A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink, 2006. Our society's past is littered with the fallout of linear thinking, that is, believing that life is a series of if-then or either-or choices. In this book, Pink outlines the fallacy of this approach as we wend our way through the 21st century. We can no longer rely on left-brained thinking to analyze our way through sticky situations. Despite the subtitle, Pink is actually positing that in order to succeed in today's world, we must combine both brain hemispheres into whole brain thinking. (For those unfamiliar with the brain hemispheres, the left brain is sequential, logical, and analytical, and the right brain is non-linear, intuitive, and holistic.) Pink's proposition provides another framework for systems thinking. As we move from the information age to the conceptual age (a transformation similar to moving from the industrial age to the information age), those who will be successful will demonstrate high concept (an ability to detect patterns and opportunity, create artistic and emotional beauty, craft a satisfying narrative, and tie unrelated ideas into something new) and high touch (an ability to empathize with others, understand subtleties of human interaction, find joy in one's life and elicit it in others, and to stretch for purpose and meaning). He further defines these two concepts into six essential aptitudes: design, story, sympathy, empathy, play, and meaning.

Communities of Practice, Etienne Wenger, 2006. This book proposes a social theory of learning that the author refers to as “communities of practice.” It is based on the assumption that learning is both life sustaining and inevitable and is a fundamentally social phenomenon, reflecting our own deeply social nature as human beings capable of knowing.

Cultivating Communities of Practice, Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, and William M. Snyder, 2002. The authors argue that while communities of practice form naturally, organizations need to become more proactive and systematic about developing and integrating them into their strategy. This book provides practical models and methods for stewarding these communities to reach their full potential–without squelching the inner drive that makes them so valuable.

The Dance of Change: The Challenges to Sustaining Momentum in Learning Organizations, Peter M. Senge, Art Kleiner, Charlotte Roberts, George Roth, Rick Ross, and Bryan Smith, 1999. This book provides a formidable response to businesspeople wondering how to make the principles of systems thinking and organizational learning stick. The authors outline potential obstacles (such as initiating transformation, personal fear and anxiety, and measuring the unmeasurable) and propose ways to turn these obstacles into sources of improvement. The authors present an insider's account of long-term maintenance efforts at General Electric, Harley-Davidson, the U.S. Army, and others who are learning organizations, along with experience-based suggestions and exercises for individuals and teams.

The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of The Learning Organization, Peter M. Senge, 1990. Senge proposes the "systems thinking" method to help a corporation to become a "learning organization," one that integrates at all personnel levels in differently related company functions (sales, product design, etc.) to "expand the ability to produce." He describes requisite disciplines, of which systems thinking is the fifth. Others include "personal mastery" of one's capacities and "team learning" through group discussion of individual objectives and problems. Employees and managers are also encouraged to examine together their often negative perceptions or "mental models" of company people and procedures.

The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, Peter Senge, Art Kleiner, Charlotte Roberts, Richard B. Ross, and Bryan J. Smith, 1994. This book takes the theory of learning organizations and puts it into practice. It shows how to create an organization of learners and how organizations can undo their “learning disabilities.” It covers the following topics: reinventing relationships, being loyal to the truth, strategies for developing personal mastery, building a shared vision, systems thinking in an organization, designing a dialogue session, strategies for team learning, organizations as communities, and designing an organization’s governing ideas.

The Necessary Revolution: Working Together to Create a Sustainable World, Peter M. Senge, Bryan Smith, Nina Kruschwitz, and Joe Laur, 2010. Although this book is specifically about sustainability, in a broader sense it is really about how to bring systems thinking into our institutions and into our global society. The revolution that the authors refer to is twofold: it is focused on our global environmental impact, and it is focused on the change in thinking that needs to take place in order to minimize that impact. Three key behaviors will create this shift in thinking: seeing systems, collaborating across boundaries, and moving from a problem solving mindset to one of creating the future. The book offers some great examples of how we got into our current predicament and companies that are starting to apply systems thinking to help move “beyond the bubble,” as it is referred to in the book. Scattered throughout the book are sections called “Toolbox,” which offer a number of exercises and activities that organizations can undertake to begin to address the issue of sustainability. This book is a great resource for any organization looking to do more than pick the low hanging fruit when it comes to sustainability.

Learning Organizations: Developing Cultures for Tomorrow’s Workplace, Sarita Chawla and John Renesch, editors, 1995. This book contains essays by thirty-nine of the most respected practitioners and scholars of this topic. This definitive collection is rich in concept and theory as well as application and example. The essays are presented in four main parts: 1) Guiding Ideas, 2) Theories/Methods/Processes, 3) Infrastructure, and 4) Arenas of Practice.

Learning for Sustainability, Peter Senge, Joe Laur, Sara Schley, and Bryan Smith, 2006. Featuring the work of members of the Society for Organizational Learning (SoL) Sustainability Consortium, this SoL resource was written as a vehicle for sparking conversation and encouraging dialogue about how to develop the confidence and capabilities to create a world we will be proud to leave our grandchildren. The collection of twelve articles and exercises is based on the Fifth Discipline Fieldbook format, and is intended for leaders at all levels, engaged in all types of enterprises, local and global.

Organizational Learning II: Theory, Method and Practice , Chris Argyris and David A. Schon, 1995. This book expands and updates the ideas and concepts of the authors' ground-breaking first book. With new examples and the most up-to-date information on the technical aspects of organizational and management theory, Argyris and Schon demonstrate how the research and practice of organizational learning can be incorporated in today's business environment. It features chapters focused around the Introduction to Organizational Learning; Defensive Reasoning And The Theoretical Framework That Explains It; Inquiry-Enhancing Intervention and Its Theoretical Basis; and Strengths and Weaknesses Of Consultation and Research In The Field Of Organizational Learning.

Overcoming Organizational Defenses: Facilitating Organizational Learning , Chris Argyris, 1990. Argyris' basic thesis is that organizations create a set of processes that prevent them from changing what they believe they should change. Much of the book discusses these impediments to organizational change, including the following topics: how the prevalent social virtues of our society are frequently applied in ways which work against us; how we typically avoid putting ourselves and/or others into situations which may be perceived as either threatening or embarrassing, even if it would be for their benefit; how organizations grow to use defensive routines skillfully and sub-consciously; and how the values and beliefs we espouse can be quite different from the ones we actually act upon. Some of the solutions outlined are learning, as a group, to talk honestly and openly about what really is at hand, and learning to look beyond the symptoms of the problem to the dynamics underlying them, what Argyris calls "double loop learning".

Systems One: An Introduction to Systems Thinking , Draper L. Kauffman, Jr., 1980. This is the first in a series of booklets about systems thinking. It introduces the concepts of systems thinking such as negative feedback loops that maintain stability and positive feedback loops that encourage change and growth. This book is an excellent primer for someone new to the idea of systems thinking.

The Systems Thinking Playbook , Linda Booth Sweeney and Dennis Meadows, 1995. This book is a three ring binder of experiential exercises to stretch and build learning and systems thinking capability. For each exercise, there is a description of the purpose, the outcomes, the context, and resources needed. The book also comes with a DVD companion video illustrating good practice in introducing and running 30 games.

Ten Steps to a Learning Organization, Peter Kline and Bernard Saunders, 1998. This book is a multi-purpose guide to creating a learning organization. The authors have demystified the learning organization and translated its abstract and fuzzy notions into an extremely practical competitive strategy. In addition to the ten steps outlined in the book, the author also delineates sixteen principles or conditions that promote learning.

Updated April 1, 2010