2-2 Short Paper: Critique of a Literature Review
Saidou Kagambega
QSQ-500: Business Research
Southern New Hampshire University
According to the dictionary of Education, individual differences stand for the variation or
deviations among individuals regarding a single characteristic. They stand for those differences
that distinguish one individual from another.
In the article Diversity Management: An Organizational Culture Audit to Determine Individual
Differences, Professor Ophillia Ledimo of the University of South Africa addresses an audit of
the South African army. The purpose of the study was to conduct an organizational culture audit
to determine individual differences among employees within the South African Army. They used
descriptive and inferential statistics to identify the existing culture type in this organization and
the statistically significant individual differences of the employees regarding their perception of
the organizational culture (Ledimo, 2015).
The majority of the studies on individual differences conclude that there are significant
differences between individuals. Those differences are due to some variables such as gender, age,
and race (Ledimo, 2015). Many factors distinguish each person from another. Those factors are
sexual orientation, mental or physical abilities, ethnicity, etc.
Those particularities among employees are beneficial for an organization if there are respected
and well managed.
The biases and limitations that we found in the article are that the professor used a cross- sectional study as a research tool. This tool captures a specific point in time. It does not require a
lot of time and therefore is cheap, which is a good thing, but it is not for analyzing behavior over
some time, and it doesn't help differentiate cause and effect.
Does the literature review follow the guidelines presented in Chapter 4 of the textbook?
Yes. The author followed the guidelines. With an abstract, Ledimo clearly explains the purpose
of the study and how they mapped to do it. The author added that the study helps to improve
other research in the same field. In the introduction, we found the background information and
the principal problem they were trying to solve. The author clearly defined the study object and
its importance.
What is missed in the paper is the variety of previous research. The author mentioned only one
organization.
All in all, it was a good study despite some biases and limitations. The author followed the
guidelines. He added that future researchers should use the longitudinal study to minimize the
biases in future publications.
References
Ledimo, O. (2015). Diversity Management: An Organizational Culture Audit to Determine
Individual Differences. Journal of Applied Business Research, 31(5), 1747-1756