The Fifth Discipline

Senge explains the 11 laws in the fifth discipline, Systems Thinking. The first law states that many systems’ solutions become problems again because they were not truly solved but shifted to another part of the system. Senge uses the examples of a rug merchant trying to remove a bump in a carpet and police officials trying to stop drug-related crime on one street only for it to change to another street. The second law states that an individual’s and organization’s efforts to push back against a problem, which he calls “compensating feedback,” often lead to the system pushing back. Senge uses the example of the horse, Boxer, from Orwell’s Animal Farm, as well as companies’ heavy use of advertising to each of their detriments. Senge then says that the third law asserts that compensating feedback will lead to short-term improvements before problems arise. The fourth law asserts that organizations’ overreliance on what is easy and familiar keeps them from finding the right solutions to their problems, and Senge uses a modern retelling of a Sufi story following a drunk man looking under a streetlight for his keys to support this. The fifth law is that organizations’ solutions often worsen their problems.