A Summary and Analysis of Jaeger's Article on Organization Development

This report summarizes an article by Jaeger (1986) that explores the intersection of organizational development and national culture. The article defines organizational development as a planned effort to improve organizational effectiveness and health through interventions using behavioral scien...Read More

Running head: ARTICLE SUMMARY 1
Article Summary
Name
Institution
Author’s Note

ARTICLE SUMMARY 2
Review of the Article
Management is an essential aspect of this modern society. As a result, a lot of research
has been propelled towards the field of management to ensure that various objectives are met
within an appropriate time frame. The article that is published by Jaeger about organizational
development and national culture is focused on giving a clear picture of how different aspects of
corporate development and national culture are likely to be encountered across various
organizations (Jaeger, 1986). The article begins by providing a clear description of
organizational development and culture, where it states that organizational development is
generally concerned with the deliberate, reasoned introduction together with the spread of
change for the purpose of significantly scaling up the effectiveness and health that is associated
with a given organization. On the other hand, the article views organizational development as a
kind of effort that is always planned organization-wide, appropriately managed from the top
position and even designed with the intention of increasing the effectiveness of the whole
organization through a particular type of planned intervention concerning various processes
attached to the organization through the use of behavioral science knowledge. At the same time,
the term national culture that is captured within the article majorly talks about a combination of
various norms, behaviors, customs together with values that are always shared by a large
population of any sovereign nation. Within this article, the author vies organization management
to be among the many American management techniques that are correctly utilized overseas.
Furthermore, the article also postulates that based on a specific form of empirically delivered
culture model, a vast range of the underlying values of organization development can always be
compared to the ones that are capable of predominating in forty countries. Certain types of
organization development interventions are eliminated and examined separately to determine

ARTICLE SUMMARY 3
their fit with various values that are also associated with these countries. According to the article,
the obtained results will correctly help to explain why organization development has been able to
encounter specific problems. This makes it much easier to provide various guidelines that can be
used for an appropriate selection and carrying out of interventions in a culturally sensitive way.
This article, therefore, examines the entire cross-cultural applicability of one primary American
management tool that has been able to gain popularity across different regions. Through this, it
brings on board a clear understanding of various operations that are likely to take place within
the boundaries of organization development.
Analysis of the article
The article clearly explains the issue of organization development from different angles by
connecting it with various operations that are likely to be carried out within the boundaries of an
organization. Since the article states that organizational development is always an effort that is
planned within the whole organization and managed from the topmost position to scale up most
of the operations within the organization, this indicates that the parameter is much focused with
making an organization to attain most of its goals and objectives within an appropriate time
frame. Various organizations can, therefore, be able to implement such strategies to be
competitive across different market platforms, thus making it much easier to address the needs of
multiple customers within an appropriate time frame.

ARTICLE SUMMARY 4
Critique of the Article
This is one of the most fundamental articles within the field of management that is geared
towards bringing a lot of changes across various organizations. Moreover, the fact that the article
is capable of giving a wide description of some of the things taking place in relation to
organization development and national culture, this creates awareness across many individuals.
At the same time article has the potential of scaling up the performance of various organizational
leaders since it involves them directly to make sure that their respective organizations are able to
obtain an effective performance. This article also acts as a game changer to many professionals
since it exposes them to a different world where a lot of hard work and efforts need to be applied
to make sure that certain goals are appropriately met. On the other hand, the entire business
world is also likely to change as a result of gaining a vast range of knowledge that is provided by
such articles. This comes as a result of various people being educated with the right set of
information. The article also guides various organizations together with individuals regarding the
right path that should be followed to make sure that every future objective is well addressed
without any barriers being encountered.
Questions to discuss in class about the article
(1) Give an explanation of organization development according to the article
(2) What do you understand by the term national culture according to what is covered within
the article?
(3) What benefits can such articles brings to various organizations?

ARTICLE SUMMARY 5
References
Jaeger, A.M. (1986) “Organization Development and National Culture: Where´s the Fit?”
Academy of Management Review, Vol. 11, No.1, pp 178-190.