Deck 17: Global Human Resource Management

Question 1

It is important for the spouse of an expatriate manager, and perhaps the whole family, to be included in cultural training programs.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

International trade secretariats have been highly successful in linking national unions in the automobile and steel industries.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The balance sheet approach to expatriate pay is used for expatriates in lower economic postings to show how their reduced income level is in line with the economy where they are living.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

An expatriate's base salary is normally lower than the base salary for a similar position in the home country.

Question 5

Unless a host country has a reciprocal tax treaty with the expatriate's home country, an expatriate must pay income tax to both the home- and host-country governments.

Question 6

For international firms, an ethnocentric staffing approach is compatible with a localization strategy.

Question 7

One disadvantage of an ethnocentric staffing policy is that it produces resentment in host-country nationals.

Question 8

An international firm demonstrates cultural myopia when it adopts cross-cultural literacy policies and understands cultural differences in a host country.

Question 9

A polycentric approach to staffing might be less expensive to implement than an ethnocentric approach.

Question 10

According to a study by R. L. Tung, the most indicated reason for expatriate failure among U.S. multinationals was difficulty coping with a new environment.

Question 11

Ethnocentric staffing policies are in place when all key management positions are filled by host-country nationals.

Question 12

Citizens of a foreign country working in the home country of their multinational employer are known as repatriates.

Question 13

A person's willingness to communicate is an important dimension in others-orientation, which was identified by Mendenhall and Oddou as a factor that predicts success in a foreign posting.

Question 14

Unintentional bias makes it easy to evaluate the performance of expatriate managers objectively.

Question 15

A concern of organized labor is that an international business will farm out highly skilled tasks to foreign plants.

Question 16

An expatriate manager is a citizen of one country who is working in the home country while managing the firm's foreign subsidiaries.

Question 17

Employee compensation and labor relations are functions associated with human resource management.

Question 18

Transnational firm managers need to be able to detect pressures for local responsiveness, which means they need to understand the culture of a host country.

Question 19

Bringing managers together in one location for extended periods and rotating them through different jobs in several countries help a firm build an informal management network.

Question 20

Organizational architecture refers to an organization's norms and value systems.

Question 21

Marcie Conroy of Feel-Better Pharmaceuticals works in the human resource department and is responsible for developing criteria for matching prospective employees to available jobs. What is Marcie responsible for?

A) compensation policy
B) staffing policy
C) performance appraisal policy
D) training policy
E) management development policy

Question 22

Red Brands, a Singapore-based agricultural commodities company, continuously expands into Africa to source and process commodities. The company finds that many of these countries lack advanced higher education institutions, and thus decides to pursue an ethnocentric senior staffing policy in Africa. This is most likely because the management of Red Brands

A) believes in providing growth opportunities to host-country nationals.
B) wants to avoid cultural myopia.
C) believes host counties lack qualified individuals for senior management positions.
D) wants to keep all core competencies within the home country.
E) wants to build strong informal management networks in all its subsidiaries.

Question 23

Ryan, a U.S. citizen, is the operations manager at the Middle East office of KB Constructions Inc., an American firm. In this situation, Ryan is a(n) ________ manager.

A) repatriate
B) host-country
C) inpatriate
D) expatriate
E) virtual

Question 24

Flor-Restore, a U.S. dental products company, follows a polycentric staffing approach, and key positions at the company's U.S. headquarters are staffed by U.S. nationals while foreign subsidiaries are managed by locals. While the company's international business has grown exponentially in the past five years, greater competition in the United States has caused this office to see a decline in sales and many top U.S. managers are leaving the company. What drawback to a polycentric approach might explain this?

A) It is expensive to implement.
B) It leads managers to make mistakes due to cultural misunderstandings.
C) It limits advancement opportunities for managers.
D) It invariably makes a firm suffer from cultural myopia.
E) It bridges the gap between the headquarters of a firm and its foreign subsidiaries.

Question 25

In the Swiss watch firm PrimeTime Inc., all the top management positions in its international operations are held by Swiss nationals. What is the staffing policy followed by PrimeTime Inc.?

