Top Ten Reasons Stereotypes are Bad for Business

1. Top Ten Reasons Stereotypes are Bad for Business AnastaciaKurylo, Ph.D. President Fortified Communication Consulting

2. Stereotypes • Stereotypes= Group + Characteristic • Stereotypes and generalizations are different. • Generalizationsare qualified. • Qualifiers include “many” and “in my personal experience.” • Communicated Stereotypes • are said in conversation, often casually.

3. Customers • In today’s economic environment there is a lot of talk about jobs. Henry Ford said, • “It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages.” • All efforts in business involve driving sales, even the most altruistic. • Customers are a company’s biggest priority. • Organizations like the National Diversity Council exist to help companies build business through a sincere commitment to diversity. More diverse employees spread a variety of perspectives, create outside-of-the-box ideas, and produce more competitive products. • Diversity and Inclusion efforts are customer focused.

4. Employees as Customers • Companies want to competitively recruit, keep, and promote diverse talent. • Employees are customers of • Diversity and Inclusion initiatives. • Despite best efforts, a 2006 study by three sociologists found that diversity training may have little effect on the demographics of a company's executives.* According to a 2010 report** by Senator Robert Menendez, • 3 out of 4 people seated in a board room at a • Fortune 500 company are Caucasian males. *Kalev, A., Dobbin, F., and Kelly, E. (2006). “Best Practices or Best Guesses? Diversity Management and the Remediation of Inequality.” American Sociological Review, 71, 589–617. **Corporate Diversity Report (2010) available at http://www.menendez.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/CorporateDiversityReport2.pdf

5. Diversity U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 2007 Report Diversity efforts are often based on improving demographics through number crunching. So how can companies change these statistics? *U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2007) adapted by Robert Benincasa and Alyson Hurt / NPR available at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122329851

6. Inclusion • Inclusion initiatives help. • According to Lilly Benjamin, Director of Global Inclusion at Avon, “Inclusion drives diversity and not the other way around.” “Diversity doesn’t translate globally.” • ‘Inclusion’ translates across cultures.* • On August 18than Executive Order (EO) was signed by President Obama requiring each government agency to issue its own Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan. • Clearly, inclusion should be considered important. • The problem with these initiatives is • SHOULD *Full Lilly Benjamin interview available at http://thedagobagroup.com/2011/12/interview-with-lily-benjamin/

7. Stereotypes • Businesses should engage in diversity and inclusion efforts • because of their customers. • But why? • • Two points are recommended as important for business. • • Diversity and Inclusion • • But, there is a third point that is often missing from these initiatives.• • Understanding Communicated Stereotypes

8. Goals • A persuasive case for Diversity and Inclusion • Focusing on why stereotypes are bad for business • Providing research-based explanations • Arguing for a self-serving investment in diversity and inclusion • Speaking the language of brand reputation, sales, and customer relations

9. Stereotypes slip into conversation • Information Processing* • Humans categorize data from the environment in order to exist. • This categorization involves mental shortcuts. • Stereotypes are a shortcut that provide efficiency and allow for inference. • Mental Processes Extend Into Communication • Because stereotypes are so useful mentally, they slip into conversation. • People don’t even notice saying them. • Sometimes communicated with seemingly the best intentions. • Communication with customers should be strategic. Reason #1 *Fiske, S. T., & Taylor, S. E. (1984). Social cognition. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

10. Communicated stereotypes are ubiquitous • Communicated Stereotypes are Functional • Stereotypes are just as functional as any form of communication.* • By communicating stereotypes people make jokes, give advice, bond, gain control, communicate efficiently, manage impressions, reduce uncertainty, and relax. • Because they are useful for people, they are communicated casually and often. • People Use What is Useful • The communication of a single stereotype often has little to do with diversity issues. • Thwarting communicated stereotypes requires overt training specifically in this area. • Those who communicate stereotypes do not think diversity initiatives apply to them. • Stereotypes are not useful for customer relations. *Rubin, R. B., Perse, E. M., & Barbato, C. A. (1988). Conceptualization and measurement of interpersonal communication motives. Human Communication Research, 14, 602-628. Reason #2

11. Stereotypes are Impersonal • Personal vs. Impersonal Messages • Stereotypes generalize characteristics to all members of the targeted group. • Stereotypes are impersonal one-size-fits-all messages. • Impersonal messages treat customers as interchangeable and unimportant. • Impersonal messages are easier and quicker to create than personalized messages. • The Easy Option is Not Always the Best Option • Customer retention can hinge on whether a customer feels sincerely valued. • Customer service adds to a company’s ability to be competitive. • Customers want to feel special. • Sales strategies work best when personalized. Reason #3

12. Your employee could be wrong • Expectancy Effects* • People’s expectations can lead to biased behavior. • Stereotypes provide expectations for how to act and how others will act. • Self-fulfilling prophecies and hypothesis confirming questions can cause targets of stereotypes to behave in ways that confirm those stereotypes. • Knowledge is Powerful, Stereotypes are Not • People can think they are right, even in the absence of evidence. • People can think stereotypes are accurate, even in the absence of evidence. • Customers are unique individuals • not generic stereotypes. *Hamilton, D. L., Sherman, S. J., & Ruvolo, C. M. (1990). Stereotype-based expectancies: Effects on information processing and social behavior. Journal of Social Issues,46, 35-60. Reason #4

