Deck 9: Selecting and Evaluating International Employees

Question 1

Expatriates' performance evaluations should be conducted according to which of the following schedules?

A) Once or twice a year, but more often is suggested
B) Definitely within the first 6 months
C) Prior to beginning a major project
D) Immediately prior to their return to the home country

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which of the following factors impact how much local tailoring takes place when a multinational uses a blended approach to employee appraisal?

A) The nature of the foreign location itself
B) The greater the number of expatriates the lower the level of local IHRM tailoring
C) The greater the number of expatriates the easier it is for multinationals to directly transfer parent-company knowledge and practices to foreign subsidiaries
D) All of the above

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Cultural differences that contribute to the challenge of screening foreign candidates include which of the following?

A) Body language and nonverbal communication style similarities
B) Universal expectations about performance feedback and work values
C) Body language that is easily misinterpreted or overinterpreted
D) Both a and c

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which of the following is not considered an advantage for having a performance evaluation done by a home-country professional?

A) A home-country professional has more background on the expatriate's work history and track record
B) A home-country professional has a better understanding of overall corporate goals and objectives
C) A home-country professional usually shares the expatriate's values and language so transmission of performance feedback is easier
D) A home-country professional is in the best position to observe the expatriate's behavior and performance over a long period of time

Question 5

Which of the following is not an important feature when it comes to the context of the assignment when evaluating an expatriate's performance?

A) The environment in which the job is done
B) The personal characteristics of the expatriate
C) The personal characteristics of the evaluator
D) The task or tasks themselves

Question 6

According to experts, identifying the best possible international employees for a specific overseas position requires that the decisions should be made by doing which of the following?

A) Taking into account the number of expatriate employees it already has
B) Taking into account the total number of employees it has in its home country
C) Keeping the firm's international business strategy and its competitive environment in mind
D) Disregarding the foreign market in which the position will be based

Question 7

Measuring an expatriate's performance can be extremely challenging for many reasons? Which of the following would not be considered an important challenge?

A) Business laws and tax rules will be different than in the home country, making it more difficult to calculate profitability
B) The regulatory environment in many countries may be burdensome and complex
C) There may be challenges associated with currency conversion and profit repatriation
D) The expatriate may not be doing the same work as home-country employees

Question 8

Which of the following is not a common problem for screening potential foreign hires to assure a multinational hires the best foreign employees possible?

A) Assessing qualification based on educational credential earned in the United States
B) Assessing the work experience of foreign job applicants
C) Conducting background checks in the relevant language
D) Screening for past criminal behavior

Question 9

Which of the following is not an important question to ask about performance appraisal for expatriates?

A) Who should evaluate expatriates' performance?
B) When or how often should expatriates be evaluated?
C) Why is it necessary to provide performance appraisals?
D) What aspects of performance should be evaluated?

Question 10

Which of the following is a common reason given for filling lower- and middle-level management jobs with host-country nationals (HCNs)?

A) They do not dilute the multinational's control over foreign operations
B) HCNs have a superior grasp of the local culture, business practices, and language
C) HCNs are more expensive to employ because they expect higher salaries
D) "Going local" to staff foreign operations can bring public relations problems in the home country

Question 11

Regardless of how the performance of expatriates is going to be evaluated, it is important that multinationals do which of the following?

A) Conduct training for the evaluators about the role played by their respective frames of reference
B) Conduct training solely for the expatriates about their role played by their respective frames of reference
C) Communicate early on with expatriates about the performance criteria likely to be used by both host- and home-country managers
D) Emphasize that evaluations will be conducted no more often than in the home country

Question 12

Many U.S. multinational companies are seemingly "multinational" in name only-at least when it comes to the percentage of board members who have international work experience.

Question 13

All human resource managers, domestic or not, are "global" in what sense?

A) They have to keep up with events around the world
B) They hire foreign nationals, use multicultural teams, and compete with other multinationals in local markets
C) They compete with other local companies in their local markets
D) They have to keep up with events around the world and contend with local competition in their local markets

Question 14

Human resource professionals in medium to large multinationals have broad and deep challenges that their domestic counterparts do not because they must:

A) Cope with a wider variety of complex legal and economic systems
B) Deal with more homogeneous groups of employees
C) Manage a smaller portfolio of human resource functions and activities
D) Grapple with simple, straightforward environments

Question 15

Which of the following descriptions is correctly matched with the specific skill area that can significantly improve managerial effectiveness in multinationals?

A) Cultural sensitivity: can make successful strategic decisions across a variety of situations in different countries
B) Multidimensional perspective: has extensive multifunctional, multicountry experience and multienvironment experience
C) Mental maturity: has a track record of successful business negotiations in multicultural contexts
D) Delegation: resourceful enough to create culturally diverse working groups that achieve organizational goals

Question 16

International recruiters do not need to be prepared to explain the company's values and behavioral expectations to candidates because they should already be aware of these aspects.

