Senge presents the five disciplines as crucial components for learning organization which is built on common vision, teamwork, openness, flexibility, ability to act under unfamiliar conditions, support for one another and so on. The learning organization according to Senge is an organization where people do not simply isolate themselves in their comfort zone and enjoy the exclusiveness. It is a place where together they work and share responsibility based on their common goal by creating teams to confront a diverse range of issues that an organization might face. Senge explains that (a) team learning is a group of different people willing to think together by promoting true dialogues for success. It means getting out of the comfort zone, being open minded, and presenting ideas openly for the sake of the team, (b) building shared vision by assuming that all members of the team are aware and excited about the future they want to achieve for the organization they are creating by doing all they can in order to become successful, (c) mental models as the ability to separate things, and being able and capable of working on assumptions, and to discuss and deal openly with them. It is about understanding one’s functionality, (d) personal mastery which focuses on developing personal visions and goals by improving the ability to accomplish, and be always positive in believing in oneself, and (e) system thinking, which is the ability of examining, improving, and fixing the entire system instead of isolated components of the organization. As an example, let us analyze a case by Yongmi Schibel regarding “Integration and the Role of Local Authorities” (2003) in Europe, and the way they are dealing with this matter.
After a review of “Integration and the Role of Local Authorities” by Schibel (2003), I concluded that the European Union is concerned with the issue of immigrant integration and their lack of cohesiveness. It is true that as a whole, they have stepped up border security in order to avoid ‘terrorist’ problems, but they also are dealing with the issue of population, especially with immigrants of an Arabic or Islamic background. Despite government efforts toward community integration, the majority of immigrants are still residing in urban areas, where in many instances there are less jobs or economic opportunities, resulting in competition among themselves. Because of this matter, there have been many public debates in Europe regarding how to welcome economically viable immigrants versus those who are not needed for economic prosperity. There is an interest to integrate immigrants and minorities into European Union’s economic and social mainstream communities and governments are looking into providing housing, health care benefits, social protection, and employment as part of the integration process.
Civil servants in Europe have been analyzing different approaches of social integration and inclusion, and reports have shown that the security and equal treatment of residents is crucial for any concept of integration. Without security one does not feel like a valid member of his/her community/society and has little incentive for integration, and the government has to play the pivotal role as the central force in legislating fairness, equal treatment, and equal rights, as well as laws against discrimination. The framework for integration policies argues that governments at all levels need to provide adequate resources, administrative support, coordination, monitoring, and evaluation of integration activities.
It is clear that the civil society makes important contributions in terms of social integration, but they also need to hold their government accountable in order to solve the issue of integration. The European commission supported social and civil partner organizations in promoting a conference in Brussels on “Immigration: The Role of Civil Society in Promoting Integration”. They discussed labor relations, social integration policies, citizenship, and political rights. Officials called for a stronger link between immigration and integration policies and national employment strategies. Researchers have found and proposed some solutions for effective integration. They propose low cost housing, training of local public servants in multiculturalism and cross-cultural communication, support for minorities, ethnic arts, and culture. The study also makes powerful recommendations about the continuing government responsibility in promoting integration (p.99 - 103).
Honestly, one can conclude that there exists a high level of cohesiveness in Europe as a whole and there is a deep understanding of the issue they are dealing with. They are focusing on the resolution as a system and not an isolated process by using pragmatic system theory and knowledge management principles.
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