13. Stereotypes are a poor way to communicate • Stereotypes are Noisy* • Stereotypes interfere with the ability to hear a message. • Noise can cause miscommunication. • Messages filtered through stereotypes can be altered in unrecognizable ways. • Stereotypes make even valid points difficult to hear. • Messages Need Help to be Crystal Clear • People recall only about 10% of the actual content of a conversation.** • Peoples recollection is more aligned with expectations than with actual behavior.** • There is a better way to say what you want to say so the message is clear. • Sales pitches require precision. Reason #5 *Shannon, C.E., & Weaver, W. (1949). The mathematical theory of communication. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. **Stafford, L., & Daly, J. A. (1984). Conversational memory: The effects of recall mode and memory expectancies on remembrances of natural conversations. Human Communication Research, 10, 379-402. ***Nisbett, R., & Wilson, T. (1977). Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes. Psychological Review, 84, 231-259.

14. Stereotypes are controversial • Political Correctness* • We know we ‘shouldn’t’ stereotype. • Celebrities are vilified in the media for communicating stereotypes. • We don’t like it when people stereotype the groups we belong to. • Avoid - Not Incite - Conflict With Customers • No matter how they are communicated, stereotypes are hot button topics. • Stereotypes open debate and encourage taking sides. • Stereotypes are deeply connected to historical roots and personal experience. • Brand reputation should be far removed from stereotypes. *Thibodaux, D. (1994). Beyond political correctness: Are there limits to this lunacy? Lafayette, LA: Huntington House Publishers. Reason #6

15. Stereotypes imply an agenda • Prejudice and Discrimination* • Stereotypes imply social, economic, and political agendas. • Communicating a stereotype suggests belief in the accuracy of that stereotype. • Communicating a stereotypes suggests you are prejudicial against the targeted group. • Prejudice and Discrimination is Not Your Agenda, Is it? • With other appropriate ways to communicate, why associate with this agenda? • This agenda is not what the company represents. • An employee’s agenda should not be a part of the company’s sales pitch. Reason #7 *Allport, G. W. (1954/1979). The nature of prejudice. Cambridge, MA: Addison-Wesley.

16. Communicated stereotypes misrepresent the company’s perspective • Ingroups and Outgroups* • Communicated stereotypes promote differences between groups (us vs. them). • Diversity and inclusion initiatives seem superficial and hypocritical. • People assume employees speak for the company. • Communication Messages are Company Products • Products and services are part of what is produced by a company. Employees are also products of the company. • Employee behavior reflects on the company. • Employee stereotype use reflects on the company brand. Reason #8 * Tajfel, H. & Turner, J. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In W. G. Austin & S. Worchel (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations. Monterey, CA: Brooks-Cole.

17. The Impact of stereotypes on a Customer can never be known • Cognitive Processes Cannot Be Directly Observed* • We assume because people look a certain way people will think a certain way • We assume people who look like us think like us ** • People often keep their real opinions to themselves. • People can say they think one way an actually think an entirely different way. • You Can’t Predict How Customers Will Respond • Being offended once is enough to make you never go back to that company. • States, traits, and circumstances all impact how people interpret what you say. • Customers will not risk having a conflict just to stay with your company. • Customers maintain relationships over company loyalty. *Shotter, J. (1981). Telling and Reporting: Prospective and Retrospective Uses of Self-Ascriptions. In C. Anataki (Ed.), The psychology of ordinary explanations of social behaviour (pp. 157-181). London: Academic Press. **Hilton, J. L., & von Hippel, W. (1996). Stereotypes. Annual Review of Psychology, 47, 237-272. Reason #9

18. customers Can lose trust • Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs* • People need to feel a sense of security and safety. • This security need must be met before meeting other life needs. • Stereotypes can make people feel uncomfortable and anxious threatening trust and security. • Years to Build, Seconds to Destroy • Lack of trust can hurt customer retention. • Trust is difficult to earn back once lost. • One communicated stereotype can damage a reputation. • Customer relations, sales, and brand reputation rely on trust. *Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370-396. Reason #10

19. Three points • Crunching numbers for diversity scorecard is persuasive. • Fostering large scale inclusion initiatives is invaluable. • Diversity and Inclusion initiatives miss one point • that is integral to carrying these out effectively: • Understanding Communicated Stereotypes • Communicated stereotypes can undermine these initiatives and • hurt customer relations, sales, and a company’s brand reputation.

20. AnastaciaKurylo, Ph.D. • Taught 15 years at New York University, Rutgers, University, Pace, University, and St. John’s University among other schools. • Founded the blog The Communicated Stereotype. (www.TheCommunicatedStereotype.com) • Owns Fortified Communication Consulting. (www.FortifiedCommunication.com) • Published over 25 articles on related topics. • Edited a textbook on intercultural communication with over 40 contributors talking about representation and construction. (http://www.sagepub.com/books/Book234817) • Publishing The Communicated Stereotype: From Celebrity Vilification to Everyday Talkthis June (https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780739167533)