Cultural competencies are a growing bank of knowledge and skills whereby employees, systems and organisations respond effectively and respectfully to people and clients coming from all cultures, languages, classes, religions and other diverse factors in a manner that accords dignity to the individuals, families and communities.

As such, cultural competencies are very much about the value system of the service provider or organisation and the hospitality industry has been at the forefront of demonstrating such competencies with success. The hospitality industry is among the best examples of how to make diversity work for you and create wealth through good diversity management, whether it be the recruitment of employees with diverse cultural backgrounds or providing a service to a diverse clientele by being sensitive to their particular needs and requirements said Joe Gerada, chief executive officer of the Foundation for Human Resources Development while chairing one of the sessions during the conference on the theme “Interacting in Diversity for Social Cohesion”, organised by the Council of Europe and the EU Commission in Strasbourg.

He said that cultural competencies is about change management and in this respect builds the capacity of organisations to ensure that they deliver the real needs of an increasing culturally diverse clientele. This is equally true for public institutions, which although do not necessarily operate for profit, nonetheless have an obligation to ensure that all their clients are satisfied with the service. Mr Gerada said that in order to do this one has to be able to evaluate one’s systems by auditing the organisation and measure how well it is responding to changes in demand generally, but to cultural change in particular. He said that this calls for trained staff that value diversity not only for its social implications but also for business. In this respect, investment in cultural knowledge and building the capacity to respond positively and favourably to diversity was something that would distinguish the high-flyer organizations from the average.

The conference brought to an end a two-year project on Managing Diversity in Europe funded by the Council of Europe and the EU Commission together with the Government of Quebec. The Conference was opened by Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, deputy Secretary General, Council of Europe, Yolande James, Minister of Immigration and Cultural Communities, Quebec Government, Canada and Lenia Samuel, deputy Director General, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, European Commission.