PERSON
Peter Senge
American systems scientist (b. 1947), MIT lecturer, and founding chair of the Society for Organizational Learning whose Fifth Discipline (1990) introduced the learning organization.
Peter Senge is the American systems scientist and organizational theorist whose The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (1990) became one of the most influential management books of the late twentieth century, introducing the concept of the learning organization and articulating five interrelated disciplines—systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, and team learning—that enable institutions to continuously expand their capacity to create their future. A senior lecturer at MIT's Sloan School of Management and founding chair of the Society for Organizational Learning, Senge drew on Jay Forrester's system dynamics, Chris Argyris's theories of organizational learning, and David Bohm's practice of dialogue to create a framework adopted by corporations, governments, schools, and nonprofits worldwide. His work spans management theory, education reform, and sustainability leadership, with subsequent books including The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook (1994), The Dance of Change (1999), Schools That Learn (2000), and The Necessary Revolution (2008) extending the disciplines into new domains.
