What are the Merits of Senge for Human Resources Development?

Summary of Five Disciplines
Victor Manuel Monteiro Seco, Member
Senge is much more than a lonely or groupy HR developer. His most essential idea of learning is that "each goal has to do with how we think, what we truly want, and how we interact and learn with one another" (Senge, 1990, p.11).
Human Resource Development (HRD) can play an important role in transforming traditional firms to learning organizations. HRD is close to the idea of communities of practice using several multilevel strategies, seeing the individuals as the most precious resource in their organizations.
However, it's crucial to make all people involved understand that purpose of continuously learning!

Senge´s Teaching on Learning Organizations
Jaime Fernandez V., Member
I agree with Víctor Manuel and would like to add one comment: the 20th century ended with P Senge´s question "How do organizations learn?"
Today we are looking at specific tools, instruments, software, etc., to land this theory in our daily practice. Managing learning processes in a knowledge society is a complex task, drastically different from our past practices. Briefly I can only list a few of the most important objectives:
1. Learning = output of a social system, opposed to the traditional business culture of "training designed to lower costs or improve profits"
2. Replacing traditional logic with Senge´s systems logic: systemic thinking & systemic learning-teaching.
3. New focus on human beings who freely learn in a continuous life-cycle.
4. A new "Value Model" and deep cultural change from "profit maximization" to a harmonic sense of "wealth" for human development.
5. Participative Management, re-design of decision-making process & update of Leadership away from Superman´s model.

HR Pros and Cons of the 5 Disciplines
Gerard Leigh, SIG Leader
Great insights Jaime, I think Senge's ideas should resonate with today's HR community. If organisations can truly inspire people to become engaged with learning and become truly self-directed learners then many of the outdated performance management systems become less relevant. The key seems to be how to inspire people to become self-directed rather than organisationally directed. When that happens you can be sure you are well on the way to becoming a learning organisation.

Senge's Disciplines and HRD
SAMUEL LUZOBE, Member
Traditional HRD is built upon linear thinking with an upward career transition. Senge's learning organization welded together by systems thinking.
A planned HRD process may not be best placed to handle the current complex and constantly changing business environment. But Senge's concept can inform HRD, moving it from a linear function to one which is aligned to the protean career shift.