Deck 19: Global Human Resource Management

Question 1

HRM professionals have a critically important strategic role.

Answer 1

True
Explanation: The HRM function, through its staffing, training, compensation, and performance appraisal activities, has a critical impact upon the people, culture, incentive, and control system elements of the firm's organization architecture. Thus, HRM professionals have a critically important strategic role.

Question 2

According to Mendenhall and Oddou, poorly adjusted expatriates tend to be nonjudgmental and nonevaluative in interpreting the behavior of host-country nationals.

Answer 2

False
Explanation: According to Mendenhall and Oddou, well-adjusted expatriates tend to be nonjudgmental and nonevaluative in interpreting the behavior of host-country nationals and willing to be flexible in their management style, adjusting it as cultural conditions warrant.

Question 3

In a seminal study, R. L. Tung revealed that for European firms, the top reason for expatriate failure was the inability of the manager to cope with larger overseas responsibilities.

Answer 3

False
Explanation: Tung asked her sample of multinational managers to indicate reasons for expatriate failure. 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 4

A firm that adopts a polycentric approach to staffing is likely to suffer from cultural myopia.

Question 5

Cultural myopia refers to a firm's failure to understand host-country cultural differences that require different approaches to marketing and management.

Question 6

An expatriate needs to have language fluency to show willingness to communicate.

Question 7

A citizen of Japan who moves to the United States to work at Microsoft would be classified as an inpatriate.

Question 8

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

Question 9

In the case of an ethnocentric approach, it is possible that managers may make decisions that are ethically suspect because they do not understand the culture in which they are managing.

Question 10

Expatriate failure refers to a manager's failure to understand host-country cultural norms and values, leading to ineffective work.

Question 11

A manager might be sent on several foreign postings over a number of years to build his/her cross-cultural sensitivity and experience as part of a management development program.

Question 12

A firm's performance appraisal systems are an important element of its control systems.

Question 13

The most attractive staffing policy is the ethnocentric approach.

Question 14

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

Question 15

In polycentric firms, the lack of managers' mobility among national operations implies that pay can and should be kept country-specific.

Question 16

Firms may choose an ethnocentric approach to staffing as opposed to a polycentric approach because of the cost savings it promotes.

Question 17

A geocentric approach tends to weaken local responsiveness.

Question 18

Most expatriates believe that more weight should be given to an on-site manager's appraisal than to an off-site manager's appraisal.

Question 19

Where an expatriate community exists, firms often devote less effort to ensuring that the new expatriate family is quickly integrated into that group.

Question 20

An executive who performs well in a domestic setting may not be able to adapt to managing in a different cultural setting.

Question 21

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

A) self-orientation
B) others-orientation
C) perceptual ability
D) cultural toughness

Question 22

Union influence in the auto industry is increasing in part due to Japanese carmakers building autos in the United States.

Question 23

Historically, most international businesses have been:

A) more concerned with training than with management development.
B) focused on smoothly transitioning their home-country nationals back from foreign postings to home postings.
C) more concerned with management development than with training.
D) less focused on training their home-country nationals for foreign postings than with training home-country managers.

Question 24

A(n) _____ staffing policy can be expensive to implement because training an relocation costs increase when transferring managers from one country to another.

A) geocentric
B) eurocentric
C) polycentric
D) ethnocentric

Question 25

A firm with a(n) _____ staffing policy will fill all key management positions with parent-country nationals.

A) geocentric
B) ethnocentric
C) eurocentrict
D) polycentric

Question 26

An expatriate's base salary normally:

A) varies from the base salary for a similar position in the home country.
B) is paid half in the home-country currency and half in the local currency.
C) is in the same range as the base salary for a similar position in the home country.
D) is paid in Eurocurrency.

Question 27

Bringing managers together in one location for extended periods and rotating them through different jobs in several countries helps the firm build a(n) _____.

A) expatriate community
B) formal management network
C) inpatriate community
D) informal management network

Question 28

A(n) _____ staffing policy seeks the best people for key jobs throughout the organization, regardless of nationality.

A) ethnocentric
B) polycentric
C) eurocentric
D) geocentric

Question 29

Broadly speaking, a geocentric approach is compatible with:

A) an international strategy.
B) both global standardization and transnational strategies.
C) a localization strategy.
D) both an international and a localization strategy.

