Deck 3: The Organizational Context

Question 1

Half of the US firms reported that HR functions were unrelated to the nature of the firm's international operations.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Centralized HR companies are operated within a matrix structure.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Mixed structures are more complex and harder to explain and implement/control than a matrix structure.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Less human resources planning and management development are in the matrix structure of operations than traditional organization.

Question 5

Training and development,program reward systems and promotion are activities that reinforce company value systems.

Question 6

The matrix structure area managers are responsible for the performances of all products within the various countries that comprise their regions.

Question 7

Purchasing an international company automatically creates a separate international division of a company.

Question 8

An export manager is typically the first international HR position in a new international company.

Question 9

Formal structure controls are an international firm's primary source of control.

Question 10

International division acting as an independent separate unit cannot be tolerated as the firm's international activities become strategically more important.

Question 11

The Inpatriate manager performs a major role in identifying employees who can direct operations in a foreign subsidiary.

Question 12

HR departments are emerged in policies and procedures in the early international or export stage.

Question 13

Intra-organizational networks comprise the organization's headquarters and the numerous subsidiaries.

Question 14

Training,performance,appraisals and staff movements are not impacted by the HR structural form.

Question 15

Europeans tend to take a different structural path than the US.

Question 16

European multinational firms are mainly from Germany.

Question 17

Centralized HR companies are characterized by devolving the HR responsibilities to a small group who reports to corporate headquarters.

Question 18

The metanational form is described as a global tournament.

Question 19

Chinese firms have many international operations.

Question 20

Japanese based multinational firms are the only firms to successfully balance operations in all the regional blocks.

Question 21

Transnational strategies of globalization are characterized by:

A) Ability of the multinational to formulate and implement the required human resource element
B) A company doing business in more than one country
C) Organization form that is characterized by an interdependence of resources and responsibilities across all business units
D) Network of independent companies in different countries

Question 22

A matrix structure:

A) Keeps profit centers but adds worldwide product managers
B) Integrated its operations across more than one dimension
C) Relies heavily on social networking
D) Creates a worldwide product division

Question 23

Clan control is defined as:

A) Hiring family relations to maintain control
B) Hiring people from similar backgrounds to ease cooperation
C) Social control to supplement or replace traditional structures
D) Control by personal influence

Question 24

"Born globals" are:

A) Company formed with the international market in mind
B) International firm formed by acquisition
C) Company grown into an international company by market demands
D) Company owned by people of different nationalities

Question 25

The following types of units are regarded in a metanational firm EXCEPT:

A) Sensing unit,financial unit and performing unit
B) Magnet unit and entrepreneurial unit
C) Sensing unit,magnet unit and marketing unit
D) Marketing unit,magnet unit,financial unit

Question 26

"Miniature replicas" are:

A) Subsidiaries structured to mirror that of domestic organizations
B) Small scale reproduction of each firm to show at office meetings
C) Company created to make miniature building
D) Foreign company purchased to create a multinational company

Question 27

Many companies in the developmental stage of internationalization will maintain control by:

A) Placing PCN in all key positions
B) Placing a human resource division on location
C) Going to governmental sources for support
D) Hiring locals in all aspects of the organization

Question 28

The European path approach to a global matrix tends to emphases:

A) Worldwide product division approach
B) Area/geographic division approach
C) Functional approach
D) Corporate subsidiary approach

Question 29

A major contributing factor of an unmanageable matrix structure is:

A) Confused human resource department
B) Standard reporting procedures
C) Clear responsibilities
D) Dual reporting requirements

Question 30

The second stage of a new international company typically involves which department:

A) Sales
B) Export
C) Employment
D) Human resources

Question 31

Which stage of international operations tend to create a separate international division in a company:

A) Foreign production/service operations
B) Exporting
C) Physical location
D) Sales

Question 32

A common theme between heterarchy,matrix and transnational is:

A) Networks of communication is imperative
B) Staff transfers play a critical role in integrations and coordination
C) Legal forms are very different
D) The reduced role of communications requirements

