Question 1

Which of the following statements is true regarding management development?

Accepted Answer

Management development is seen as a tool to help the firm achieve its strategic goals, not only by giving managers the required skill set, but also by helping to reinforce the desired culture of the firm and by facilitating the creation of an informal network for sharing knowledge within the multinational enterprise.

Question 2

________ refers to the relationship between the country of assignment and how well an expatriate adjusts to a particular posting.

Accepted Answer

Mendenhall and Oddou identified four dimensions that seem to predict success in a foreign posting: self-orientation, others-orientation, perceptual ability, and cultural toughness. Cultural toughness refers to the relationship between the country of assignment and how well an expatriate adjusts to a particular posting. Some countries are much tougher postings than others because their cultures are more unfamiliar and uncomfortable.

Question 3

The premature return of an expatriate manager to his or her home country is known as

Accepted Answer

A prominent issue in the international staffing literature is expatriate failure-the premature return of an expatriate manager to his or her home country. Expatriate failure represents a failure of the firm's selection policies to identify individuals who will not thrive abroad. The consequences include premature return from a foreign posting and high resignation rates.

Question 4

Historically, most international businesses have been

Accepted Answer

Historically, most international businesses have been more concerned with training than with management development. Plus, they tended to focus their training efforts on preparing home-country nationals for foreign postings.

Question 5

Which among the following should be done in order to reduce bias in the performance appraisal process for expatriates?

Accepted Answer

When the policy is for foreign on-site managers to write performance evaluations, home-office managers should be consulted before an on-site manager completes a formal termination evaluation. This gives the home-office manager the opportunity to balance what could be a very hostile evaluation based on a cultural misunderstanding.

Question 6

________ makes it difficult to evaluate the performance of expatriate managers objectively.

Accepted Answer

Unintentional bias makes it difficult to evaluate the performance of expatriate managers objectively. In many cases, two groups evaluate the performance of expatriate managers-host-nation managers and home-office managers-and both are subject to bias.

Question 7

When evaluating expatriates, home-country managers usually rely on

Accepted Answer

Home-office managers are often not aware of what is going on in a foreign operation. Accordingly, they tend to rely on hard data in evaluating an expatriate's performance, such as the subunit's productivity, profitability, or market share. Such criteria may reflect factors outside the expatriate manager's control.

Question 8

Bringing managers together in one location for extended periods and rotating them through different jobs in several countries helps the firm build

Accepted Answer

Bringing managers together in one location for extended periods and rotating them through different jobs in several countries helps the firm build an informal management network.

Question 9

________ is considered the language of world business.

Accepted Answer

English is the language of world business; it is quite possible to conduct business all over the world using only English.

Question 10

Practical training is

Accepted Answer

Practical training is aimed at helping the expatriate manager and family ease themselves into day-to-day life in the host country. The sooner a routine is established, the better are the prospects that the expatriate and his or her family will adapt successfully.

Question 11

Bringing managers together in one location for extended periods and rotating them through different jobs in several countries is a part of

Accepted Answer

Management development programs are designed to increase the overall skill levels of managers through a mix of ongoing management education and rotations of managers through a number of jobs within the firm to give them varied experiences.

Question 12

Management development programs aim to

Accepted Answer

Management development programs help build a unifying corporate culture by socializing new managers into the norms and value systems of the firm.

Question 13

________ is the ability to understand why people of other countries behave the way they do.

Accepted Answer

Perceptual ability is the ability to understand why people of other countries behave the way they do; that is, the ability to empathize. This dimension seems critical for managing host-country nationals.

Question 14

________ makes it difficult to evaluate the performance of expatriate managers objectively.

Accepted Answer

Unintentional bias makes it difficult to evaluate the performance of expatriate managers objectively. In many cases, two groups evaluate the performance of expatriate managers-host-nation managers and home-office managers-and both are subject to bias.

Question 15

Training can help a manager and spouse cope with issues of adjusting to the foreign environment. ________ is aimed at helping the expatriate manager and family ease themselves into day-to-day life in the host country.

Accepted Answer

Training can help a manager and spouse cope with issues of adjusting to the foreign environment. Three types of training are important. Cultural training seeks to foster an appreciation for the host country's culture. The belief is that understanding a host country's culture will help the manager empathize with the culture, which will enhance his/her effectiveness in dealing with host-country nationals. Language training is vital to an expatriate's ability to interact with host-country nationals. Finally, practical training is aimed at helping the expatriate manager and family ease themselves into day-to-day life in the host country.

Question 16

Which of the following issues was not addressed by Mendenhall and Oddou's study?

Accepted Answer

Mendenhall and Oddou did not address the problem of expatriate failure due to a spouse's inability to adjust. According to a number of other researchers, a review of the family situation should be part of the expatriate selection process.

Question 17

Mendenhall and Oddou identified cultural toughness as one of the dimensions in their study on dimensions that predict success in foreign jobs postings. This dimension refers to the

Accepted Answer

Cultural toughness refers to the relationship between the country of assignment and how well an expatriate adjusts to a particular posting. Some countries are much tougher postings than others because their cultures are more unfamiliar and uncomfortable.

Question 18

Which of the following is one of the factors that impact a spouse adjusting to expatriation?

Accepted Answer

The failure of spouse to adjust appears to be related to a several factors. Often spouses find themselves in a foreign country without the familiar network of family and friends. Language differences make it difficult for them to make new friends, making the spouse feel trapped at home. If immigration rules prohibit employment, the spouse may find it even more difficult to adapt. Research suggests that a main reason managers now turn down international assignments is concern over the impact the assignment might have on their spouse's career.

Question 19

In a seminal study, R.L. Tung found that for managers of European firms, the biggest impediment to expatriate success was the

Accepted Answer

Managers of European firms gave only one reason consistently to explain expatriate failure: the inability of the manager's spouse to adjust to a new environment.

Question 20

Firms pursuing ________ strategy increasingly are using management development as a strategic tool.

Accepted Answer

International businesses increasingly are using management development as a strategic tool. This is particularly true in firms pursuing a transnational strategy, as increasing numbers are.

Quiz 19: Global Human Resource Management

Which of the following statements is true regarding management development?

________ refers to the relationship between the country of assignment and how well an expatriate adjusts to a particular posting.

The premature return of an expatriate manager to his or her home country is known as

Historically, most international businesses have been

Which among the following should be done in order to reduce bias in the performance appraisal process for expatriates?

________ makes it difficult to evaluate the performance of expatriate managers objectively.

When evaluating expatriates, home-country managers usually rely on

Bringing managers together in one location for extended periods and rotating them through different jobs in several countries helps the firm build

________ is considered the language of world business.

Practical training is

Bringing managers together in one location for extended periods and rotating them through different jobs in several countries is a part of

Management development programs aim to

________ is the ability to understand why people of other countries behave the way they do.

________ makes it difficult to evaluate the performance of expatriate managers objectively.

Training can help a manager and spouse cope with issues of adjusting to the foreign environment. ________ is aimed at helping the expatriate manager and family ease themselves into day-to-day life in the host country.

Which of the following issues was not addressed by Mendenhall and Oddou's study?

Mendenhall and Oddou identified cultural toughness as one of the dimensions in their study on dimensions that predict success in foreign jobs postings. This dimension refers to the

Which of the following is one of the factors that impact a spouse adjusting to expatriation?

In a seminal study, R.L. Tung found that for managers of European firms, the biggest impediment to expatriate success was the

Firms pursuing ________ strategy increasingly are using management development as a strategic tool.