Developing the Competencies Essential for Cross-Cultural Diversity Management in the Workplace

The study aims to reveal the effect that demographic processes and cross-cultural differences among employees produce on the personnel management practice in the Czech Republic and Sverdlovsk oblast and to develop a model of cross-cultural diversity management in the workplace. The research methodology was based on accumulation of data and information using several methods, such as analysing scientific publications, holding semi-structured interviews between top-management and HR specialists, and analyzing the applied methods of cross-cultural diversity management from the perspective of personnel management. Interviews allowed revealing approaches and practices exercised in the sphere of cross-cultural diversity management in the Czech Republic and Sverdlovsk oblast and demonstrated that the main factor behind hiring employees from among foreign citizens in the Russian Federation and national minorities in the Czech Republic is national minorities' demand for products and services, as well as the degree of cross-cultural diversity in the markets. Moreover, top-management and specialists lack competencies in the sphere of crosscultural diversity management, but at the same time they realize the importance of the problems resolved using the diversity management methods, the need for deepening knowledge in this area and feasibility of its use in practice. The results are presented in the form of a business model.