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The purpose of this paper is to discuss both possibilities and problems with Senge's (1990) many faces in The Fifth Discipline, i.e. the fact that different authors refer to different excerpts from his book as his version of the learning organization.

The paper shows that the authors' understandings of Senge, in which a literature review resulted, are seen in the light of theories of travelling of management ideas, particularly the “translation model”.

The paper finds that both possibilities and problems with Senge's many faces were found. A fatal problem is that the many faces jeopardize the confidence in the concept and eventually its existence. But the strong connections to Senge's book, that the authors have, reduces the problems, and Senge's many faces might not cause that much trouble after all.

The paper shows that anyone who wishes to can, for different reasons, refer to Senge, and his version of the learning organization, and thereby gain legitimacy. One does not have to be very accurate; as it seems, almost anything goes.

In the paper the “translation model” is divided into two sub‐models, which probably will sharpen future translation research.

The paper is a study in which it is shown how authors understand other authors. This is an example that is rarely seen. Both possibilities and problems are discussed with vagueness to Senge's many faces. This is not very common. A special case of the translation model is developed (the “smorgasbord model”), better suited to deal with the type of idea that focuses on copying of excerpts from a specific book than the traditional translation model (the “whispering game model”).

The purpose of this paper is to offer a theoretical contribution to explicate the various factors and aspects that influence Senge's five disciplines and their outcomes.

The paper develops a conceptual framework for the analysis of antecedents and outcomes of Senge's five disciplines, and offers moderators to explain the prospect associations, employing a multi‐level analysis to explore issues, from the individual level (personal mastery) through the collective level (team learning, mental model) up to the organizational level (shared vision, systems thinking). Based on this theoretical framework, the paper offers a set of propositions in the shape of a causal model that links the constructs of the model together.

The development of the model manifests wide areas of relevance to the learning organization and points out significant interdependences and interactions among the various constructs associated with Senge's five disciplines of the learning organization.

The paper proposes a causal model that links variables in the learning organization that would be instrumental for organizations to achieve competitive advantage. For academia, it offers a further avenue for research, introducing a number of opportunities to test this model.

The paper provides significant added value both for academics and executives interested in the analysis of the complexity of Senge's five disciplines.

This paper aims to provide a literature synthesis of the learning organization and discuss several pertinent theoretical concepts on the subject.

A range of works mainly from 1990‐2004, which aim at providing a variety of perspectives on the learning organization, have been analyzed and discussed based on its theoretical roots and ontological perspectives.

The synthesis of the literature reveals several common themes from the various learning organization definitions and discovers the greater significance of systems thinking in Senge's five disciplines.

It is not an exhaustive coverage of the learning organization literature. However it offers great research implications where several key concepts can be further explored. For example, is systems thinking really crucial to organizational learning?

Practitioners may find the analysis of the various models in relation to Senge's five disciplines useful, as there are concepts that can be implemented in practice.

It is the amalgamation of several key concepts in the learning organization and the analysis of these concepts in relation to The Fifth Discipline which readers will be familiar and able to identify with. People who are interested in pursuing research in the learning organization will find this paper handy as it provides a useful overview of the subject.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate Peter Senge’s ideas from the perspective of the spiritual ideal of harmony/He (和).

Following a literature review of the conceptualization of Senge’s fifth discipline and harmony, an appreciative case study of Alibaba is adopted to demonstrate the role of harmony in guiding the transformative application of the five disciplines of the learning organization.

In developing as a learning organization, Alibaba is portrayed as having embraced three levels of harmony: person-within-oneself, person-to-others and person-to-nature harmony. The authors identify three equivalencies between Senge’s disciplines and the traditional Chinese ideal of harmony. First, personal mastery and metal models correspond to developing person-within-oneself harmony. Second, team learning and shared vision entail developing person-to-others harmony. Third, systems thinking aligns with person-to-nature harmony.

The case study demonstrates various approaches that can be used to foster the development of person-within-oneself, person-to-others and person-to-nature harmony within an aspiring learning organization.

This paper shows how core values of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, distilled into the Chinese ideal of harmony, can encourage the cultivation of learning organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to offer an application of a system model for Senge's five disciplines in higher education (HE) institutions.

The paper utilizes a conceptual framework for the analysis of antecedents and outcomes of Senge's five disciplines, focusing on specific factors unique to the HE sector.

The explication of the model manifests its relevance and applicability for the HE sector: it represent how universities operate as learning organizations and posits the anticipated interactions among specific constructs associated with Senge's five disciplines within the HE sector.

