Read the following in The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization:
• Chapter 9, “Mental Models.” You’ll learn about the discipline of reflection and inquiry that is focused on developing awareness of attitudes and perceptions, your own and those of others, in the organization. As you read, consider how working with mental models can also help you clearly define current organizational reality. Since most mental models are often hidden from view, one of the critical contributions for a leader of a learning organization is to develop the collaborative capacity to talk safely and productively about different attitudes with minimal defensive barriers.
INSTRUCTIONS:
For this question, Senge’s mental models suggest that understanding this concept can be used to test our own attitudes about professional organizations as well as to better understand others’ thinking. How does understanding your own mental models provide you with assistance in your work with others from various groups? In Chapter 9 of his text, Senge discusses the practice of reflective practice. How could this practice of “thinking about our own thinking” contribute to new understanding of others and/or of workplace issues and challenges?.
Preparation
• Review Chapter 9, “Mental Models,” in Senge’s The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. Consider carefully the following concepts that are raised in the chapter:
• Implicit mental models.
• Left-hand column technique.
• Balancing inquiry and advocacy.
• Espoused theory versus theory in use.
• Mental models limited to representation of events and mental models that encompass patterns of events.