Deck 17: Managing Human Resources in a Global Business

Question 1

Global workforce mobility is enabled by all of the following except

A) technological advancements.
B) globalization.
C) tight labour markets.
D) customer demands.
E) domestic needs.

Answer 1

E

Question 2

In Canada,most of the labour force growth over the last decade has been attributable to immigration,and immigrants continue to be a critical component of Canada's workforce.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

What is the number one reason why many employees are reluctant to accept expatriate assignments?

A) Cost projections
B) Candidate assessment
C) Relocation assistance
D) Family issues
E) Candidate selection

Answer 3

D

Question 4

According to the textbook,the typical expatriate has traditionally been a

A) male with a working spouse.
B) male with a non-working spouse.
C) female with a working spouse.
D) female with a non-working spouse.
E) male or female with no spouse.

Question 5

According to the textbook,what is the average cost of sending an employee and his or her family on an overseas assignment as it relates to the employee's pre-departure salary?

A) 1 to 2 times the pre-departure salary
B) 3 to 5 times the pre-departure salary
C) 6 to 7 times the pre-departure salary
D) 8 to 10 times the pre-departure salary
E) 11 to 12 times the pre-departure salary

Question 6

Differences in cultural factors help to explain why incentive plans in China tend to focus on the work group,whereas in the United States,the focus is usually on individual worker incentive plans.

Question 7

What is the formal term that is used to describe the degree to which ties between people are normally close or loose?

A) Individualism vs. collectivism
B) Group vs. team
C) Socialism vs. Marxism
D) Communalism vs. egoism
E) Communism vs. capitalism

Question 8

Expatriates are citizens of the country where the parent company is based who are sent to work in another country.

Question 9

According to the textbook,in which country do health and safety laws exist but are largely unenforced?

A) United States
B) China
C) Canada
D) England
E) Australia

Question 10

What is the cultural dimension used to describe countries where people tend to look out for themselves?

A) Collectivism
B) Egoism
C) Individualism
D) Socialism
E) Communalism

Question 11

What is the formal term that is used to describe the extent to which the less influential members of institutions accept and expect that power will be distributed unequally?

A) Power distance
B) Persuasion factor
C) Need for power
D) Power suspicion
E) Power distinction

Question 12

What is the cultural dimension used to describe countries where people tend to link their individual identity to their extended family group or even to their work group?

A) Collectivism
B) Egoism
C) Individualism
D) Socialism
E) Communalism

Question 13

What is the formal term used to describe the document that contains the expatriate's specific job requirements and remuneration,vacation,home leave,and repatriation agreement?

A) Immigration agreement
B) Foreign work agreement
C) Emigrant bond
D) Assignment letter
E) Project dispatch

Question 14

What is the formal term used to describe employees who continuously move from country to country on multiple assignments?

A) Global wanderers
B) Workforce wanderers
C) Workforce nomads
D) Global nomads
E) Transitional employees

Question 15

What is the formal term used to describe the process whereby employees have the legal right to a voice in setting company policies?

A) Cooperative planning
B) Co-determination
C) Joint strategic setting
D) Participatory goal setting
E) Communal rule setting

Question 16

According to the textbook,in China,unions seldom play an effective role in labour disputes.

Question 17

According to the textbook,what is the average cost of a permanent international relocation for a Canadian employee?

A) Between $100,000 and $150,000
B) Between $10,000 and $25,000
C) Between $5,000 and $10,000
D) Between $25,000 and $50,000
E) Between $50,000 and $100,000

Question 18

Stacy moved from Canada to London,England with her accounting firm.Based on this information,Stacy can be referred to as a(n)

A) expatriate.
B) domestic employee.
C) exchange student.
D) supervisor.
E) union steward.

Question 19

In more socialist systems,HR practices tend to shift toward preventing unemployment,even at the expense of which of the following?

A) Work-life balance
B) Enhancing personal relationships
C) Efficiency
D) Enhancing social relationships
E) Workplace culture

Question 20

In which country does workplace culture involve a siesta after lunch for workers as well as managers spending a significant amount of their time out of the office enhancing personal and social relationships?

A) United States
B) England
C) Canada
D) Vietnam
E) Australia

Question 21

According to the textbook,what does Level 3 of the cross-cultural training of employees for global assignments focus on?

A) The impact of cultural differences
B) Understanding how attitudes are formed
C) Factual knowledge of the target country
D) Language and adaptation skills
E) Understanding how attitudes (both negative and positive) influence behaviour

Question 22

In the levels of cross-cultural training described in the textbook,which level corresponds to skill building in areas,such as language and adaptation skills?

A) Level 1
B) Level 2
C) Level 3
D) Level 4
E) Level 5

Question 23

According to the survey by Cartus referenced in the textbook,what reason did 76% of respondents identify for expatriate assignment opportunities being turned down by employees?

