Deck 17: Global Human Resource Management

Question 1

In international businesses, a disadvantage of an ethnocentric staffing policy is that it produces resentment in host-country nationals.

Answer 1

True
Explanation: Research has identified three types of staffing policies in international businesses: the ethnocentric approach, the polycentric approach, and the geocentric approach. Ethnocentric staffing policy limits advancement opportunities for host-country nationals. This can lead to resentment, lower productivity, and increased turnover among that group.

Question 2

According to Mendenhall and Oddou, human resource managers must equate domestic performance with overseas performance potential.

Answer 2

False
Explanation: One way to reduce expatriate failure rates is by improving selection procedures to screen out inappropriate candidates. In a review of the research on this issue, Mendenhall and Oddou state that a major problem in many firms is that human resource managers tend to equate domestic performance with overseas performance potential. Domestic performance and overseas performance potential are not the same thing.

Question 3

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

Answer 3

False
Explanation: Corporate culture refers to an organization's norms and value systems. A strong corporate culture can help a firm implement its strategy.

Question 4

Expatriate managers who lack others-orientation tend to treat foreign nationals as if they were home-country nationals.

Question 5

Expatriate failure represents the failure of a firm's selection policies to identify individuals who will not thrive abroad.

Question 6

International firms that have a broad geographic scope are the most likely to have a geocentric mindset.

Question 7

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

Question 8

An international firm that adopts a polycentric staffing policy is more likely to suffer from cultural myopia.

Question 9

Historically, most international businesses have been more concerned with management development than with training.

Question 10

An expatriate manager is a citizen of one country who is working abroad in one of the firm's subsidiaries.

Question 11

According to Mendenhall and Oddou, expatriates with perceptual ability tend to be judgmental and evaluative in interpreting the behavior of host-country nationals.

Question 12

In international businesses, firms pursue a polycentric staffing policy because they see it as the best way to maintain a unified corporate culture.

Question 13

The major drawback with a polycentric staffing policy is the gap that can form between host-country managers and parent-country managers due to language barriers.

Question 14

For a firm to outperform its rivals in the global marketplace, the performance appraisal systems it uses must measure the perceptions that it wants to encourage.

Question 15

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

Question 16

It is believed that a firm attains higher performance when its employees are predisposed toward its value systems by their personality type.

Question 17

The fact that many countries want foreign subsidiaries to employ their citizens limits a firm's ability to pursue a geocentric policy.

Question 18

International firms pursuing an ethnocentric staffing policy may be better able to create value from the pursuit of experience curve and location economies than firms pursuing other staffing policies.

Question 19

The human resource management function can help a firm achieve its primary strategic goals of reducing the costs of value creation and adding value by better serving customer needs.

Question 20

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

Question 21

A firm pursues an ethnocentric staffing policy because it:

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

Question 22

A(n) 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 23

Transnational firm managers need not be able to detect pressures for local responsiveness because it is not part of their skill set.

Question 24

From a strategic perspective, a compensation system must reward managers for taking actions that are consistent with the strategy of the enterprise.

Question 25

A concern of organized labor is that an international business keeps highly skilled tasks in its home country and farms out low-skilled tasks to foreign plants.

Question 26

Firms that emphasize global standardization try to create value by:

A)retaining products and competencies within the parent country.
B)realizing experience curve and location economies.
C)focusing on local responsiveness.
D)emphasizing localization.
E)adopting an ethnocentric staffing approach.

Question 27

The norms and value systems of an organization constitute its:

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

Question 28

An impediment to cooperation between national unions is the wide variation in union structure.

Question 29

Which of the following staffing policies is concerned with filling all key management positions by parent-country nationals?

A)Ethnocentric
B)Global
C)Polycentric
D)Geocentric
E)Transnational

Question 30

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

Question 31

Which of the following strategies is concerned with the selection of employees for particular jobs?

A)Compensation policy
B)Staffing policy
C)Performance appraisal policy
D)Training policy
E)Management development policy

Question 32

Historically, most international businesses have centralized international labor relations activities.

