The Englishman dresses in tweeds or a three-piece pin-stripped suit and a Burberry raincoat on rainy days. He wears a bowler hat, carries a tightly furled, black umbrella with a cane handle and has a pink newspaper tucked under his left armpit. He goes to church on Sunday mornings and eats roast beef with Yorkshire pudding for Sunday lunch. He is a man of principle, insists on fair play for underdogs, does things in a proper manner and shows more affection for horses, cats and dogs than for children, foxes and grouse.

The above excerpt from Richard D. Lewis’ book, When Cultures Collide: Leading Across Cultures, is instructive on both the power and ridiculousness of national stereotypes.

“The majority of British people bear little resemblance to the stereotype,” as he notes. Clearly.

And yet, it isn’t always so clear that stereotypes carry misinformation. Jeffrey Wasserman, professor of history at the University of California, Irvine, recently outlined the believability of the stereotypes about Beijing people versus Shanghai people – while also demonstrating the silliness of it all - for our Cool Aid podcast in cooperation with the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business and the Foreign Correspondents Club of China.

While often funny, stereotypes are not innocuous. In the business setting, stereotypes could lead international managers to undervalue creative suggestions from employees of countries associated with more conformist ways. Race, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status are additional templates upon which artificial stereotypes develop and negatively influence an otherwise healthy office environment.

Fortunately, some research suggests that stereotypes are more likely to be used in decision-making settings only when better information isn’t available.

Jan Hack Katz, senior lecturer of international management and marketing at the Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University, has published a working paper titled, “How Troublesome are Stereotypes in International Business?”

Dr. Katz answer: Not as much as we might think. (more…)