A) eurocentric
B) ethnocentric
C) polycentric
D) geocentric
E) transnational

Question 26

Takahashi Talent, a Japanese commercial advertising agency, has a policy of appointing the best person for the job in its various locations regardless of the candidate's nationality. Which staffing policy best describes Takahashi Talent's approach?

A) local
B) ethnocentric
C) geocentric
D) polycentric
E) transnational

Question 27

At a job fair, a recruiter explained to Matt that his company not only looks for employees who have college degrees and work experience, but also those who have the same beliefs and value systems as the company. What aspect of the company is the recruiter referring to?

A) corporate social responsibility
B) cultural toughness
C) cultural sensitivity
D) corporate culture
E) perceptual ability

Question 28

An expatriate manager refers to

A) a citizen of one country who is working abroad in one of the firm's subsidiaries.
B) a parent-country national who works in the parent country.
C) a host-country national who works in the host country.
D) any person who lives in a foreign country.
E) a person willing to work in different departments of a foreign firm.

Question 29

What staffing policy is concerned with filling all key management positions by parent-country nationals?

A) ethnocentric
B) global
C) polycentric
D) geocentric
E) transnational

Question 30

Kanga-Kicks, Inc. is an Australian multinational company with operations in 15 countries around the world. It is the company's policy to staff all the key positions in foreign operations with Australian managers. What type of staffing policy does the company use?

A) ethnocentric
B) global
C) polycentric
D) geocentric
E) transnational

Question 31

Borsh Lawn Products, a German manufacturer, did not succeed in its international ventures because it used its domestic marketing mix "as-is" in foreign markets. This failure to understand host-country cultural differences that require different approaches to marketing and management is referred to as

A) cultural parity.
B) cultural myopia.
C) power distance.
D) cultural toughness.
E) cultural polarization.

Question 32

The expatriate managers of Je Parle, a French leader in specialty perfumes, followed the same domestic marketing and management practices in foreign markets as their colleagues did in France. As a result, Je Parle's international expansion failed because the company suffers from

A) a masculine culture.
B) cultural myopia.
C) power distance.
D) cultural toughness.
E) low ambiguity.

Question 33

Thermal-Core, a United States-based company, is clear-cut in its human resources policy with regard to international expansion. While U.S. nationals staff key positions at its Tampa, Florida, headquarters, it recruits locals to manage subsidiaries in each country that it goes into. Thermal-Core's staffing policy is

A) geocentric.
B) polycentric.
C) ethnocentric.
D) global.
E) transnational.

Question 34

What is an advantage of a polycentric staffing approach?

A) It is less expensive to implement as compared to other staffing approaches.
B) It gives host-country nationals unlimited opportunities to gain experience outside their own country.
C) It increases career mobility.
D) It increases interaction between the headquarters of a firm and its foreign subsidiaries.
E) It bridges the gap between host-country managers and parent-country managers.

Question 35

What is a characteristic of an ethnocentric staffing policy?

A) It requires host-country nationals to be recruited to manage subsidiaries.
B) It is used when a firm places a low value on its corporate culture.
C) It increases advancement opportunities for host-country nationals.
D) It seeks the best people for key jobs throughout the organization, regardless of nationality.
E) It places parent-country nationals in key management positions.

Question 36

A U.S.-based company set up operations in Indonesia and determined that there wasn't a qualified applicant pool in Jakarta to fill its senior management positions. What staffing policy will the company most likely follow?

A) eurocentric
B) ethnocentric
C) polycentric
D) geocentric
E) transnational

Question 37

Which aspect of organizational architecture is considered the linchpin that brings together all of the other components?

A) culture
B) people
C) processes
D) structure
E) product

Question 38

Col-For, an Italian beverage company, prides itself on its corporate culture that it has developed over a twenty-year period and believes it is a key to its competitive advantage. What staffing policy will the company likely follow if it expands to Germany?

A) eurocentric
B) ethnocentric
C) polycentric
D) geocentric
E) transnational

Question 39

Haruto Kawa, a Japanese citizen who works for Shin-Ro Corp. in Japan, has been asked to head the company's sales office in the United States. Upon taking the assignment, Haruto will be a(n) ________ manager.

