Equality and Diversity Management: An Investigation into the Business Case for Equality and Diversity Practise in SMEs

The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the business case for equality and diversity in Small and Medium-Size Enterprises. Specifically, how business owners or managers manage equality and diversity challenges in their organisations. This research is of critical significance and it provides an analysis and evaluation of how effectively SMEs manage the diversity within their workforce. The main themes of Managing Diversity (MD) were analysed and the research questions were developed accordingly. About 100 small businesses were surveyed using questionnaires and primary data was collected from small businesses owners and managers within different sectors and from various locations in Wales. Data collected was analysed and evaluated using SPSS. Findings from the research suggest that white managers and business owners were more associated with negative attitudes towards equality and diversity in their organisations. Similarly, younger entrepreneurs, age 25 years and under were generally negative in their attitude towards equality and diversity challenges, equal opportunities practices and in their response to demographic changes. While, female managers were found to have more positive attitudes towards equality and diversity than their male counterparts. The findings from this study are unhealthy for SMEs in Wales and UK businesses in general. Lessons from the research suggest that extra efforts should be made to help entrepreneurs and managers as organisations seek to play a part in an attempt to build a society that is fair to all where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]\nCopyright of International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities & Nations is the property of Common Ground Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)