An investigation into the influence of cultural diversity in SME organisations in Ireland

The purpose of this research is to discover how cultural diversity is managed in organisations in order to explore the influence that has in organisations. The research was conducted to three small and medium enterprises in Dublin, where a case study was build for each organisation and then a comparison between the companies has been carried out. The theoretical framework explored cultural diversity in organisations as well as positive and negative implications; consequently, the International Model of Cultural Diversity was selected as a theoretical framework to base the research on it. The investigation looks at an interpretivist philosophy. This is an explanatory research and multiple case-study design with a qualitative strategy. The empirical data was carried out through interviews and the main findings were breaking down by the diverse climate, the individual outcomes and the organisational effectiveness according to the model selected. Coding and pattern matching were the main techniques for the analysis of the data. The main limitations were the little access provided from one organisation and therefore the implications were an incomplete analysis to that specific organisation. Nonetheless, for the other organisations, the analysis of the findings suggests that cultural diversity has positive outcomes in the three organisations. For companies, the research contributes to a better understanding of multiculturalism in organisations and how important it is to understand the benefits and challenges that cultural diversity represents in order to manage it adequately