A) Changing business conditions
B) Personal or family circumstances
C) Perceived higher costs of expatriation
D) Lack of desire to reside in a foreign country
E) Fear of losing one's position after the expatriate assignment has been completed

Question 24

What are the three international staffing policies discussed in the textbook?

A) Geocentric, ecocentric, and unicentric
B) Unicentric, polycentric, and biocentric
C) Polycentric, biocentric, and geocentric
D) Ethnocentric, unicentric, and multicentric
E) Ethnocentric, polycentric, and geocentric

Question 25

There are steps or levels to cross-cultural training as described in the textbook.Which level of cross-cultural training corresponds to raising the trainee's awareness of the impact of cultural differences?

A) Level 1
B) Level 2
C) Level 3
D) Level 4
E) Level 5

Question 26

According to the textbook,one of the reasons Canadian executives are in demand across the globe is because

A) Canada's living standards are relatively low compared with many European countries and the United States.
B) Canadians are widely perceived to be able to get along well with others and it is this international reputation that allows them to succeed across the globe.
C) Canada's business schools produce managers who are among the very best in the world and this has been conclusively and objectively demonstrated across a variety of large-scale international studies.
D) Canada's diverse ethnic makeup has produced a generation of business leaders who mix easily with different cultures.
E) many managers in Canada come from similar backgrounds and it is this consistency and uniformity that allows them to succeed across the globe.

Question 27

A British executive working in a Tokyo subsidiary of a Canadian multinational bank would be referred to as which of the following?

A) Inpatriate
B) Local
C) Repatriate
D) Third-country national
E) Settler

Question 28

Which global staffing policy would a corporation adopt if the belief was that the best manager for any specific position anywhere on the globe may be found in any of the countries in which the firm operates?

A) Ethnocentric
B) Unicentric
C) Multicentric
D) Geocentric
E) Polycentric

Question 29

According to the textbook,what reason do managers of European firms emphasize for the failure of expatriate assignments?

A) Changing business conditions
B) Inability of the spouse to adjust
C) Perceived higher costs of expatriation
D) Lack of desire to reside in a foreign country
E) Fear of losing one's position after the expatriate assignment has been completed

Question 30

Which global staffing policy would a corporation adopt if the belief was that only host-country managers can ever really understand the culture and behaviour of the host-country market?

A) Unicentric
B) Multicentric
C) Geocentric
D) Polycentric
E) Ethnocentric

Question 31

According to the textbook,the most likely destination for expatriates across the globe is

A) the United States.
B) Mexico.
C) Singapore.
D) Russia.
E) China.

Question 32

According to the textbook,what is the major reason for using expatriates (either parent-country or third-country nationals)for staffing subsidiary operations?

A) Many people prefer not to work in a foreign country.
B) The cost of using expatriates is far greater than the cost of using local management talent.
C) The multinational corporation may be viewed locally as a "better citizen."
D) Expatriates may overemphasize short-term projects.
E) Technical competence

Question 33

Which of the following terms is used to formally describe the early return from an expatriate assignment?

A) Failure to recover expatriation investments
B) Expatriate loss
C) Incompletion of expatriate work
D) Re-assimilating the expatriate
E) Expatriate assignment failure

Question 34

According to the textbook,most managerial positions in both headquarters and foreign subsidiaries are filled by which of the following?

A) Third-country nationals
B) Expatriates
C) Repatriates
D) Locals
E) Emigrants

Question 35

The number of expatriates working abroad is continuing to decrease.

Question 36

In the levels of cross-cultural training described in the textbook,which level corresponds to a focus on attitudes and aims to get participants to understand how attitudes are formed and how they influence behaviour?

A) Level 1
B) Level 2
C) Level 3
D) Level 4
E) Level 5

Question 37

According to the survey by Cartus referenced in the textbook,what reason did 63% of respondents identify for expatriate failure?

A) Changing business conditions
B) Inability of the family to adjust
C) Unexpected high costs of expatriation
D) Difficulties with adjusting to living abroad
E) Feelings of lack of support from the home company office

Question 38

The citizens of a country who have jobs in their home country are referred to as which of the following?

A) Expatriates
B) Locals
C) Immigrants
D) Third-country nationals
E) Emigrants

Question 39

According to the textbook,there has been a trend toward

A) permanent relocation instead of long-term global assignments.
B) permanent relations instead of short-term global assignments.
C) medium-term global assignments instead of permanent relocations.
D) short-term global assignments instead of permanent relocations.
E) long-term global assignments instead of permanent relocations.

Question 40

A corporation where the prevailing attitude is that the home-country managers are superior to those in the host country,and that all key management positions are to be filled by parent-country nationals,has which global staffing policy?

A) Ethnocentric
B) Geocentric
C) Unicentric
D) Polycentric
E) Multicentric

Question 41

workers with foreign credentials had received recognition for their credentials within four years of arriving in Canada?

