Teaching Organizational Behaviour Concepts Using Systems Thinking as an Informing Paradigm

The success of Peter Senge's (1990) The Fifth Discipline and the later The Fifth Discipline Field Book (Senge, Roberts, Ross, Smith, & Kleiner, 1994) has created considerable interest in the area of systems theory and thinking and their application to management and management education. This paper makes the proposition that systems thinking can be applied as a framework or as an informing paradigm for teaching undergraduate and graduate Organisational behaviour subjects. It addresses the application of the systems thinking tool of causal loop diagramming to the teaching of organisational behaviour concepts.