Question 33

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 34

In terms of expatriate pay, the income statement approach equalizes purchasing power across countries so employees can enjoy the same living standard in their foreign posting that they enjoyed at home.

Question 35

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

Question 36

In the Swiss firm Terabithia Systems AG, all the important positions in its international operations are held by Swiss nationals. What is the staffing policy followed by Terabithia?

A)Eurocentric
B)Ethnocentric
C)Polycentric
D)Geocentric
E)Transnational

Question 37

Megan, a U.S. citizen, is the operations manager at the Middle East office of HS Constructions Inc., an American firm. In this situation, she is an example of a(n):

A)immigrant manager.
B)host-country manager.
C)inpatriate manager.
D)expatriate manager.
E)virtual manager.

Question 38

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 39

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

Question 40

Which of the following is a characteristic feature 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 41

Which of the following is a drawback of adopting a polycentric staffing approach?

A)It is expensive to implement.
B)It leads host-country managers to make mistakes due to cultural misunderstandings.
C)It limits advancement opportunities for host-country nationals.
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 42

Which of the following strategies is compatible with a geocentric staffing policy?

A)Global standardization strategy
B)Localization strategy
C)International strategy
D)Ethical strategy
E)Global strategy

Question 43

Most countries require extensive documentation if they wish to hire a foreign national instead of a local national. Which of the following staffing approaches is most likely to be affected by this?

A)Polycentric
B)Geocentric
C)Transnational
D)Ethnocentric
E)Local

Question 44

Which of the following is an advantage of adopting 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 45

Which of the following staffing approaches limits career mobility and isolates headquarters from foreign subsidiaries?

A)Polycentric
B)Transnational
C)Geocentric
D)Ethnocentric
E)Global

Question 46

A firm that adopts a polycentric staffing policy is less likely to:

A)isolate foreign subsidiaries from corporate headquarters.
B)implement an expensive staffing policy.
C)be controlled by corporate headquarters.
D)suffer from cultural myopia.
E)provide growth opportunities.

Question 47

What is the advantage of a geocentric staffing policy?

A)It requires firms to provide little or no documentation to hire a foreign national.
B)It enables firms to build a cadre of international executives who feel at home working in a number of cultures.
C)It is inexpensive to implement the policy in a firm.
D)It allows all key management positions of the firms and their subsidiaries to be filled by parent-country nationals.
E)It helps firms to follow a localization strategy.

Question 48

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

A)Geocentric
B)Ethnocentric
C)Polycentric
D)International
E)Domestic

Question 49

Which of the following staffing policies seeks the best people for key jobs throughout the organization, regardless of nationality?

A)Global
B)Ethnocentric
C)Geocentric
D)Polycentric
E)Transnational

Question 50

A firm's 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 51

Which of the following 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 52

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 53

Which of the following staffing policies has the drawback of forming a gap between host-country managers and parent-country managers?

A)Global
B)Geocentric
C)Polycentric
D)Ethnocentric
E)Transnational

Question 54

Which of the following staffing approaches is compatible with an international strategy?

A)Ethnocentric
B)Geocentric
C)Polycentric
D)Transnational
E)Ethical

Question 55

Which of the following is a disadvantage of an ethnocentric staffing policy?

A)It leads to resentment in the host country.
B)It isolates the headquarters from foreign subsidiaries.
C)It does not allow transfer of core competencies.
D)It leads to a dearth of qualified managers in the host nation.
E)It diversifies corporate culture.

Question 56

Which of the following staffing policies relies extensively on the use of expatriate managers?

