Review Questions Module 13: International Dimensions
Managers working in cultures with stronger uncertainty avoidance must learn not only to accept, but also to participate in, the development of seemingly unnecessary rules and apparently meaningless planning to help other organization members cope with stressful uncertainty.
True
Managers working in national cultures characterized by weaker uncertainty avoidance must learn to cope with higher levels of anxiety and stress, while reducing their reliance on planning, rule making, and other familiar ways of absorbing uncertainty.
True
National cultures characterized by a large degree of power distance support norms and values stipulating that power should be distributed hierarchically.
True
People characterized by strong uncertainty avoidance are most comfortable when they feel a sense of certainty about the present and future.
True
People high in uncertainty avoidance may engage in rituals intended to help them cope with the anxiety aroused by uncertainty.
True
People in a masculine culture would agree that ambition and assertiveness provide the motivation behind behavior.
True
People who hold the collectivist view believe that only by belonging to a group and looking after its interests can they secure their own well-being and that of the broader society.
True
Power distance reflects the degree to which the members of a society accept differences in power and status among themselves.
True
The convergence hypothesis suggests that national cultures, organizations, and management practices throughout the world are becoming more homogeneous.
True
The degree to which people are comfortable with ambiguous situations and with the inability to predict future events with assurance is called uncertainty avoidance.
True
The dimension of short-term/long-term orientation reflects the extent to which the members of a national culture are oriented toward the recent past and the present versus being oriented toward the future.
True
The members of collectivistic national cultures tend to ignore personal needs for the sake of their groups, ensuring group welfare even if personal hardships must be endured.
True
The quality of life is more important than personal performance and visible accomplishments in feminine national cultures.
True
The short-term orientation supports immediate consumption and discourages the deferral of pleasure and satisfaction.
True
The structures of family businesses in China reflect the ideology of patrimonialism that grows out of the Chinese national culture's high collectivism and power distance.
True
With globalization comes differences in nationality and culture within organizations that can have significant effects on organizational behavior.
True
"We" is more important than "I" to cultural individualists.
False
A small degree of power distance is consistent with the idea that power is a basic fact of society.
False
Collectivists agree that success is a personal achievement and that people function most productively when working alone.
False
Despite differences among national cultures, management practices developed in one cultural region can be used effectively throughout the world.
False
Due to cultural collectivism, Japanese organizations are known for their use of consensus-based decision making to gain subordinates' approval before implementing decisions.
False
Due to cultural uncertainty avoidance, American models of leadership suggest that leading is largely a process of directing the behaviors and strengthening the motivation of individual employees.
False
In national cultures that tolerate only a small degree of power distance, norms and values specify that political equality should be discouraged.
False
People with weak uncertainty avoidance feel extremely uncomfortable when they are unsure about current activities or future events.
False
A longer-term orientation favors the idea that it is important to do what is necessary now, whether pleasant or unpleasant, for the sake of future well-being.
True
A small degree of power distance is consistent with the idea that superiors should consider subordinates "people just like me," and subordinates should regard superiors in the same way.
True
Consistent with low cultural power distance, managers in Sweden often do not supervise employees directly, nor do they always issue direct orders to coordinate work activities.
True
Cultures with short term orientations favor the idea that it is important to respect traditions and to remember past accomplishments.
True
Diagnosing the primary features of national cultures is critical to success in the management of international organizational behavior because it is the first step toward determining whether familiar management practices must be reconfigured before being used abroad.
True
Due to cultural collectivism, managing motivation in large Japanese firms is primarily a matter of stimulating in each employee a sense of loyalty, obligation, and dependence on superiors and co-workers.
True
Due to strong cultural individualism, work behaviors in U.S. companies are influenced most strongly by the receipt of rewards expected to satisfy personal needs, especially when those rewards are distributed in proportion to personal performance.
True
Equality between the sexes is the norm in feminine national cultures.
True
From the viewpoint of individualism, pursuing personal interests is seen as being more important, and succeeding in the pursuit of these interests is critical to both personal and societal well-being.
True
Having a stable, secure life is important to people with high uncertainty avoidance.
True
In masculine national cultures, managerial work is seen as the province of men, who are portrayed as having the ambition and independence of thought required to succeed at decision making and problem solving.
True
In national cultures characterized by high uncertainty avoidance, behavior is motivated at least partly by people's fear of the unknown and by attempts to cope with this fear.
True
Individualism-collectivism is a dimension that traces cultural tendencies to emphasize either satisfying personal needs or looking after the needs of the group.
True
Managers attempting to work in cultures that are more collectivistic than their own must adjust to demands for self-sacrifice in support of group well-being.
True
Managers who must work in national cultures that are more individualistic than their own must first learn to cope with the sense of rootlessness that comes from the absence of close-knit group relationships.
True
Managers who work in cultures that favor less power distance must learn to be less autocratic and more participatory in their work with others.
True
