Kim Woods Only (602 4.2 Discussion)

Reply to each post.

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include 2 references per reply

Post#1

Part 1:

Personal Disability

I think many people, at one time or another, can recall a time when they blamed someone or something else for the negative circumstances they faced or situation they were in. This is often called an external locus of control, and is similar to Senge’s (2006) discipline of the “Enemy Is Out There” (p. 19). By believing that circumstances are beyond our control or that we have no influence in the chain of events, we rob ourselves of taking a systems view and taking the steps necessary to resolve the issue (Senge, 20016, p. 20). Overcoming this disability required the use of personal mastery and a review of established mental models in order to begin to view things from a systems thinking approach (Vora, 2017).

Part 2:

Organizational Disability

The same can be true in organizations. Stemming from the disability of “I Am My Position”, Senge (2006) suggests that professionals and their organizations who play the blame game hurt themselves by being ignorant to their participation in the causal relationship of these events (p. 20). For example, a community college may see another school or program as the reason that their enrollments are down. By blaming the other college or program for low enrollments, leadership is not viewing the issue as a whole system in which they play a part. This prevents them from seeing the leverage they have to change the situation and address fundamental issues within. According to Drew & Smith (1995), a tool that can be used in addressing this disability is a “change audit” (5). This audit will review systematic interrelations to shed “light on such barriers” and improve organizational learning by “revealing short-, medium- and longer-term priorities” (Drew & Smith, 1995, p. 6). Further, a review of the shared vision and mental models of the organization will help address this disability.

References

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Drew, S. A.W. & Smith, P.A.C. (1995). The new logistics management: transformation through organizational learning. Logistics Information Management, Vol. 8 Issue: 1, pp.24-33, https://doi.org/10.1108/09576059510078729

Senge, P.M. (2006). The fifth discipline: the art and science of a learning organization. New York, NY: Currency/ Doubleday.

Vora, T. (2017, February 20). Peter Senge: How to overcome learning disabilities in organizations. Retrieved from

http://qaspire.com/2017/02/20/peter-senge-how-to-overcome-learning-disabilities-in-organizations/

Post #2

Part 1:

One learning disability I have relates to “The Parable of the Boiling Frog,” where a frog will quickly jump out of boiling water, but will stay in a pot of room temperature water even if the heat is gradually turned up (Senge, 2006, p. 22). It highlights the importance of slowing down our frenetic pace in order to see slow, gradual processes (Senge, 2006, p. 23). I work at Medtronic which has a very fast-paced environment. Our projects hold themselves to tight timelines, so there is a lot of urgency behind decision-making and execution. This typically results in implementing processes and actions quickly without allowing for transition. Systems thinking can prevent me from falling victim to this in the future as it allows for comprehending and addressing the whole and examining interrelationships between parts (Vora, 2017). By understanding all the interdependencies and how others are affected, I can develop a transition plan when implementing decisions, solutions or processes.

Part 2:

In my organization, our leadership team has made mistakes that correlate to the learning disability “I am my position,” where each individual is solely focused on their position and responsibilities, rather than understanding the interdependencies in a given system (Senge, 2016, p. 18). Operations and product development, in particular, have had issues where the leaders of one function work independently from the leaders of another function. For example, product development will design a highly durable valve that uses specific materials and sewing processes that create manufacturing difficulties when operations scales up production for commercial builds. If the two functions collaborated together, they could find a balance of producing a durable product that is manufacturable.

References

Senge, P. M. (2006). The Fifth Discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization (Rev. ed.). New York, N.Y.: Crown Business.

Vora, T. (2017). Peter Senge: How to Overcome Learning Disabilities in Organizations. Retrieved from http://qaspire.com/2017/02/20/peter-senge-how-to-overcome-learning-disabilities-in-organizations/

Post #3

Part I.

I would say a learning disability that I have fostered at one time or another would be “the enemy is out there”. According to Vora (2017) this non-systemic way of looking at things deals with assigning blame on others. I believe that instead of assessing a situation accurately to see if there was a chance we might have actually done something wrong, it is easier to just push the blame on to others; therefore, we are denying ourselves the opportunity to look at the situation from a systems view and do not take the proper steps to find a resolution to the issue (Senge, 2016). However, in order to be a successful leader/member of a team, this needs to not happen. I think one way I can prevent myself from falling victim to this disability in the future is to hold myself more accountable and realize that it is okay to make mistakes—that is how we grow and learn. I also think that utilizing Senge’s 5 disciplines of learning organizations, which include personal mastery, mental models, building a shared vision, team learning, and systems thinking (Vora, 2015) can help break the likelihood of falling victim to learning disabilities in the future.

Part II.

I believe one of the learning disabilities that my current work environment correlates with is either “I am my position” or “the enemy is out there”. Instead of focusing on the organization as a whole, some of the leadership focuses solely on their position instead of the interactions of all positions (Taggart, 2011). Because of this, there is a disconnect between the leadership and the rest of the organization, which creates a frustrating environment for the employees trying to work together. I also believe that “the enemy is out there” can correlate with some of the leadership within my work environment because sometimes instead of taking responsibility for something, it is blamed on an employee in a lower level. For example, I received a complaint from an employee that a manager within her department gave her a task to complete (in a very short amount of time) that was not one of her typical duties. When the employee struggled to complete the task, the manager told the department head that the employee was the one who dropped the ball and did not take responsibility for failing to give the employee the proper tools for success.

Senge, P.M. (2006). The fifth discipline: the art and science of a learning organization. New York, NY: Currency/ Doubleday.

Taggart, J. (2011). Naughty CEOs in 2010: Revisiting Senge’s 7 learning disabilities. Retrieved from https://changingwinds.wordpress.com/2011/01/01/naughty-ceos-in-2010-revisiting-senge’s-7-learning-disabilities/amp/

Vora, T. (2015, December 07). Disciplines of a Learning Organization: Peter Senge. Retrieved from http://qaspire.com/2015/12/07/disciplines-of-a-learning-organization-peter-senge/

Vora, T. (2017, February 20). Peter Senge: How to overcome learning disabilities in organizations. Retrieved from http://qaspire.com/2017/02/20/peter-senge-how-to-overcome-learning-disabilities-in-organizations/