Skip to Main Content

LED-6030 v1

Leadership in the 21st Century

Required Resources

Review the textbook chapters, article, and resource below to assist you with your studies this week. The following readings are the same for Modules 3 and 4. Students must complete all readings by the end of Module 4.  

Textbooks

The Fifth Discipline

Senge, P. (2006). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. Revised and updated. Currency Doubleday. 

  • Please read Part II (Chapters 4-7) 

    • Chapter 4: The Laws of the Fifth Discipline- Senge (2006) introduces eleven laws or principles that directly impact learning organizations.  

    • Chapter 5: A Shift of Mind- “Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing wholes.” In this chapter, Senge (2006) describes the importance of systems thinking to “see” the major interrelationships underlying a problem.  

    • Chapter 6: Nature’s Templates: Identifying the Patterns That Control Events- in this chapter, Senge (2006) lists various systems archetypes and describes their purpose. These archetypes include limits to growth and shifting the burden. 

    • Chapter 7: Self-limiting or Self-sustaining Growth- this chapter furthers the discussion on the purpose of the system archetypes and the importance of finding leverage amid the pressures of real-life business situations. Senge (2006) includes a case study of WonderTech to better explain the limits of the growth structure archetype.  

Please access this textbook via the RedShelf link in the Course Resources section of the Getting Started module.

  •   Please read chapters 4 and 5 

    • Chapter 4: The Participative Nature of the Universe- in this chapter, Wheatley (2006) describes the observation dilemma and suggests an interpretation as to why participation is an effective organizational strategy. The observation phenomenon of quantum physics is described as the complex relationship between the act of observation and the behavior of quantum systems, leading to outcomes that often defy intuition and give rise to the unique and fascinating nature of the quantum world. 

    • Chapter 5: Change, Stability, and Renewal: The Paradoxes of Self-Organizning Systems- in this chapter, Wheatley (2006) defines equilibrium and explains equilibrium’s role in open systems. This chapter also defines two types of feedback loops and the processes fundamental to all self-organizing systems.  

Article

Resource