Question 30

A firm following a(n) _____ approach to staffing believes that the host-country nationals should be recruited to manage subsidiaries, while parent-country nationals occupy key positions at corporate headquarters.

A) geocentric
B) eurocentric
C) polycentric
D) ethnocentric

Question 31

If a firm is serious about building a(n) _____, it may have to pay its international executives the same basic salary irrespective of their country of origin or assignment.

A) expatriate community
B) international cadre
C) inpatriate community
D) international corps

Question 32

_____ is considered the language of world business.

A) Chinese
B) English
C) Spanish
D) Hindi

Question 33

From a strategic perspective, the key issue in international labor relations is the degree to which organized labor can limit the choices of an international business.

Question 34

Expatriate managers who have _____ tend to treat foreign nationals as if they were home-country nationals.

A) self-orientation
B) cultural toughness
C) others-orientation
D) perceptual ability

Question 35

Labor unions generally prefer it if an international business keeps highly skilled tasks in its home country and farms out only low-skilled tasks to foreign plants.

Question 36

Base pay in most firms is set with regard to global market conditions.

Question 37

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

A) Unintentional bias
B) Lack of proximity
C) Intentional bias
D) Inadequate hard data

Question 38

An organization's norms and value systems are known as its _____.

A) corporate culture
B) mission statement
C) human resources
D) organizational structure

Question 39

Firms pursuing a(n) _____ strategy increasingly are using management development as a strategic tool.

A) localization
B) global standardization
C) transnational
D) international

Question 40

The international trade secretariats have had tremendous success.

Question 41

A firm using a polycentric staffing policy:

A) is less likely to suffer from cultural myopia.
B) seeks the best people for key jobs throughout the organization, regardless of nationality.
C) will most likely follow an ethnocentric strategy.
D) is likely to have improved communication between host-country managers and parent-country managers.

Question 42

Which of the following staffing approaches will be most effective for a firm that is pursuing a transnational strategy?

A) A polycentric staffing policy
B) An ethnocentric staffing policy
C) A geocentric staffing policy
D) An internal staffing policy

Question 43

A Japanese firm prefers expatriate Japanese managers to head its foreign operations because these managers have been socialized into the firm while employed in Japan. This indicates that the firm:

A) believes that such managers cannot progress beyond middle-manager positions in their parent company.
B) follows an ethnocentric staffing policy to maintain a unified corporate culture.
C) is trying to create value by transferring core competencies to a foreign operation.
D) requires host-country nationals to be recruited to manage subsidiaries.

Question 44

A geocentric staffing policy:

A) requires host-country nationals to be recruited to manage subsidiaries, while parent-country nationals occupy key positions at corporate headquarters.
B) leads to ineffective use of human resources.
C) requires extensive documentation.
D) is compatible with both international and localization strategy.

Question 45

A polycentric approach may be effective for firms pursuing a(n) _____.

A) international strategy
B) localization strategy
C) transnational strategy
D) global standardization strategy

Question 46

Cultural myopia refers to a firm's failure to:

A) adapt to certain ethnocentric cultures.
B) act confidently in host-countries.
C) understand host-country cultural differences.
D) prevent gender discrimination within the firm.

Question 47

Unions' bargaining power is:

A) largely derived from their ability to threaten to disrupt production.
B) rooted in their government backing.
C) largely derived from their ability to control corporate managers.
D) rooted in their financial resources.

Question 48

Expatriate failure refers to:

A) expatriates who follow host-country norms instead of their home-country norms.
B) the inability of expatriate managers to treat foreign nationals as if they were home-country nationals.
C) the premature return of an expatriate manager to his or her home-country.
D) the ethical drawbacks of the ethnocentric staffing approach.

Question 49

A citizen of France who moves to the United States to work at Ford is a(n) _____.

A) host-country national
B) local
C) inpatriate
D) acquired citizen

Question 50

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

A) Retention policy
B) Staffing policy
C) Incentive policy
D) Appraisal policy

Question 51

A(n) _____ seeks the best people for key jobs throughout the organization, regardless of nationality.

