Deck 6: International Performance Management

Question 1

A Japanese manager cannot directly point out a work-related problem or error committed by a subordinate.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Often the country assigned to a TCN is perceived by headquarters to be culturally close.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Expatriate performance should be placed within its international as well as organizational context.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

American work methods may be more structured than their foreign counterparts and that individuals have less discretion in how they approach tasks and problems.

Question 5

One key function of performance appraisal feedback is that it provides opportunities to improve performance by identifying gaps that might be eliminated by training and development.

Question 6

Performance management is a part of a multinational's control system.

Question 7

Role expectations are likely to be less complex for the TCN than the PCN.

Question 8

The way we measure workers' productivity is exactly the same in an international setting,but the numbers come out differently because of that environmental difference.

Question 9

The international business traveler can be described as an expatriate.

Question 10

If perceived financial benefits and career progression are not met during an assignment,the level of motivation and commitment will decrease thus affecting performance.

Question 11

Formal performance appraisal is commonly on a biannual basis.

Question 12

A multinational is a single entity that faces a global environment.

Question 13

Regular feedback is an important aspect in terms of meeting targets and revising goals as well as assisting in motivation of work effort.

Question 14

A team of evaluators should be used for performance appraisal of an expatriate.

Question 15

The two categories of international staff are expatriate and commuter.

Question 16

Developments in sophisticated worldwide communications system provide an acceptable substitute for "face to face" contacts between subsidiary managers and corporate staff.

Question 17

The expatriate's commitment to the parent and to the local operations was both positively related to the intent to stay.

Question 18

The nature of the international monetary system and local accounting differences may preclude an accurate measurement of goal attainment results.

Question 19

Virtual assignments rarely if ever have performance appraisals.

Question 20

The standardized performance forms in an organization are always reworked to reflect differences in the expatriates' situation in a foreign country.

Question 21

What are the five variables affecting expatriate performance?

A) Compensation package,task,HQ support,host environment and culture adjustment
B) Legal,economic,culture adjustment,physical and task
C) Technical,societal,compensations,HQ support and host environment
D) Compensation,task,cultural environment,HQ support and legal

Question 22

What are the five major constraints in terms of multinational strategy and goal setting?

A) Differing societal,legal,economic,technical and physical demands
B) Differing societal,cultural,economic ,technical and physical demands
C) Differing societal,legal,administrative,economic and physical demands
D) Differing legal,strategic,administrative,economic and physical demands

Question 23

An operative:

A) Is a subsidiary manager
B) Reproduces a foreign subsidiary structure
C) Is an individual sent to a subsidiary to solve a particular problem
D) Is an individual whose assignment is to perform functional job task

Question 24

What can be described as the strongest stressors in expatriate "overseas" work environment?

A) Uncertainty regarding culture differences and language
B) Uncertainty regarding objectives,goals and role requirements
C) Uncertainty regarding job retention
D) Uncertainty of who to report to and who is in the line of command

Question 25

The impact of the following variables and their interrelationship needs to be considered in determining the expatriate performance EXCEPT:

A) Compensation package
B) The nature of the task
C) Environment in which the performance occurs
D) Interpersonal relationship with key official

Question 26

The turbulence of the global environment requires that long-term goals be

A) Inflexible to major environment events
B) Realistic and in line with corporate goals
C) Ambitious to meet the growing needs of the organization
D) Flexible to respond to market contingencies

Question 27

An appraisal system which builds upon the strengths while minimizing their disadvantages uses all of the following criteria:

A) Hard ,soft and contextual goals
B) Financial,corporate and cross-cultural goals
C) Interpersonal ,financial and cultural goals
D) Hard goals,cultural and corporate goals

Question 28

What is a strategic international assignment?

A) A short-term knowledge transferor activity
B) High profile activities that focus on developing a balanced global perspective for the employee
C) Assignment that involves the two-way transfer of existing processes and practices
D) Assignment that focuses on in-country performances and the acquisition of local understanding

Question 29

Which country has a strong tradition of collective bargaining?

A) Danish
B) USA
C) Japan
D) Germany

Question 30

The employee who oversees and directs the entire foreign operations is:

A) Expatriate
B) Structure reproducer
C) HR manager
D) Chief executive officer

Question 31

If the PCN is perceived to identify too closely with the host subsidiary concerns:

A) The employee is perceived to be "going native"
B) The employee is sent on vacation
C) The employee is removed from the subsidiary
D) The employee is considered to be doing his or her job

Question 32

A USA manager of German nationality working for a Dutch multinational company is assigned to a position in Indonesia.Which country is considered the host country?

