, B.
(1994). The fifth discipline fieldbook: Strategies and tools for
building a learning organization. New York, NY: Doubleday.
Senge, P. (2006). The fifth discipline: the art and science of a
learning organization. New York, NY: Doubleday.
Post #3
In a learning organization, members are free to learn and
express their thoughts, challenge themselves and their peers,
and participate in work related activities. A certain shift that
could happen is from a traditional, authoritarian viewpoint to a
paradigm workplace, as described in Senge’s (2006) Systems
Thinking discipline. This way, members of the organization can

4. work and learn together to create the result they desire for the
good of the company and its people. It transforms the
environment from being unconnected to interconnected to the
whole by realizing how your own company and people operate
and where problems stem from (Senge, 2006).
In this class specifically, I think group projects and constant
communication is key for learning and success. I also think it's
incredibly important to be open minded during these
discussions. Especially with touchy subjects, deep discussions,
and sharing of stories and experiences, people need to be open,
respectful, and willing to hear all sides of stories. All this
relates back to Senge's (2006) ideas of working together to work
for the whole.
"Managers need to understand the importance of communication
skills in order to increase the effectiveness of internal
communication between management and staff" (Importance of
Communication Skills in the Workplace, 2017). The above
quote was pulled from an online article stating how important
communication skills are in a workplace. They go on to talk
about communication is also essential for behavior modification
and creating an awareness on issues in the workplace. I
completely agree with this. Communication can solve so many
issues and avoid a lot of uneccessary conflicts at the source.
These ideas would absolutely work in my workplace. I work in
the APS where we load and unload cargo and passengers from
aircraft, so communication and togetherness between the units
is definitely a must. We have to be able to help each other out
when need be and talk to other sections to complete the task.
Resources
Importance of Communication Skills in the Workplace. (2017).
Retrieved January 11, 2018, from http://www.workplace-
communication.com/importance-communication-skills.html
Senge, P. (2006). The Fifth Discipline: the Art & Practice of the
Learning Organization. New York: Crown Business.

5. Post #1
“People are born with intrinsic motivation, self-respect, dignity,
curiosity to learn, joy in learning” (Senge, 2006, p.xii). I would
agree with Dr. Deming that the prevailing system of education
has caused destruction in the ability to maintain the initial
motivations we are naturally born with. Many employees have
become ingrained in the idea of the reward/award systems that
we instilled through the years of education. Top prizes, gold
stars, and medals are achieved for being the ‘best’ in many
areas of life. This conditioning motivates individuals, but also
has an adverse effect on others. It is important for management
to consider other models to recognize and motivate success
within the organization. Competition can cause division within
the company. It is important for different teams under the same
company to remain unified in the common collective goal.
O’Brien makes an excellent point about the loss of motivation
or interest in career growth as time within the organization
progresses. Employees that are new to the organization or
business fields are often more energetic while also excited to
learn. As time progresses, employees may lose interest due to
static employee environments or possibly not being challenged
in the workplace. “Diversity-training outcomes are highly
context specific, and therefore the emphasis given to business
case outcomes will vary across organizations” (Alhejji,
Garavan, Carbery, O’Brien, & McGuire, 2016). Loss of interest
in the workplace can lead to employees just putting in the time
or doing requirements of the position just to work for the
weekend activities. This can cause a loss of inspiration and
stunt the growth, success, and adaptability of organizations to
remain relevant in the ever changing world marketplaces.
References
Alhejji, H., Garavan, T., Carbery, R., O'Brien, F., & McGuire,
D. (2016). Diversity training programme outcomes: A
systematic review. Human Resource Development Quarterly,
27(1), 95-149. doi:10.1002/hrdq.21221

6. Senge, P. (2006). The fifth discipline: the art & practice of the
learning organization. New York: Crown Business
Post #2
Dr. Deming does bring up some valid points for discussion. I do
agree with his points regarding the current system of
management destroying our employees and not uplifting them. I
also agree that it does start in childhood, with every child
receiving participation ribbons and trophy’s (Senge, 2006). I
most related to the eight elements that Senge (2006) covers on
pages xiv & xv. I see a lot of my organization prior to the
transformation journey we began a couple years ago. As Senge
(2006) says, “It is hard for me to contemplate a list like this one
and not feel that these maladies still afflict most organizations
today, and that it will take generations, not years, to change
such deeply embedded beliefs and behaviors” (p. xv). My
organization is only a couple years into changing our culture of
management and leadership. Diving into issue such as
predictability and controllability, excessive competitiveness and
distrust. I too feel it will take a really long time to completely
change the way our entire management team leads the
organization.
I completely disagree with Bill O’Brien’s statement from my
experience. I know there are leaders out there that fall under
that statement but I can honestly say I don’t. I would venture to
say I know more leaders that are the opposite of that statement,
then alike it. I entered my career at a young age of 23, moved
into management and then leadership within a few years. I think
I have become more excited and passionate about the work that
I am doing in my role now then I was back when I turned 30. I
also see this in several of the leaders that I work closely with in
my organization. I consider ourselves blessed to work at an
organization that allows us to work on personal mastery.
“Personal mastery is the discipline of continually clarifying and
deepening our personal vision, of focusing our energies, of
developing patience, and of seeing reality objectively” (Senge,

7. 2006, p.7). This can all be summed up in the statement by
Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross & Smith (1994), “…having begun
to practice the learning disciplines, we will retain high levels of
mastery automatically. As in any discipline, our level of
expertise ultimately depends on how far along our own
developmental path we travel, and on our commitment to
continual practice” (p. 43). Nothing comes easy, wether it be
changing the system of management or personal mastery of your
discipline, it take continual and intentional focus.
Resources
Senge, P.M. (2006). The fifth discipline: The art & practice of
learning organizations. New York, NY: Doubleday.
Senge, P.M., Kleiner, A., Roberts, C., Ross, R.B. & Smith, B.J.
(1994). The fifth discipline fieldbook: Strategies and tools for
building a learning
organization. New York, NY: Doubleday.
Post #3
In response to Dr. Deming quote of “our prevailing system of
management has destroyed our people” or “we will never
transform the prevailing system of management without
transforming our prevailing system of education” (p. xii). I
would have to disagree with his arguments completely I support
his and Senge’s arguments towards to five disciplines. As Dr.
Deming went on to argued that “The forces of destruction begin
with toddlers—a prize for the best Halloween costume, grades
in school, gold stars—and on up through the university. On the
job, people, teams, and divisions are ranked, the reward for the
top, punishment for the bottom. Management by Objectives,
quotas” (Senge, 2006, p. 2). I would argue that that is our
culture and not the American’s management system. We must
all understand that management is task related towards a
business model and or norms, not necessarily what’s is best for
his or her people, Bolman and Deal (2013), argued that “leading
and managing are different, but they are equally important. The
difference is nicely summarized in an aphorism from Bennis and

8. Nanus: “Managers do things right. Leaders do the right thing”
(p.viii). The business management system in America is not
about relationships, but profits and tasks are driven, but when
leadership takes priority over management, then we see what
Senge is talking about with respect disciplines.
I agree with O’Brien argument about people in the 30. But not
in his point, when people join the workforce in their teens or
early twenty’s they are a little fearless and without worries
about priorities, but as people get older, priorities set in and
they are less likely to take a risk and thus fall into the box
thinking.
References:
Bolman, L.G., & Deal, T.E. (2013). Reframing organizations:
Artistry, choice, & leadership (5th ed.). San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.
Senge, P. (2006). The fifth discipline: the art & practice of the
learning organization. New York: Crown Business.