A) polycentric staffing policy
B) ethnocentric staffing policy
C) geocentric staffing policy
D) uniform staffing policy

Question 52

If a company recruits host-country nationals to manage subsidiaries while parent-country nationals occupy key positions at corporate headquarters, the firm is following a(n) _____ staffing policy.

A) polycentric
B) ethnocentric
C) geocentric
D) internal

Question 53

An ethnocentric staffing policy is one in which:

A) all key management positions are filled by host-country nationals.
B) host-country nationals are recruited to manage subsidiaries.
C) all key management positions are filled by parent-country nationals.
D) the best people are recruited for key jobs throughout the organization, regardless of nationality.

Question 54

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

A) Firms are likely to suffer from cultural myopia.
B) Host-country nationals are vulnerable to cultural misunderstandings.
C) This approach increases the cost of value creation.
D) Host-country nationals have limited opportunities for advancement beyond senior positions in their subsidiary.

Question 55

An ethnocentric approach to staffing is appropriate for firms that are pursuing a(n) _____.

A) localization strategy
B) international strategy
C) global standardization strategy
D) transnational strategy

Question 56

What is the most important advantage of using a geocentric staffing policy?

A) It enables the firm to build a cadre of international executives who feel at home working in a number of cultures.
B) It may be less expensive to implement than other policies, reducing the costs of value creation.
C) The higher pay managers on an international fast track enjoy is a source of inspiration within a firm.
D) It reduces the need for futile and time consuming documentation.

Question 57

Trade unions around the world:

A) developed simultaneously and in coordination with each other.
B) are widely varied in their structure.
C) have virtually the same ideology.
D) employ the same union structure.

Question 58

In a seminal study, R. L. Tung found that for American multinationals, the biggest impediment to expatriate success was the:

A) inability of the spouse to adjust.
B) manager's inability to adjust.
C) manager's inability to cope with larger overseas responsibilities.
D) lack of adequate technical training.

Question 59

What is the difference between an ethnocentric and a polycentric staffing approach?

A) An ethnocentric staffing approach alleviates cultural myopia, while a polycentric staffing approach can lead to cultural myopia.
B) An ethnocentric staffing approach is more expensive compared to a polycentric staffing approach.
C) An ethnocentric staffing approach seeks host-country nationals for all key positions, while a polycentric staffing approach seeks the best people for key jobs regardless of nationality.
D) An ethnocentric staffing approach is now used in most international businesses, while the polycentric staffing approach is on the wane.

Question 60

When a reciprocal tax treaty is not in force, the firm typically:

A) pays the difference the higher income tax rate makes on the expatriates take-home pay into a 401K plan.
B) pays the expatriate's income tax in the home country.
C) reduces the expatriates take-home pay to cover the difference in tax rates.
D) pays the expatriate's income tax in the host country.

Question 61

A hardship allowance is paid:

A) when the expatriate is being sent to a location where such basic amenities are grossly deficient by the standards of the expatriate's home country.
B) to ensure that an expatriate's children receive adequate schooling (by home-country standards).
C) to ensure that the expatriate will enjoy the same standard of living in the foreign posting as at home.
D) to ensure that the expatriate can afford the same quality of housing in the foreign country as at home.

Question 62

Management development programs aim to:

A) facilitate an ethnocentric approach to staffing.
B) reduce job rotations of managers.
C) build a formal management network.
D) build a unifying corporate culture.

Question 63

Which of the following is a concern of organized labor regarding multinational firms?

A) A company can counter a union's bargaining power with the power to move production to another country.
B) An international business will keep low-skilled tasks in its home country and farm out only highly skilled tasks to foreign plants.
C) An international business can attempt to import employment practices and contractual agreements from its host-country.
D) A multinational company is more likely to receive government support in the case of hostile labor relations.

Question 64

The international trade secretariats (ITS) have had virtually no real success. Which of the following is a cause of the ITS's ineffectiveness?

A) National unions compete with each other to attract investment from international businesses.
B) The structure and ideology of unions tend to be very similar from country to country.
C) Organized labor has had overwhelming success in its efforts to get national and international bodies to regulate multinationals.
D) The codes of conduct developed by International Labor Organization and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development prevented the ITSs from exercising absolute power.