Question 33

The "think global,act local" paradox:

A) Purchase vegetables at farmers markets grown in another country
B) Push for local responsiveness toward global integration
C) Results in a foreign subsidiary hiring local employees
D) Reflects the hierarchy of needs for a multinational company

Question 34

One advantage of a matrix structure is:

A) Allows all departments to network efficient
B) Brings conflicts of interest out into the open
C) Provides the company with uniform corporate values
D) Allows each locations to have its own self-contained division

Question 35

HR functions are described in the following structural forms EXCEPT for:

A) Centralized HR
B) Decentralized HR
C) Matrix HR
D) Transition HR

Question 36

The management of a multi-centered networked organization is:

A) Simple
B) Inconsequential
C) Organized
D) Complex

Question 37

Korean conglomerates have a strong preference for:

A) Greenfield building approach
B) Bamboo network/family approach
C) Grow within approach
D) Growth-through-acquisition approach

Question 38

Which category of employee is typically used in key sales subsidiary position in a new developing international company:

A) Parent Country National
B) Host Country National
C) Third Country National
D) Multi Country National

Question 39

The complex network of interrelated activities in a MNE can be described in the following structure:

A) Functional
B) Product division
C) Heterarchy
D) Bureaucratic

Question 40

Typically the initial stage of a firm entering international operations is:

A) Export
B) Licensing
C) Investment
D) Employment

Question 41

The host-country effect:

A) Implies that multinationals are shaped by institutions existing in their country origins
B) Refers to the extent to which HRM practice in subsidiaries are impacted by the host country context
C) Refers to the transfer of practices from foreign locations to the headquarters
D) Relies heavily on knowledge from the parent or peer subsidiaries

Question 42

How can a social relationship be considered a control?

Question 43

Matrix structures:

A) Can be managed by anyone with basic skills
B) Requires a manager with some experience,but who insist on no ambiguities
C) Requires managers who know the business in general,who has good interpersonal skills and who can deal with ambiguities in responsibilities
D) Requires a manager who has worked at least five years in a previous matrix organization

Question 44

Transition companies are characterized by:

A) Large well-resourced HR departments
B) Devolving HR responsibilities to a small group
C) HR relocations to a subsidiary company
D) Medium sized corporate HR department

Question 45

Social Capital emphasizes the need for:

A) Recycling facilities for community
B) A customer list in an organization
C) Employees with poor social skills
D) Contacts and ties that facilitate knowledge sharing

Question 46

Multinational firms are divided into the following regional block EXCEPT:

A) North America
B) Asia
C) Europe
D) Australia

Question 47

Network multinational structures:

A) Are the most popular form of multinational organization
B) Are tightly coupled bureaucracies,linked by formal explicit policies
C) Are culturally homogeneous and hierarchically controlled
D) Are loosely coupled political systems

Question 48

What are the advantages and disadvantages of the global matrix structure?

Question 49

What are the characteristics of a centralized decentralized and transition HR company?

Question 50

The process of socializing people so that they come to share a common set of values and beliefs that shapes their behavior is:

A) Networking
B) Corporate culture
C) Matrix structure
D) Social investment

Question 51

Discuss a formal,structural form of control utilized by traditional multinational firms.

Question 52

The subsidiary as an integrated player:

A) Develops HRM policies and practice which are transferred to overseas affiliates
B) Creates knowledge but at the same time is recipient of knowledge flows
C) Engages in the creation of country/region specific knowledge in all key functional areas
D) Moves managers in a way to break down barriers and produces corporate champions of information

Question 53

What would be considered an informal control mechanism?

Question 54

The matrix structure:

A) Is rather simple to control
B) Is characterized by a manager who belongs to two units at the same time
C) Is one of the first structures used by newly-formed international firms
D) Is difficult to set up,but once in place it is easy to maintain

Question 55

An important forum for the development of personal networks is:

A) Relocating staff on a regular basis
B) Luncheon meeting
C) Training programs held in regional centers
D) Weekly department meetings