A) repatriate
B) host-country
C) inpatriate
D) expatriate
E) virtual

Question 40

A(n) ________ approach to staffing limits career mobility and isolates headquarters from foreign subsidiaries.

A) polycentric
B) transnational
C) geocentric
D) ethnocentric
E) global

Question 41

What is a disadvantage of adopting a geocentric staffing approach?

A) Cultural myopia negatively influences effective management control.
B) Training and relocation costs increase when transferring managers from country to country.
C) Host-country nationals cannot progress beyond senior positions in their own subsidiary.
D) A gap forms between host-country managers and parent-country managers.
E) The lack of management transfers leads to a lack of integration between corporate headquarters and foreign subsidiaries.

Question 42

Valerie is considered an excellent candidate for the foreign job posting because she is self-confident and demonstrates strong self-esteem. Mendenhall and Oddou would label these characteristics as

A) perceptual ability.
B) self-orientation.
C) others-orientation.
D) cultural toughness.
E) empathy.

Question 43

According to Mendenhall and Oddou's dimensions that predict success in a foreign posting, what is a result of the attribute of others-orientation?

A) The expatriate has high self-esteem.
B) The expatriate empathizes with the host-country nationals.
C) The expatriate makes an effort to use the local language.
D) The expatriate adjusts to the inhospitable climate of the host country.
E) The expatriate is comfortable working in a male-dominated environment.

Question 44

According to the results of a seminal study by R. L. Tung, the top reason why Japanese expatriate managers fail is

A) the inability of their spouses to adjust.
B) the lack of technical competence.
C) their personal or emotional problems.
D) the inability to cope with larger overseas responsibilities.
E) their inability to deal with difficulties in the new environment.

Question 45

A(n) ________ staffing approach is compatible with an international strategy but can produce resentment in the host country.

A) ethnocentric
B) geocentric
C) polycentric
D) transnational
E) ethical

Question 46

Expatriate failure refers to

A) the premature return of an expatriate manager to his or her home country.
B) the demise of a foreign direct investment opportunity.
C) the return of exported goods due to damage from transport.
D) the emotional transition all expatriates go through.
E) a lack of technical competence among foreign nationals.

Question 47

Which staffing policy requires all the expatriates to be home-country nationals who are transferred abroad?

A) geocentric
B) ethnocentric
C) polycentric
D) international
E) domestic

Question 48

There are vast differences in local market needs in the consumer soft drink business around the world. TwinFold Media, a Canadian multinational advertising agency, specializes in the soft drink industry and uses a geocentric staffing approach. What advantage would the company gain by using this approach?

A) It tends to reduce cultural myopia and enhance local responsiveness.
B) It is inexpensive to implement.
C) It reduces the costs of value creation.
D) It allows all key management positions of a firm and its subsidiaries to be filled by parent-country nationals.
E) It requires minimal documentation for hiring foreign nationals.

Question 49

Countries such as the United States and China require extensive documentation if firms wish to hire a foreign national instead of a local national. This is an important consideration for Desert Plain Wines, a Chilean wine maker, as it decides on its staffing policy for international expansion. What staffing approach would be most affected by this type of limitation?

A) polycentric
B) geocentric
C) transnational
D) ethnocentric
E) local

Question 50

________ refers to a subset of expatriates who are citizens of a foreign country working in the home country of their multinational employer.

A) Virtual expatriates
B) Inpatriates
C) Third-country nationals
D) Host-country nationals
E) Parent-country nationals

Question 51

According to the results of a seminal study by R. L. Tung, what was the major reason for expatriate failure among European expatriates?

A) personal or emotional problems
B) inability to cope with overseas responsibilities
C) poor pay
D) inability of spouse to adjust to a new environment
E) lack of technical competence

Question 52

According to Mendenhall and Oddou, ________ provides an expatriate the ability to understand why people of other countries behave the way they do.

A) cultural toughness
B) perceptual ability
C) self-orientation
D) others-orientation
E) willingness to communicate

Question 53

According to Mendenhall and Oddou, what dimension that predicts success in a foreign posting strengthens an expatriate's self-esteem, self-confidence, and mental well-being?