A) 33%
B) 12%
C) 50%
D) 28%
E) 67%

Question 42

A polycentric staffing policy is usually more expensive than sending expatriates abroad.

Question 43

The issues associated with the overemployment of immigrants and foreign workers is especially critical today,given the younger workforce and the current labour surpluses in Canada.

Question 44

British Columbia is the recipient of most of Canada's landed immigrants.

Question 45

Nathan is a person residing in Canada who was born outside of Canada; what is the term used to describe Nigel with respect to working in Canada?

A) Deportee
B) Immigrant
C) Exiled foreigner
D) Settler
E) Refugee

Question 46

According to the textbook,which of the following is considered to be the first step in ensuring that a foreign assignee is successful?

A) Careful screening
B) Spontaneous cultural training
C) Post-hoc HR planning
D) Resource-based cost allocation
E) Diligent repatriation activities

Question 47

A Canadian company has offices in the United States,France,and Japan.Each office outside of Canada is managed by a Canadian expatriate; this company appears to have a polycentric staffing policy.

Question 48

Which of the following is used by companies in order to take care of the mental health of expatriate employees,which is often affected by the stressful relocation process?

A) The balance sheet approach
B) Mobility premiums
C) Variable pay incentives
D) International EAPs
E) Multinational CBAs

Question 49

Which type of program focuses on managing the recruitment,relocation,and retention of employees who complete work-related tasks and activities outside of the core or primary head office or region of the company?

A) Student recruitment program
B) HR employment program
C) Workforce mobility program
D) Remote student evaluation program
E) Human capital fulfillment program

Question 50

Keri is Canadian citizen working for a Canadian brewery.She has been sent to Japan to expand the brewery's market.What is the formal term for Keri given her location of work and her citizenship?

A) Deportee
B) Exiled
C) Settler
D) Expatriate
E) Refugee

Question 51

Which term describes the process of moving expatriates and their families back home from the foreign assignment?

A) Repatriation
B) Expatriation
C) Immigration
D) Emigration
E) Migration

Question 52

Third-country nationals are employees who are returning home following the completion of multiple,successful foreign work assignments.

Question 53

The majority of global assignment compensation is aligned to pay expatriates according to compensation levels in the host country.

Question 54

Discuss steps that can be taken to assist in the repatriation process.

Question 55

According to the textbook,a payment made to compensate managers for the cultural and physical adjustments that they will have to make is known as which of the following?

A) Relocation allowance
B) Overseas bonus
C) Out-of-country incentive
D) Displacement allowance
E) Mobility premium

Question 56

Discuss the challenges of international compensation and differentiate between the balance sheet and variable pay approaches to compensation.

Question 57

According to the textbook,what is the most common method for formulating expatriate pay,to equalize purchasing power across countries?

A) The balance sheet approach
B) The balance of payments approach
C) The international equity approach
D) The income statement approach
E) The positive cash flow approach

Question 58

Identify and describe the three barriers confronting new immigrants to Canada upon attempting to enter the labour force.

Question 59

Statistics Canada has reported that the percentage of long-term immigrants who had successfully completed a university degree and who only found jobs with low educational requirements has been declining.

Question 60

In the balance sheet approach,base salary for the relocated manager will normally be in the same range as which of the following?

A) A salary of an equal position in the country of the company's head office
B) A foreign country salary of an equally paid position
C) The manager's home-country salary
D) A percentage of the productivity created by the expatriate manager
E) The average expatriate salary for the company across all subsidiaries

Question 61

What is the formal term used in the textbook to describe employees who are citizens of the country where the parent company is based and are sent to work in another country?

A) Deportee
B) Immigrant
C) Emigrant
D) Expatriate
E) Refugee

Question 62

Language ability has also been shown to improve labour-market outcomes among educated immigrants.

Question 63

According to the data presented in the textbook,approximately how many people residing in Canada were born outside of the country?

A) 20%
B) 40%
C) 60%
D) 5%
E) 55%

Question 64

What is the formal term used in the textbook to describe people residing in Canada who were born outside of Canada (excluding temporary foreign workers,Canadian citizens born outside of Canada,and those with student or work visas)?

A) Deportee
B) Immigrant
C) Emigrant
D) Expatriate
E) Refugee

Question 65

________ is a system meant to aide in the recognition of the learning adults acquire outside of formal Canadian education.

A) PLAR
B) CBDC
C) UAE
D) IABC
E) CPRS

Question 66

Based on the research conducted by Runzheimer International that was presented in the textbook,what percentage of profitability improvement can companies experience from making workforce mobility management a strategic priority and by managing mobility programs in a more integrated way?

A) 20% to 24%
B) 15% to 19%
C) 10% to 14%
D) 5% to 9%
E) 1% to 4%