Common thread: The Fifth Discipline from a liberal arts college perspective
ISSN: 0969-6474
Article publication date: 22 September 2020
Issue publication date: 3 November 2020
Abstract
Purpose
Liberal arts colleges (LACs) have played a crucial role in the foundation and development of the US higher education system. Today, these schools face numerous organizational and environmental challenges that threaten their performance and even survival. This paper aims to examine whether Senge’s (1990) vision of the learning organization can serve a useful function in responding to these challenges.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual analysis was conducted based on research relating to learning organizations, LACs and the liberal arts tradition.
Findings
The paper identifies significant congruence between learning organization and liberal arts/liberal learning principles. LACs may benefit from applying and modifying Senge’s (1990) framework to their own unique situations.
Originality/value
While The Fifth Discipline has certainly contributed to the lexicon of higher education, the role that Senge’s (1990) framework plays in LACs has received scant research attention. This paper investigates the applicability of Senge’s approach to an underexplored context.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank the editor, Anders Örtenblad, for his helpful suggestions and guidance with this paper.
Citation
Schneper, W.D. (2020), "Common thread: The Fifth Discipline from a liberal arts college perspective", The Learning Organization, Vol. 27 No. 6, pp. 513-525. https://doi.org/10.1108/TLO-05-2020-0071
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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