A) cultural toughness
B) others-orientation
C) perceptual ability
D) self-orientation
E) empathy

Question 54

According to Mendenhall and Oddou's dimensions that predict success in a foreign posting, an individual exhibiting an others-orientation would

A) be able to only use the home-country language.
B) display low self-esteem.
C) be more focused on self.
D) be unable to adjust to a foreign posting.
E) have the ability to interact with host-country nationals.

Question 55

A(n) ________ is compatible with a geocentric staffing policy, but immigration policies might limit the implementation of this strategy.

A) global standardization strategy
B) localization strategy
C) international strategy
D) TQM strategy
E) JIT strategy

Question 56

Miguel, a citizen of Mexico, is working as a manager in the Mexico City branch of an American firm. Due to his efficiency, he was assigned a temporary posting at the headquarters of the firm in Canton, Ohio. In this situation, he is known as a(n)

A) repatriate.
B) inpatriate.
C) third-country national.
D) expatriate failure.
E) parent-country national.

Question 57

In her fifteen-year career at CalCorp, Samantha's work did not require any travel at all. Actually, Samantha has never traveled outside of the United States. However, she has excelled at her job and is good at communicating with everyone in the firm. An important position has opened in CalCorp's Dubai operations, and the company is considering whom to send. According to Mendenhall and Oddou, which attribute would seem unlikely to predict success in this situation?

A) Samantha's ability to project self-orientation
B) equating Samantha's domestic performance with overseas potential
C) an others-orientation demonstrated by Samantha
D) the ability to empathize shown by Samantha
E) Samantha's level of cultural toughness

Question 58

How is a geocentric staffing policy beneficial to a firm?

A) It requires the firm to provide little or no documentation to hire a foreign national.
B) It is inexpensive to implement.
C) It helps the firm follow a localization strategy.
D) It allows all key management positions to be filled by parent-country nationals.
E) It enables the firm to make the best use of its human resources.

Question 59

Harris was promoted to the international post because he had the ability to "put himself in another person's shoes" and understand why people in other countries behave the way they do. Which of Mendenhall and Oddou's dimensions does Harris display?

A) self-orientation
B) cultural myopia
C) perceptual ability
D) ethnocentrism
E) cultural toughness

Question 60

What staffing policy relies extensively on the use of expatriate managers?

A) global
B) polycentric
C) transnational
D) ethnocentric
E) home-country

Question 61

Mallory, an American manager working in the Middle East, is successfully adjusting to a new country where the culture is extremely male-dominated. According to Mendenhall and Oddou, what dimension that predicts success in foreign postings does Mallory demonstrate?

A) perceptual ability
B) others-orientation
C) cultural toughness
D) self-orientation
E) empathy

Question 62

When James accepted the job in England, he and his family received information on the best roads to take to get their children to school, where to shop for groceries, and referrals for medical and dental care. What kind of training did they receive?

A) cognitive
B) practical
C) language
D) cultural
E) ethical

Question 63

Companies use ________ to build a manager's skills over his or her career with a firm.

A) ethnocentrism
B) cultural toughness
C) total quality management
D) management development
E) organizational norms

Question 64

Repatriation refers to

A) sending expatriate managers to a new host country.
B) training expatriate managers to adjust to the new environment of the host country.
C) reentry of expatriate managers into their home-country organization.
D) helping expatriate managers build rapport with local employees.
E) increasing expatriate managers' effectiveness in dealing with host-country nationals.

Question 65

As the human resources manager, Marcus knows it is important for the company to develop a program for expatriates who return to work at the home office. What type of program is Marcus referring to?

A) standardization
B) inpatriation
C) repatriation
D) localization
E) appreciation

Question 66

Which type of staffing policy directly implies that a company should pay managers based on country-specific standards because there is a lack of mobility among national operations?

