Deck 15: International Human Resources Management

Question 1

Transnational teams are composed of members from multiple nationalities working on projects that span multiple countries.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

In Europe,most union negotiations occur at the company level.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The employment of guest workers may result in indirect costs that may be substantial.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The balance-sheet approach to compensation refers to designing pay systems that equalize the purchasing power of employees at comparable position levels living overseas and in the home country.

Question 5

Some of the advantages of using home-country nationals for overseas managerial assignments are that the talent is already available within the organization and that the organization can have greater control.

Question 6

The failure of expatriate assignments is usually due to technical or managerial concerns.

Question 7

One of the biggest causes of expatriate failure is a spouse's inability to adjust to his or her new surroundings.

Question 8

English is almost universally accepted as the language for international business.

Question 9

Only 20 percent of people globally are covered by any sort of social insurance programs.

Question 10

Global managers must be capable of managing highly decentralized organizations.

Question 11

One reason to employ host-country nationals is that local governments want good jobs for their citizens.

Question 12

A work permit or work certificate allows a foreign individual to seek employment in another country.

Question 13

In some countries,unions are part of alliances between political parties,churches,or governments.

Question 14

The European Union (EU)was established to facilitate free trade with North America.

Question 15

NAFTA has spurred job growth in all three member countries.

Question 16

Canadian companies have been conducting business on an international basis longer than anyone else.

Question 17

A Canadian firm with fully autonomous operating units in Korea,Spain,and Sweden would be classified as a multidomestic corporation.

Question 18

Employee benefits in Canada are among the highest in the world.

Question 19

A global corporation has fully autonomous units operating in multiple countries.

Question 20

Learning how people think and act in their relations with others is a part of cultural training that prepares employees for working internationally.

Question 21

International HRM is virtually identical to domestic HRM.

Question 22

North American managers tend to have highly autocratic decision-making styles.

Question 23

Managers in Latin American countries can encourage performance by using personal influence and working through individual members of a group.

Question 24

The International Labour Organization enforces international labour standards.

Question 25

In general,it is typically better to hire host-country nationals when operating abroad because it is less expensive,it pleases the local government,and it eliminates the problem of employees adjusting to the culture.

Question 26

Cultural differences have little impact on international compensation.

Question 27

Subsidiaries of multidomestic corporations are usually run as independent companies.

Question 28

In appraising the performance of an employee on an international assignment,many appraisers resort to using criteria that are easy to measure rather than criteria that capture all responsibilities.

Question 29

The source of overseas employees that provides the advantages of less cost and greater facility in the language is host-country nationals.

Question 30

An advantage of home country nationals is that they have intimate knowledge of the environment and culture.

Question 31

Culture shock refers to the disorientation people experience adjusting to a new culture.

Question 32

Different cultural environments require different organizational behaviours.

Question 33

Repatriation is usually a planned and positive experience for employees returning from an international assignment.

Question 34

The host country is the country in which an international business operates.

Question 35

Expressions such as "tabling a subject" and "it is inconvenient" may have meanings in other cultures that are very different from their North American meanings.

Question 36

Performance evaluations of expatriates should occur in both the home and the host countries.

Question 37

Repatriation refers to the training a manager receives before taking an international assignment.

Question 38

Production manager Jim McIntyre has been successful in his Canadian assignment using a participative management style.If he uses this same style in some other countries,he may be regarded as an incompetent manager.

Question 39

If an organization wanted to decrease the failure rate of its expatriates,one good strategy would be to give more women international assignments.

Question 40

Expatriates should not be expected to evaluate their own performance.

Question 41

Women expatriates are thought to succeed in part because they are visible and distinctive.

Question 42

China has only one union.

Question 43

Compared to North American managers,what kind of decision-making style do South American managers tend to use in the workplace?

A)a more participatory style
B)a more democratic style
C)a more inclusionary style
D)a more autocratic style

Question 44

What is the key purpose of the balance-sheet approach to compensating expatriate managers?

A)to enhance the skills of the expatriate
B)to ensure that the expatriate does not lose financially in his or her international assignment
C)to balance the social costs of the assignment
D)to ensure that there is work-life balance

Question 45

The first step in selecting expatriates should be self-selection,where employees who volunteer to go abroad are given the chance to do so.

Question 46

Which type of expatriate pay system is localization associated with?

A)the balance-sheet approach
B)host-based pay
C)the global pay system
D)performance-based pay

Question 47

Managers' attitudes and behaviours are influenced by the society in which they received their education and training.

Question 48

Codetermination refers to the training an expatriate manager receives before an international assignment.

Question 49

What is repatriation?

A)a process to train expatriates prior to their first international assignment
B)adaptation of leadership and decision-making styles to the host country
C)a process to help employees make the transition back home
D)the ability of employees to settle in their international assignments

Question 50

Heineken recently organized a group of individuals with specialized skills representing each major region within Europe.Which of the following is this group an example of?

A)a transfunctional team
B)a multinational team
C)a multicultural team
D)a transnational team

Question 51

Multinational corporations tend to use different kinds of external recruitment sources than are used in their home countries.

Question 52

Think about a spider's web with the spider in the middle.In this scenario,the spider controls the web from the centre.What type of corporation does this web resemble the most?

A)an international corporation
B)a multidomestic corporation
C)a global corporation
D)a transnational corporation

Question 53

Lack of training is one of the principal causes of failure among employees working internationally.

Question 54

Which of the following is the source of overseas employees that provides the advantages of less cost and greater facility in the language?

A)home-country nationals
B)expatriates
C)third-country nationals
D)host-country nationals

Question 55

In many European countries,including Germany,a very high level of worker participation can be found,where national law requires that labour be part of,for instance,the boards of directors of companies.What is this participative arrangement called?