A) USA
B) Dutch
C) Germany
D) Indonesia

Question 33

The transfer of the individual and accompanying family member into a foreign environment outside of their normal cultural comfort zones is the definition of:

A) Domestic relocation
B) International traveler
C) Expatriate assignment
D) Commuter

Question 34

Which country tends to focus on linking performance management result to long-term training and development activities?

A) USA
B) France
C) Germany
D) Australia

Question 35

Performance management:

A) Is a process that enables the MNE to evaluate and continuously improve individual,subsidiary unit and corporate performance against set goals and targets
B) Is the evaluation of an employee performance and a vehicle to set performance goals
C) Is the process of evaluating business opportunities and planning for new investments
D) Is the process of setting goals for future performance by MHE employees

Question 36

Which country tends to have administrators with a high level of legal expertise?

A) Sweden
B) Germany
C) France
D) UK

Question 37

Individuals are likely to blame lack of job discretion on the following:

A) The culture,role,and organization
B) The organization,the job and the location
C) The job,location and culture differences
D) Culture,the job and the Chief Executive Officer

Question 38

Market development in foreign subsidiaries is generally slower and more difficult to achieve without:

A) Supporting infrastructure of the parent
B) Formal control mechanism
C) Expatriates from the parent organization
D) Cross-culture training

Question 39

All of the following are a constraint of goal attainment for the multinational enterprise EXCEPT:

A) Volatility of global environment
B) Cross-cultural demands
C) Separation of time and distant
D) Non-comparable data

Question 40

Two countries in which it is common for employees to have input into job goal setting is:

A) USA and Mexico
B) Germany and Sweden
C) Canada and Australia
D) Japan and Sweden

Question 41

What are some constraints in evaluating a subsidiary's performance against expectations?

Question 42

A major challenge to global performance management is:

A) How to determine performance criteria and goals related to non-standard assignments especially virtual assignees
B) How to provide performance management forms to all employees
C) How to translate parent country forms into local languages
D) How to determine who is actually filling out the forms in local subsidiaries

Question 43

What are the three general types of goals used as the basis for performance criteria?

Question 44

The term "whole verses part" refers to:

A) The idea that a global performance is too complex to be captured by a single performance management system
B) The idea that less than excellent performance outcomes in a given local unit may be acceptable if that unit's presence in a location contributes to the greater strategic good
C) The idea that you can best capture performance management by adding up the sum of all the individual performance outcomes in the various units or parts of the MNE.
D) The idea that corporate headquarters' executive can accurately assess the parts (local units)of performance far more accurately than the whole or overall firm performance

Question 45

MNEs control performance by what means?

Question 46

How do performance management systems in Germany and France differ?

Question 47

In which country do managers find it difficult to directly point out a work-related problem or error by a subordinate?

A) USA
B) China
C) Japan
D) Indonesia

Question 48

What tool assists an organization in collecting accurate performance data and allows for cross-employee comparisons?

A) Local implicit norms
B) Standardized appraisal forms
C) Local performance diaries
D) Standardized performance goals

Question 49

Performance management systems contribute:

A) Only to formal control,through feedback and appraisal aspects
B) Only to informal control through contributing to shaping corporate culture
C) To both formal control,through feedback and appraisal aspects as well as informal control,through contributing to shaping corporate culture
D) To standardized control and the communication of the local units' contribution to global standards

Question 50

Who conducts performance appraisals for expatiates and other international employees?

Question 51

Web-based platforms of human resource information system that include performance management modules:

A) Create more performance management problems than they solve
B) May be seen as eliminating the separations of time,distance and culture experienced by multinational firms
C) May be seen as a response to the separations of time,distance and culture experienced by multinational firms
D) May be seen as increasing and making more obvious the separations of time,distance and culture experienced by multinational firms

Question 52

The dilemma of cultural adaptation of a performance evaluation could be overcome by:

A) The host-country national assisting in devising a suitable system for appraisal
B) Parent company not evaluating the employees
C) TCN developing the performance appraisal system
D) Offshoring the performance evaluation

Question 53

One problem with an annual performance appraisal is:

A) Managers often miscommunicate how to improve the expatriate's job performance in a timely manner.
B) Technological improvements have made the evaluation obsolete.
C) Employees do not receive consistent frequent feedback in order to improve
D) Email feedback has replaced the need for a formal employee evaluation

Question 54

According to Hays,the "trouble shooter" is:

A) The individual sent from a subsidiary back to headquarters because they are a performance problem
B) The individual in a local subsidiary who holds his or her employees to an impossibly high standard in performance appraisal reports
C) The individual sent to a local subsidiary to identify redundant employees and fires them
D) The individual sent to a local subsidiary to analyze and solve particular operational problems

Question 55

What is the normal frequency of formal performance appraisal for an expatriate?

A) 6 months
B) 1 year
C) 18 months
D) 2 years