Towards a feasible approach to manage cross-cultural collaborations : Progressive Stereotyping – The mindset of tomorrow´s managers?

Abstract: Contemporary management is challenged in the modern organisations through several challenges. Research has shown the severe effects of cultural differences if managed poorly or overlooked. Previous research of cross-cultural management research can be divided into three streams of research. This field of research is highlighted as paradigmatic where each field is organized with its own assumptions, definitions and methodologies. Previous studies have called for less paradigmatic studies, this study strives to fill the need of a less paradigmatic study by combining a positivist paradigm and an interpretive paradigm into one feasible approach to help managers manage cross-cultural collaborations. The research question asked was therefore: How can managers benefit from both a generic and a non-generic approach in order to manage cultural differences in cross-cultural collaborations?In order to understand the problem theories of culture, the positivist paradigm, the interpretive paradigm and stereotypes or generalisations were used. A multi-paradigm approach was used in this study with 14 international managers where a process of interplay was applied, as an interaction between ontology/epistemology and interpretive/positivist paradigms. The study used both an inductive and a deductive approach in a combination when performing the research analysis. The key finding consists of the discovery of the concept named progressive stereotypes. This concept combines the benefits of a positivist research paradigm together with the benefits of an interpretive research paradigm. The key implications of this study first imply improved feasibility by combining research paradigms instead of treating them as inherently distant from each other. Secondly, the study highlights need importance of using stereotypes on an abstract level and as an initial knowledge base.