MGT 301 Test 2 4&5

Which of the following is a characteristic of a high-context culture?

Agreements tend to be spoken rather than written

Which of the following is a characteristic of a high-context culture?

Agreements tend to be spoken rather than written.

________ can be defined as acquired knowledge that people use to interpret experience and generate social behavior.

Culture

T/F According to the priorities of cultural values of the United States, Japan, and Arab countries, independence is the top cultural priority in Japan.

False

T/F An ethnocentric predisposition leads a firm to try to blend its own interests with those of its subsidiaries on a regional basis.

False

T/F In Japan, people often are hired based on what they can do for the firm in the short run because many of them eventually will quit or be downsized.

False

T/F In a high-context culture, relationships between individuals are relatively short in duration.

False

T/F In the context of Dutch researcher, Fons Trompenaars's relationship orientations, cultures with high universalism focus more on relationships and trust than on formal rules.

False

T/F In the context of the values in transition, the stateside Japanese managers working for Japanese firms in the United States, believed that unconditional tenure in one organization was of major importance.

False

T/F In the workplace, many French people are motivated by competition and the desire to emulate fellow workers.

False

In ________, spots are viewed as cultural events and reviewed as if they were literature or films.

France

Many in the United States believe that it is more difficult to get along with the ________ than with other Europeans.

French

Statistics show that on average, ________ workers have the longest vacations in the world, four to five weeks annually.

French

Which of the following countries prefers advertising that is factual and rational?

Germany

Which of the following fundamental questions is not included in the specific objectives of the GLOBE project?

How do attributes of societal and organizational cultures affect the behaviors of lower-level workers in an organization?

Identify an accurate statement about the link between cultural clusters and compensation strategies.

In high-masculinity cultures, high salaries should be paid to senior-level managers.

Which of the following dimensions measures the freedom to satisfy one's natural needs and desires within a society?

Indulgence versus restraint

Paternalism, measured by a manager's involvement in both personal and off-the-job problems of subordinates is very important in ________.

Japan

Which of the following cultural characteristics should be kept in mind when doing business in Arab countries?

Mutual respect is required at all times.

Which of the following statements is true about restrained societies?

People experience a perception of helplessness.

Identify a true statement about the different approaches identified by Dutch researcher, Fons Trompenaars to describe the ways in which people deal with the concept of time.

People in Mexico often build slack into their schedules to allow for interruptions.

In the context of how people deal with the concept of time, which of the following statements is true about the sequential approach identified by Dutch researcher, Fons Trompenaars?

People tend to do only one activity at a time.

According to the GLOBE Cultural Variable Results, which of the following countries were the most assertive?

Spain and the United States

In which of the following cultures punctuality is a strong suit?

The Chinese culture

Which of the following cultures is characterized by a universal method of greeting an equal by pressing one's palms together in front of the chest and saying, "namaste"?

The Indian culture

Which of the following statements is true about stateside Japanese managers?

They believed that job security was important

In the context of Arab countries, what is meant by the expression Bukra insha Allah?

Tomorrow if God wills

T/F A company with a geocentric predisposition tries to integrate a global systems approach to decision making.

True

T/F A neutral culture is one in which emotions are held in check.

True

T/F Chinese culture tends to value punctuality, so it is important that those who do business with them arrive on time.

True

T/F Firms with a polycentric predisposition make strategic decisions tailored to suit the cultures of the countries where the MNC operates.

True

T/F In America, authority is diffused throughout the bureaucratic system and personal responsibility is hard to pin down.

True

T/F In China, Confucianism, which was overshadowed, is slowly gaining popularity once again, emphasizing respect for authority, concern for others, balance, harmony, and overall order.

True

T/F In general, French employees give utmost importance to quality of life and do not derive much motivation from professional accomplishment.

True

T/F In the context of Hofstede's original four dimensions, power distance is "the extent to which less powerful members of institutions and organizations accept that power is distributed unequally."

True

T/F The difficulty of managing global organizations, as in the case of some local subsidiaries that want more decentralization and others that want less, is one of the factors that are moving companies to facilitate the development of unique strategies for different cultures.

True

T/F When conducting business in Russia, it is important to build personal relationships with partners.

True

T/F When depicting cultural diversity through visually separating its components by using concentric circles, the middle ring contains the norms and values of society.

True

T/F In the context of Hofstede's original four dimensions, organizations in high-power-distance countries will tend to be centralized and have tall organization structures.

Turn

According to a cross-cultural study of differences in work values, ________ managers placed a high value on the tactful acquisition of influence and on regard for others.

U.S.

________ is the extent to which people feel threatened by ambiguous situations and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these.

Uncertainty avoidance

A(n) ________ culture is one in which people are accorded status based on how well they perform their functions.

achievement

A partially completed contingency matrix for international human resource management for labor relations shows that firms doing business in Germany should ________.

be prepared for high wages and short workweek and expect high productivity from unionized workers

Culturally, a German can be expected to have a ________ handshake.

brusque and firm

When depicting cultural diversity through visually separating its components by using concentric circles, the inner circle:

contains the implicit, basic assumptions that govern behavior.

A partially completed contingency matrix for international human resource management shows that recruitment and selection processes in Japan should ________.

develop trusting relationship with recruit

A(n) ________ culture is one in which both public and private space are similar in size and individuals guard their public space carefully because entry into public space affords entry into private space as well.

diffuse

An important dimension of Chinese culture is guanxi, which means ________.

good connections

A diffuse culture is one in which individuals:

guard their public space carefully.

Malaysia has what could be called a ________.

high-context culture

Most French organizations tend to be ________.

highly centralized and have rigid structures

The United States has a ________.

low-context culture

A(n) ________ culture is one in which emotions are held in check.

neutral

Societal collectivism refers to the degree to which:

organizational and societal institutional practices encourage and reward collective distribution of resources and collective action.

Firms with a(n) ________ predisposition make strategic decisions tailored to suit the cultures of the countries where the MNC operates.

polycentric

Countries in which people blindly obey the orders of their superiors have a high ________.

power distance

Countries that have high individualism and relatively low power distance:

prefer others to do things for themselves.

Confucianism, associated with China, does not emphasize:

profit

In Great Britain, Ireland, and the United States, managers value their individualism and are motivated by all of the following opportunities except ________.

profit-sharing plans

Dutch researcher, Fons Trompenaars, recommends that when individuals from achievement cultures do business in ascription cultures, they should:

respect the status and influence of their counterparts in the other group.

Austria, the United Kingdom, the United States and Switzerland all are ________ cultures.

specific

When examining the effects of the U.S. environment on the cultural values of Japanese managers working for Japanese firms in the United States, researchers found that these managers:

supported the concept of formal authority.

A partially completed contingency matrix for international human resource management for labor relations shows that firms doing business in China should ________.

tap large pool of labor cities and be prepared that lax labor laws may become more stringent

Experienced travelers report that the primary criterion for doing business in China is ________.

technical competence

Cultures with low ________ have people who are more willing to accept that risks are associated with the unknown and that life must go on in spite of this.

uncertainty avoidance

In his early research, Dutch researcher, Fons Trompenaars, found that in countries such as the United States, Australia, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom, there was high ________.

universalism

A partially completed contingency matrix for international human resource management shows that recruitment and selection processes in Mexico should ________.

use expatriates sparingly and recruit home country nationals at U.S. colleges

In the context of human resource management (HRM) practices, unlike Americans, Japanese ________.

use group performance appraisal