Question 17

Clear advantages to having home-country professionals evaluate expatriates include which of the following?

A) They speak the same language
B) They are less familiar with expatriates' experiences
C) They have different cultural roots
D) They have different perspectives when it comes to providing feedback

Question 18

Which of the following is not one of the core questions facing multinationals when it comes to managing and appraising employee performance?

A) Should a multinational rely on a standardized set of policies, procedures, and practices for appraising employee performance worldwide?
B) Should a multinational rely on a single, uniform system aligned with local business and management practices?
C) Should a multinational take a blended approach to performance appraisal and management?
D) Should a multinational rely on a combination of standardized practices and local latitude to keep some local practices intact?

Question 19

Quality human resource management can be a real competitive advantage that is more difficult for competition to duplicate than even an advantage gained from buying technology or securing capital.

Question 20

Drawbacks to the common option of recruiting parent-county nationals (PCNs) for top management positions in foreign subsidiaries include which of the following?

A) They have an immediate grasp of local cultures and business practices
B) They are well-known to top management in the company
C) They can more easily carry out the organization's mission
D) They are the most expensive option and success is not assured

Question 21

What is meant by the statement "all human resource managers, domestic or not, are global"? What aspects of the role of the HR manager support this statement?

Question 22

Why is it important that IHRM professionals be involved in most phases of international strategy and goal development? What, specifically, can they do to help address problems?

Question 23

In high power distance cultures, where it is common for managers to separate themselves from employees, informal feedback is easier to share.

Question 24

What are the three core questions facing multinationals when it comes to managing and appraising employee performance?

Question 25

Explain what is meant by using a blended approach to performance appraisal and management.

Question 26

How can a firm better understand the context variables that impact evaluations of an expatriate's job performance?

Question 27

Compared to the United States, performance evaluation systems in Middle Eastern countries are usually more informal, with less use of evaluation metrics, forms, and documentation.

Question 28

What is the difference between a PCN and an HCN? What is a TCN and when might it be more appropriate to use a TCN than either a PCN or HCN?

Question 29

Identifying the types of possible international employees to determine which one is best for a specific overseas position requires that such decisions be made with a firm's international business strategy in mind, taking into account its competitive environment, overseas sophistication, number of employees, current number of expatriates, and the foreign market in which the position will be based.

Question 30

For most American managers, self-focused training improves performance more than group-focused training because Americans generally find information about their ability to succeed at a task (self-focused training) more useful than information about the ability of a group to which they belong (group-focused training).

Question 31

A major challenge for home-country professionals who must conduct performance evaluations of expatriates includes gaining access to the information they need to make a quality evaluation.

Question 32

Using home-country professionals to evaluate expatriates is challenging because of distance, which can often be an impediment, and home-country professionals cannot observe expatriates and their performance in the foreign locations where they work.

Question 33

List the five general guidelines recommended by experts for sharing performance feedback to those from a different culture.

Question 34

Managers who have mental maturity are assumed to have the endurance needed for the rigors of foreign posts, and those who are good at negotiations have a track record of successful business negotiations in multicultural contexts.

Question 35

What factors should be considered when a multinational firm is deciding whether a PCN, HCN, or TCN is the best choice for a specific overseas position?

Question 36

The best time to evaluate expatriates depends on when evaluations are conducted in the home country regardless of the nature of the overseas assignment.

Question 37

The rationale for having PCNs, HCNs, TCNs, and other types of employees working side-by-side wherever possible is that a diverse work environment improves innovation and learning, outcomes that ultimately raise subsidiary performance.

Question 38

The three key features of the context of the assignment when evaluating expatriate performance are the environment in which the job is done, the task or tasks themselves, and the personal characteristics of the expatriate.

Question 39

The use of host-country professionals to evaluate expatriate performance has both pluses and minuses, so multinationals may want to use host-country professionals for performance evaluations of expatriates for greater control and continuity.

Question 40

Being prepared to explain the company's values and behavioral expectations to candidates helps recruiters assess whether a foreign job candidate can successfully adapt and will improve the chances of a successful selection process.

Question 41

Compare the advantages and disadvantages of having expatriate performance appraisals conducted by home-country professionals rather than host-country professionals.

Question 42

What are some of the common problems encountered when evaluating employee performance? In what ways are these problems complicated in an international setting?

Question 43

As a senior manager, you have been asked to provide a workshop for individuals who have less experience and will be conducting performance appraisals for employees in different locations with different cultural values. What key points or guidelines will you cover in the workshop and what specific suggestions will you provide?

Question 44

Describe the three types of context variables that impact evaluations of expatriates?

Question 45

Discuss the wide variety of special challenges multinational firms and their HR managers face when screening potential foreign hires.