Cultural Diversity Management - A quantitative and qualitative study exploring the employee perspectives of cultural diversity management in a consulting firm

Abstract: The research presented in this thesis was conducted with the aim to examine cultural diversity management in a consulting firm belonging to a global group by reviewing cultural diversity perspectives of employees. The intention has been to examine if there are any differences between how junior and senior level employees perceive cultural diversity when working in culturally heterogeneous groups and how these possible differences can translate into guidelines for diversity management activities in an organization. The study has been conducted through a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods - more specifically through analyzing the results from a survey of 210 respondents targeting cultural diversity conducted within the firm in 2014 and eight in-depth interviews with junior and senior employees during 2015. The results indicate that there is a gap between how seniors communicate and exercise cultural diversity practices and how juniors perceive cultural diversity within the firm. Based on these findings, areas that need to be targeted by organizations and their leaders have been identified. These include creating an inclusive work environment, targeting unconscious bias, language barriers in culturally heterogeneous teams as well as opportunities for improvement of diversity training. Analyses are supported by theoretical framework dealing with research within cultural diversity management, leadership and inclusion.