Final Project: Research Report

Running Head: LITERATURE REVIEW CRITIQUE

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LITERATURE REVIEW CRITIQUE

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Literature Review Critique

Chellyn Jones

Southern New Hampshire University

12/11/2020

Theories

Certain theories may be used to explain the individual differences that are cited in the literature review. An example of a theory is the cognitive diversity theory. The theory acknowledges that there are individual differences in the workplace (Mello & Rentsch, 2015). According to the theory, individual differences may have a positive or negative impact on the organization, depending on how they are managed. The existence of the individual theories is supported by the literature review, where it is stated that there are primary and secondary dimensions of individual differences. Such differences affect the productivity of the employees, depending on how they are managed (Ledimo, 2015). The individual differences result in the formulation of subcultures in an organization. That is promoted by the individual differences that cluster the employees in smaller groups. For instance, the employees with a better educational background may come up with their subculture that may align or differ to the organizational culture. Such a subculture is guided by the common values that they share.

The organizational culture can be used to explain the organizational culture and what it entails, as indicated in the literature review. The theory emphasizes that an organization’s culture is the set of values that an organization has in common (Antonsen, 2017). According to the literature review, different researchers have come up with different metrics to explain about organizational culture. The literature review indicates that it is the shared set of values, beliefs, and practices in an organization. Thus, it can be used as an identifier in organizations since all the employees are required to follow or abide by the organizational culture. For instance, a belief that performance is always rewarded may entail some part of organizational culture (Ledimo, 2015). Therefore, when new management is employed, they find such activities ongoing, and they can foster them or change them, thus affecting the organizational culture.

Biases and Limitations

There are no biases and limitations that are identified in the literature review. The literature review focuses on many aspects of individual differences and organizational culture, as presented by different researchers. There are no limitations since the literature review is well detailed. It helps in understanding the two concepts well and shows how they relate to each other. In the literature review, the author only presents the work of previous researchers, thus ruling out the possibility of promoting biases and limitations in the literature review.

Guidelines

The literature review follows all the guidelines that a literature review should follow. The first element that is present in the literature review is following a logical structure. The literature review is written in a coherent manner, making it easy to understand. Moreover, the arguments in the literature review are arranged according to themes. That gives the literature review a good structure.

In the literature review, the topic is well defined. That helps the readers of the literature review in knowing what the literature review will write about. However, the audience of the literature review is not well defined. There is no mention of the target audience in the literature review.

The literature review is focused on the topics that are being exploited. That makes it relevant. Additionally, it is also broad enough as it portrays the perspectives of different previous researchers. A broad literature review helps in capturing the findings of various authors that have researched a topic before. The literature review is also critical and consistent. That is attributed to its broad interest. The author searched a lot of literature before writing the literature review. That ensures that it covers previous research papers from different periods and with different perspectives about the topic at hand.

References

Antonsen, S. (2017). Safety culture: theory, method and improvement. CRC Press.

Ledimo, O. (2015). Diversity management: An organisational culture audit to determine individual differences. Journal of Applied Business Research (JABR), 31(5), 1733-1746.

Mello, A. L., & Rentsch, J. R. (2015). Cognitive diversity in teams: A multidisciplinary review. Small Group Research, 46(6), 623-658.