A) polycentric
B) ethnocentric
C) geocentric
D) domestic
E) regional

Question 67

Marlee is a manager at the California home office of Tech-Cor. She is gathering information about the company's international subunits and has profitability figures and market share analysis, which she plans to use in her performance appraisal when she meets with the expatriate manager next week in Brazil. What type of information is Marlee using for her appraisal?

A) qualitative data
B) soft data
C) biased data
D) hard data
E) secondary data

Question 68

What staffing policy limits a firm's ability to reduce its use of expatriates?

A) geocentric
B) polycentric
C) transnational
D) regiocentric
E) neocentric

Question 69

Patrice doesn't know if she can adjust to the poor health care, lower housing standards, and inhospitable climate in the foreign country where she has recently been assigned. Which of Mendenhall and Oddou's four dimensions that predict success in a foreign posting does Patrice need to acquire?

A) perceptual ability
B) cultural toughness
C) self-orientation
D) others-orientation
E) self-confidence

Question 70

A(n) ________ staffing policy is pursued by firms where the lack of managers' mobility among national operations implies that the pay for expatriates should be kept country-specific.

A) regional
B) ethnocentric
C) geocentric
D) polycentric
E) domestic

Question 71

An increase in ________ is an additional and difficult dimension to the long-standing problem of expatriate failure.

A) formal training
B) dual-career families
C) cultural diversity
D) single parenting
E) cultural toughness

Question 72

In the context of expatriate compensation, what is the role of a balance sheet approach?

A) It equalizes purchasing power across countries so employees can enjoy the same living standard in their foreign posting that they enjoyed at home.
B) It helps expatriate managers and their families to adjust to the day-to-day life of the host country.
C) It rewards expatriates on the basis of merit and performance.
D) It helps promote goodwill among all managers regardless of posting.
E) It is offered as an inducement to accept foreign postings and live away from family.

Question 73

During performance appraisals at Carson Engineering Corp., both the host-nation managers and the home-office managers evaluate the performance of expatriate managers. A company might do this to avoid the problem of

A) cultural conflict.
B) unintentional bias.
C) operational errors.
D) overcompensation.
E) culture shock.

Question 74

According to the survey by Towers Watson, which country provides the highest pay to CEOs?

A) Switzerland
B) United States
C) Japan
D) Australia
E) Argentina

Question 75

Jacob works for a large U.S. corporation that has operations in more than 30 countries. Currently, there is conflict among the international managers, as they feel that they are not being compensated fairly and claim that U.S. managers like Jacob are paid more because they come from countries with a higher cost of living. The firm is deciding whether or not to equalize the pay for all managers regardless of country of origin. What type of staffing policy does this company have in place?

A) polycentric
B) geocentric
C) ethnocentric
D) domestic
E) regional

Question 76

When Parul, an expatriate manager for Castle Mfg., went to work in the company's Thailand operations, she was often frustrated when her staff showed up thirty minutes late for meetings and did not have an explanation for their tardiness. She didn't understand why her staff in Thailand didn't behave like her staff had in the home office. According to Mendenhall and Oddou, an expatriate manager like Parul who tends to treat Thai nationals as if they were home-country nationals lacks the dimension of

A) cultural toughness.
B) self-orientation.
C) power distance.
D) perceptual ability.
E) willingness to communicate.

Question 77

________ refers to the extra pay an expatriate receives for working outside his or her country of origin.

A) Parity adjustment
B) Cost of living allowance
C) Foreign service premium
D) Expat allowance
E) Dividend

Question 78

According to Mendenhall and Oddou, what dimension refers to the relationship between the country of assignment and how well an expatriate adjusts to a particular posting?

A) self-orientation
B) perceptual ability
C) cultural toughness
D) others-orientation
E) willingness to communicate

Question 79

A(n) ________ staffing policy is concerned with the need for a cadre of international managers that may include many different nationalities and raises the question "should all members receive the same pay and incentives?"

A) polycentric
B) geocentric
C) ethnocentric
D) domestic
E) regional

Question 80

The ________ approach is the most common approach to expatriate pay, which equalizes purchasing power across countries so employees can enjoy the same living standard in their foreign posting that they enjoyed at home.

A) merit
B) receivables
C) balance sheet
D) purchasing parity
E) commission