"This stuff is . . ." Personal fear and anxiety -- concerns about vulnerability and inadequacy -- lead members of a pilot group to question a change effort.
"This stuff isn't working!" Change efforts run into measurement problems: Early results don't meet expectations, or traditional metrics don't calibrate to a pilot group's efforts.
"They're acting like a cult!" A pilot group falls prey to arrogance, dividing the company into "believers" and "nonbelievers."
"They . . . never let us do this stuff." The pilot group wants more autonomy; "the powers that be" don't want to lose control.
"We keep reinventing the wheel." Instead of building on previous successes, each group finds that it has to start from scratch.
"Where are we going?" The larger strategy and purpose of a change effort may be obscured by day-to-day activity. Big question: Can the organization achieve a new definition of success?
1938: In his book "Experience and Education," John Dewey publicizes the concept of experiential learning as an ongoing cycle of activity.
1940s: The Macy Conferences -- featuring Margaret Mead, Gregory Bateson, and Lawrence Kubie -- bring "systems thinking" to the awareness of a cross-disciplinary group of intellectuals.
1940s: Scottish psychologist Kenneth Craik coins the term "mental models," which later makes its way to MIT through Marvin Minsky and Seymour Papert.
1946: Kurt Lewin, founding theorist of National Training Laboratories, proposes idea of a "creative tension" between personal vision and a sense of reality.
1956: Edgar Schein's research on brainwashing in Korea paves the way for an understanding of "process consultation."
1960: "The Human Side of Enterprise," by Douglas McGregor, is published.
1961: Jay Forrester publishes "Industrial Dynamics." This book, the first major application of system dynamics to corporations, describes the turbulence within a typical appliance value chain.
1970: Chris Argyris and Donald Schön begin work on "action science," the study of how espoused values clash with the values that underlie real actions.
1972: "The Limits to Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome's Project on the Predicament of Mankind," by Donella Meadows and Dennis Meadows, is published. The book draws on Forrester's theories about system dynamics.
1971 to 1979: Erhard Seminars Training (EST) demonstrate the kind of powerful attitude shifts that can occur during a seminar that lasts several days.
1979: Consultant Charlie Kiefer, Forrester student Peter Senge, and researcher-artist Robert Fritz design the "Leadership and Mastery" seminar, which becomes the focal point of their new consulting firm, Innovation Associates.
1984 to 1985: Pierre Wack, scenario planner at Royal Dutch/Shell, spends a sabbatical at Harvard Business School and writes two articles about scenario planning as a learning activity.
1982: Senge, Arie de Geus, Hanover Insurance CEO Bill O'Brien, Analog Devices CEO Ray Stata, and other executive leaders form a learning-organization study group, which meets regularly at MIT.
1987: Peter Schwartz, Stewart Brand, Napier Collyns, Jay Ogilvy, and Lawrence Wilkinson form the Global Business Network, with a charter to foster organizational learning through scenario planning.
1989: Oxford University management scholar Bill Isaacs, an associate of quantum physicist David Bohm, introduces Senge to the concept of dialogue as a process for building team capability.
1989: "The Age of Unreason," by Charles Handy, is published.
1989: The Center for Organizational Learning is formed at MIT, with Senge as director and with Ed Schein, Chris Argyris, Arie de Geus, Ray Stata, and Bill O'Brien as key advisers. The staff of the "learning center," as it's called, includes Bill Isaacs, Daniel Kim (whose research involves linking the learning organization work to the quality movement), and research director George Roth.
1990: "The Fifth Discipline" is published. The book draws on many influences: system dynamics, "personal mastery" (based on Fritz's work and the concept of creative tension), mental models (based on Wack's and Argyris's work), shared vision (based on work done at Innovation Associates), and team learning (based on David Bohm's concepts).
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