A)Global
B)Polycentric
C)Transnational
D)Ethnocentric
E)Localized

Question 57

Which of the following 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 58

The staffing policy that requires host-country nationals to be recruited to manage subsidiaries, while parent-country nationals occupy key positions at corporate headquarters, is called:

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

Question 59

Yuriko, a citizen of Japan, was working as a manager in the Japanese branch of an American firm. Due to her efficiency, she was assigned a temporary posting at the headquarters of the firm in America. In this situation, she is known as a(n):

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

Question 60

Which of the following is an advantage of adopting a geocentric staffing 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 61

According to Mendenhall and Oddou, expatriate managers who tend to treat foreign nationals as if they were home-country nationals lack the dimension of:

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

Question 62

Amanda, an American manager, is successfully adjusting in a country where the culture is extremely male-dominated. According to Mendenhall and Oddou, which of the following dimensions that predict success in foreign postings is involved in this situation?

A)Perceptual ability
B)Others-orientation
C)Cultural toughness
D)Self-orientation
E)Empathy

Question 63

In terms of training and management development, which of the following is aimed at helping the expatriate manager and family ease themselves into day-to-day life in the host country?

A)Cognitive training
B)Practical training
C)House training
D)Cultural training
E)Perceptual ability training

Question 64

Which of the following is intended 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)Learning effects

Question 65

According to Mendenhall and Oddou, which of the following 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 66

According to R. L. Tung's study, which of the following is the most important reason for expatriate failures for U.S. multinationals?

A)Inability of spouse to adjust
B)Difficulties with new environment
C)Insufficient pay
D)Personal or emotional problems
E)Lack of technical competence

Question 67

Which of the following strategies is pursued by international businesses that use management development for a strong unifying corporate culture and informal management networks to assist in coordination and control?

A)Localization
B)International
C)Transnational
D)Global standardization
E)Ethnocentric

Question 68

Poor health care and housing standards and inhospitable climate make it difficult for expatriates to adjust to a particular posting. According to Mendenhall and Oddou's four dimensions that predict success in a foreign posting, which of the following is required in this situation?

A)Perceptual ability
B)Cultural toughness
C)Self-orientation
D)Others-orientation
E)Self-confidence

Question 69

According to Mendenhall and Oddou's dimensions that predict success in a foreign posting, relationship development refers to:

A)an expatriate's willingness to use the host-country language.
B)the ability to understand why people of other countries behave the way they do.
C)the ability to empathize with foreign nationals.
D)the relationship between the country of assignment and how well an expatriate adjusts to a particular posting.
E)the ability to develop long-lasting friendships with host-country nationals.

Question 70

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 71

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 72

According to Mendenhall and Oddou, what is the major problem in the selection of appropriate candidates for overseas assignments in many firms?

A)Lack of technical abilities
B)Equating domestic performance with overseas performance potential
C)Lack of communication between line managers and HRM managers
D)A geocentric staffing policy
E)A polycentric staffing policy

Question 73

Which of the following is an additional and difficult dimension to the long-standing problem of expatriate failure due to the inability of the spouse to adjust?

A)Formal training
B)Dual-career families
C)Cultural diversity
D)Single parenting
E)Cultural toughness

Question 74

According to Mendenhall and Oddou, which of the following dimensions 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 75

During performance appraisals, two groups evaluate the performance of expatriate managers-host-nation managers and home-office managers. This is aimed at avoiding the problem of:

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

Question 76

According to Mendenhall and Oddou, perceptual ability refers to:

A)an expatriate's willingness to use the host-country language.
B)an expatriate's ability to strengthen his or her self-esteem.
C)an expatriate's ability to empathize.
D)the relationship between the country of assignment and how well an expatriate adjusts to a particular posting.
E)the ability to develop long-lasting friendships with host-country nationals.

Question 77

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 78

According to Mendenhall and Oddou's dimensions that predict success in a foreign posting, which of the following 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 speaks to the host-country nationals in 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 79

According to Mendenhall and Oddou, which of the following is a dimension that predicts success and allows expatriates to adapt their interests in food, sport, and music?

A)Perceptual ability
B)Self-orientation
C)Others-orientation
D)Cultural toughness
E)Empathy

Question 80

According to Mendenhall and Oddou, which of the following dimensions 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