knowledge, frequent interaction can lead to even more stereotyping than infrequent interaction
because familiar objects receive less systematic analytic processing. The result may be that one’s
inaccurate communication of his or her work styles, which is done to overcome perceived status
differentials, may not be detected by a person from another culture. Instead, individuals may
increase their stereotyping and choose, as did the U.S. engineers in this study, to not send work to
Mexico because they believed that Mexican engineers were not capable. To combat this problem,
it may be wise for managers to make time and find a budget for global communication partners to
visit each other’s workplaces occasionally so that they learn how they work and, consequently,
refrain from stereotyping based on lack of knowledge. Further, such site visits may stop
individuals from forming perceptions that others have stereotyped them because they will have
confidence that a visit to their site has ensured that the visitor now understands that they are
competent workers.