Question 65

What is the long-term goal of international trade secretariats (ITSs)?

A) To increase the competition between national unions
B) To be able to bargain transnationally with multinational firms
C) To accommodate wide variation in union structure
D) To be able to regulate multinationals with regard to labor policies

Question 66

In a seminal study, R. L. Tung found that for Japanese multinationals, the biggest impediment to expatriate success was:

A) the inability of the spouse to adjust.
B) inadequate compensation.
C) the manager's inability to cope with larger overseas responsibilities.
D) the lack of adequate technical training.

Question 67

Which of the following is an action taken by organized labor to respond to the increased bargaining power of multinational corporations?

A) Trying to establish international labor organizations
B) Increasing competition between national unions
C) Lobbying the European Union for legislation to restrict multinationals
D) Trying to achieve international regulations on multinationals through such organizations as the United Nations

Question 68

A foreign service premium is:

A) paid when the expatriate is being sent to a difficult location.
B) the extra pay that an expatriate receives for working outside his or her country of origin.
C) normally given to ensure that the expatriate can afford the same quality of housing in the foreign country as at home.
D) paid to ensure that the expatriate enjoys the same standard of living in the foreign posting as at home.

Question 69

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

A) Cultural relativism
B) Internal documentation
C) Unintentional bias
D) Others-orientation

Question 70

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:

A) expatriate's self-esteem, self-confidence, and mental well-being.
B) expatriate's ability to interact effectively with host-country nationals.
C) expatriate's ability to understand why people of other countries behave the way they do.
D) relationship between the country of the assignment and how well an expatriate adjusts to a particular posting.

Question 71

Which of the following is the most common approach to expatriate pay?

A) Balance sheet approach
B) Net-to-net approach
C) Host-country approach
D) Cost-based approach

Question 72

Practical training is:

A) provided to foster an appreciation for the host country's culture.
B) aimed at helping expatriates improve their communication skills.
C) aimed at helping expatriate managers to build relationships in the host-country.
D) aimed at helping the expatriate manager and family ease themselves into day-to-day life in the host country.

Question 73

Mendenhall and Oddou's "others-orientation" dimension, in their study on what predicts success in foreign jobs postings, refers to the:

A) expatriate's self-esteem, self-confidence, and mental well-being.
B) expatriate's ability to interact effectively with host-country nationals.
C) expatriate's ability to understand why people of other countries behave the way they do.
D) relationship between the country of the assignment and how well an expatriate adjusts to a particular posting.

Question 74

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

A) More weight should be given to an off-site manager's appraisal than to an on-site manager's appraisal.
B) The on-site manager should be of a different nationality as the expatriate manager.
C) Home-office managers should be consulted before an on-site manager completes a formal termination evaluation.
D) A former expatriate who served in the same location as a current expatriate should not be allowed to participate in the appraisal.

Question 75

When evaluating expatriates, home-country managers usually rely on:

A) the manager's ability to develop cross-cultural awareness.
B) hard data such as market share.
C) the ability of the expatriate to work with local managers.
D) a set of subjective criteria such as interpersonal skills.

Question 76

Which of the following statements is true regarding management development?

A) Historically, most international businesses have been more concerned with management development than with training.
B) Management development facilitates the creation of an informal network for sharing knowledge within the multinational enterprise.
C) Management development refers to specific training efforts to prepare home-country nationals for foreign postings.
D) Typically, management development programs use standard psychological tests to select managers for specific foreign postings.

Question 77

Which dimension of Mendenhall and Oddou's study suggests that an expatriate with high self-esteem, self-confidence, and mental well-being is likely to succeed in a foreign job posing?

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

Question 78

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

A) the ethnocentric approach.
B) the global standardization strategy.
C) cultural toughness programs.
D) management development programs.

Question 79

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

A) Others-orientation
B) Cultural myopia
C) Perceptual ability
D) Cultural toughness

Question 80

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

A) Expatriate failure due to a spouse's inability to adjust.
B) Expatriate failure due to a manager's lack of self-esteem.
C) Expatriate failure due to lack of relationship development.
D) Expatriate failure due to a manager's inability to empathize.