The paper manifests a causal model that links variables in the learning organization, a perspective that would be instrumental for HE institutions to achieve competitive advantage.

The paper provides added value both for academics and executives interested in the analysis of the complexity of Senge's five disciplines for HE institutions.

This study aims to investigate whether the learning organization, as envisioned by Peter Senge in The Fifth Discipline (1990), facilitates responsible innovation.

The authors analyze the component characteristics of the learning organization as defined by Senge (1990) to identify any conceptual or causal connections to responsible research and innovation (RRI). To define RRI, the authors make use of a commonly cited framework from the academic literature that is consistent with the vision of RRI promoted in European Union policy.

The authors find significant complementarities between being a learning organization and practicing responsible innovation. Some of the practices and characteristics of a learning organization in the sense of Senge (1990) do not merely facilitate RRI, they are RRI by definition. One important caveat is that to qualify as a responsible innovator according to the proposed framework, an organization must involve external stakeholders in the innovation process, a requirement that has no parallel in The Fifth Discipline. The authors conclude that there is at most a small step from being a learning organization to becoming a responsibly innovating learning organization.

The authors propose a reconsideration of the scope of applicability of Senge’s theory, opening new possibilities for drawing inspiration from The Fifth Discipline 30 years after the book was first published. The authors conclude that there may be significant non-economic advantages to being a learning organization, and that The Fifth Discipline may be more valuable for its ethical perspectives on the organization than as a prescription for how to achieve business success.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of self-transcending knowledge as one of P. Senge’s common themes underpinning his five disciplines approach. It will be shown that the notions of vision, purpose and transcendence, especially self-transcendence are closely related to each other. However, the aspect of self-transcendence has not been covered well yet in the existing literature. That is why this paper is guided by the following research question: What does a consolidated, integrative and interdisciplinary concept of self-transcending knowledge look like, and what are its defining and unifying features and characteristics with respect to learning organizations?

This conceptual paper draws on (both theoretical and empirical) interdisciplinary evidence from a wide variety of fields, such as organization studies, psychology, philosophy, learning organizations, cognitive science and innovation studies. Key authors from the field of self-transcending knowledge and their approaches will be discussed to develop a unified interdisciplinary concept of self-transcending knowledge and its possible applications, which will be demonstrated in a case study.

Self-transcending knowledge turns out to be central in the fields of learning (organizations) and innovation, as it deals with future-oriented knowledge that is “not yet”, that transcends the boundaries of existing knowledge. It is based on self-detachment, the notion of potentials and the insight that novel knowledge is not only the result of a creative agent (or organization) but also can be found and cocreated through an attentive search in an unfolding reality.

Existing literature in the field of P. Senge’s five disciplines (and beyond) does not offer a comprehensive concept of self-transcending knowledge. This paper addresses this issue by bringing together approaches from a wide range of fields related to this concept; it develops an interdisciplinary and coherent notion and taxonomy of self-transcending knowledge and shows its impact for learning organizations and innovation.

This paper is concerned with identifying, from an organizational perspective, the concept of a “learning organization”. The first section briefly reviews the organizational learning, and business and management literature. The second part describes the research activity and outcomes from a group of middle managers employed in a large international company who are also postgraduate management students. These managers provide interpretations of a “learning organization” within the context of their working lives. The research was followed up three months later and explores whether there had been an attempt to introduce the concept (or aspects of it), the managers’ roles in this (if any) and barriers to its introduction. Finally the implications of adopting the concept for their PLC are examined. The paper concludes that institutions of higher education can have significant impact on introducing, through postgraduate study, concepts such as the “learning organization” to managerial practice.

The purpose of this paper is to provide advice to organizations on how to become successful in the digital age. The paper revisits Peter Senge’s (1990) notion of the learning organization and discusses the relevance of systems thinking and the other four disciplines, namely, personal mastery, mental models, shared vision and team learning in the context of the current digitalization megatrend.

This paper is based on content analysis of essays from international organizations, strategy experts and management scholars, and insights gained from the author’s consulting experience. A comparative case study from the health and social sector is also included.

With the current digitalization megatrend sweeping across the globe, the practice of systems thinking would certainly become more crucial for organizations seeking to develop new digital ecosystems. In addition, the application of the other four disciplines of the learning organization would also help to nurture a digital culture for organizations to stay ahead of the competition.

Organizations and digitalization practitioners could benefit from applying systems thinking to develop digital ecosystems, and the other four disciples to nurture a digital culture.

This paper contributes to the existing literature by offering a relook and justifications on the relevance of the five disciplines, in particular systems thinking, in the present times. It offers advice to organizations on how to become successful as part of the digital transformation journey.