A)socialism
B)codetermination
C)quality circles
D)bipartite participation

Question 56

At early stages of international expansion,many organizations prefer to use host-country nationals.

Question 57

What is the first step in selecting individuals for an international assignment?

A)self-selection
B)assessing core skills
C)assessing augmented skills
D)creating a candidate pool

Question 58

In some countries,such as India,profit sharing is mandated by law.Thus,companies have to distribute some of their profits to the employees.What is the key reason for this requirement?

A)These countries are corrupt,and thus they require foreign firms to bribe the workers.
B)This is a requirement for all new foreign investments,as mandated by the United Nations.
C)It is done to punish these companies for colonialism.
D)It allows for a redistribution of wealth at the firm level.

Question 59

A multidomestic corporation is essentially a domestic firm that builds on its existing capabilities to penetrate overseas markets.

Question 60

Pay plans in Japan tend to focus on individual performance and achievement.

Question 61

What do we call the country in which an international business operates?

A)the host country
B)the adaptive country
C)the resource country
D)the receptive country

Question 62

What is the main purpose of free trade agreements,such as NAFTA?

A)to facilitate the free movement of goods,services,capital,and people across borders
B)to help fight terrorism
C)to help the United Nations with its work
D)to increase tourism

Question 63

What was one of GE's recruitment problems when it first entered India?

A)finding locals with good English language skills
B)not using family ties and friendship networks
C)reward systems that were culturally biased
D)understanding the transportation systems

Question 64

Rand Computers is a mid-sized firm located in Toronto.As a result of personal connections,Rand Computers has started a division in Buffalo,New York.What type of corporation is Rand Computers?

A)a multidomestic corporation
B)a global corporation
C)an international corporation
D)a transnational corporation

Question 65

What is most likely to happen when companies fail to use the knowledge,skills,and understanding that expatriate managers acquire in international assignments?

A)Language training is viewed as unnecessary.
B)The expatriates often take lower-level jobs upon return or leave the company.
C)Repatriation is no longer recommended.
D)Home-country nationals are used more often in favour of expatriates.

Question 66

Which of the following is a common problem with performance appraisals of international assignees?

A)criterion deficiency
B)criterion contamination
C)lack of inter-rater reliability
D)lack of validity

Question 67

The International Labour Organization has set itself an agenda-called the "Decent Work Agenda." What is the main purpose behind this move?

A)to push globalization
B)to illustrate the decency embedded in international work
C)to highlight the ethical dimension of work
D)to chart laws for international firms

Question 68

Some Japanese firms,such as Matsushita and NEC,tend to operate as domestic firms but see the whole world domestically-that is,as their market.What type of firms are these?

A)transnational firms
B)multidomestic firms
C)international firms
D)global firms

Question 69

What is a global compensation system?

A)a system where employees for a multinational firm in different countries are paid exactly the same
B)a system where host-country employees are paid similarly to employees in the home country
C)a system where expatriates are paid at the global rates for their services
D)a system where expatriates enjoy the balance-sheet approach to their pay

Question 70

According to the textbook,what is NOT an augmented skill that is critical for success abroad?

A)technical skill
B)negotiation
C)decision-making
D)delegation

Question 71

What is evident when you compare wages and benefits for employees in European countries such as Norway and Denmark to employees in North America?

A)There are higher wages and benefits in Europe.
B)There are lower wages and better benefits in North America.
C)There are higher wages but lower benefits in North America.
D)There are higher wages and benefits in North America.

Question 72

Compared to Canadian managers,what kind of decision-making style do Japanese managers tend to use in the workplace?

A)a more participatory style
B)a more decentralized style
C)a more autocratic style
D)about the same style

Question 73

What is the term used to refer to the religion,values and attitudes,politics,technology,education,and social organization of a nation?

A)ritual environment
B)general environment
C)task environment
D)cultural environment

Question 74

Which of the following is a major reason for failure among expatriates?

A)inability to cope with larger responsibilities
B)a manager's personality
C)a spouse's inability to adapt
D)distaste for travel

Question 75

UVW is an international firm with headquarters in Germany.Its operations in other parts of the world are fully autonomous.What type of firm is UVW?

A)a transnational corporation
B)a global enterprise
C)a multidomestic corporation
D)an international corporation

Question 76

Which of the following organizations is pursuing a transnational strategy?

A)a car company developing a "world" car to gain scale economies
B)a brewery trying to achieve scale economies while simultaneously customizing its taste and marketing efforts for local markets
C)a company producing customized fashions for multiple regions of the world
D)a steel company trying to simultaneously gain scale economies and increase the quality of its products

Question 77

BC Computers is a Canadian firm located in British Columbia.In this instance,what does Canada represent?

A)the adaptive country
B)the resource country
C)the host country
D)the receptive country

Question 78

To produce the Tata-Nano,one of the cheapest cars in the world,Tata Motors used teams from different countries to put together cheap and reliable parts.What is this type of team called?

A)an international team
B)a transnational team
C)a product team
D)a third-country national team

Question 79

When an American multidomestic corporation hires a Canadian to work in its offices in India,what is this employee known as?

A)a third-country national
B)a Canadian national
C)a home country national
D)a host-country national

Question 80

In designing compensation systems,what does the philosophy of "thinking globally and acting locally" mean?

A)Expatriates should be rewarded primarily for their local actions.
B)Pay plans should be originated at the local level but global organizational issues should be considered in pay plan development.
C)Expatriates should be rewarded for their local actions as well as their performance that impacts the entire organization.
D)Pay plans should be designed to support the overall strategic intent of the organization and also provide enough flexibility to customize certain policies to meet the needs of employees in specific locations.