Driving organisational sustainability through the application of Peter Senge’s disciplines of learning organisation

Abstract

New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has been facing numerous challenges over the last few years. Bushfires, the COVID pandemic, floods and changes in socio-economic scenarios created significant changes in visitation patterns. Apart from this, issues like fire recovery programs, climate change impacts such as severe weather conditions (Doyle 2021), competition between private and public land management, environmental concerns around biodiversity and conservation (Ren et al. 2021) continue to persist. Thus, the challenge for NPWS has been to constantly evolve and adapt to the changing external socio- economic, environmental and political circumstances while continuing to innovate and learn new ways to deliver on the organisational priorities and NSW Government commitments to the community (Cockburn 2023). The need to ‘learn’ new ways led to the research question; “Can NPWS become a more resilient and sustainable organisation in the face of challenges and evolve as a true Learning Organisation (LO) through the application of Peter Senge’s five disciplines of Learning Organisation?”

Senge labelled these disciplines as 1) Mental Models, 2) Team Learning, 3) Shared Vision, 4) Personal Mastery and 5) Systems Thinking, advocating their use to change organisational culture and build sustainability. This conceptual work of Peter Senge and his five disciplines approach to creating Learning Organisations (Senge 1990;2006) was selected as the theoretical framework for the study, guided by the continued influential and formative role Senge’s work has on Organisational Development and Learning.

Qualitative methods were used to gather data. Primary data was collected through semi- structured interviews with NPWS employees. Secondary data emanated from analysing internal NPWS artefacts. Data was analysed using thematic/semantic clustering to provide empirical evidence of the ‘gap’ between current and perceived futures at NPWS, resulting in suggestions of strategies for change management and the creation of a LO. The major challenges identified at NPWS in the last 5 to 10 years included, climate change associated disruptions, the wellbeing of employees and the attainment of long-term sustainability (environmental, operational and resource) outcomes.

Key recommendations emanating from the research include: the need to co-create a Shared Vision rather than cascading management directives thus, generating greater buy-in and motivation from staff and the need to address organisational sustainability through the lens of community, people, finances and environment. The study offers applicable recommendations which can support NPWS to enhance organisational resilience and sustainability and address some of the Learning Disabilities, including inclusivity of diversity, indigeneity, and advancement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development 2024).

Date of Award	2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Western Sydney University
Supervisor	Pheroza Daruwalla (Supervisor)