SHRM SCP - Interpersonal - Communication Basics/Communicating Strategically/Workplace Communications/Developing a Global Perspective/Culture/Law
Implement cross-cultural communication training.
A company has announced to its employees that it will be opening its first office outside of its home country. -How can the HR department help the company's employees prepare for this global expansion? -Create global job descriptions. -Implement cross-cultural communication training. -Offer a course on the local language of the new office. Review the visa sponsorship process for assignees.
Replacing conference calls with videoconferences
A global HR team meets every two weeks via telephone conference calls. They supplement this communication with team and individual e-mails. The team has had many problems and conflicts that can be attributed to miscommunication. What might help the team leader reduce the number of these issues? -Setting up meeting ground rules to restrict conflicts to offline discussions -Replacing conference calls with videoconferences -Switching from e-mailed documents to an HR team portal -Sending a memo focusing on the need for better collaboration
By urging team members to focus on a harmonious way to interact with one another
A manager from Asia has been transferred to lead an operation in the U.S. During regular team meetings, the manager observes constant and open conflict. According to Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory, how is the manager most likely to respond? -By urging team members to focus on a harmonious way to interact with one another -By demanding that the disagreements and fighting cease immediately and stating that if they do not, termination will result -By encouraging conflict as a catalyst to improve the project's outcome -By working individually with team members to address interpersonal differences that are fueling conflict
Accept gratefully, and offer to bring something to the meal.
A manager from a diffuse culture asks an assignee to a family dinner. Which approach best demonstrates the best way for the assignee to respond? -Accept gratefully, and offer to bring something to the meal. -Decline, as it is a token effort and the decline is expected. -Find out who else is attending before responding to the invitation. -Insist on having the manager to dinner at his own home first.
Private, face-to-face conversation
A manager wants to explain to an ambitious employee that she will not be receiving a promotion and why she did not get the job. What would be the best form of communication to use in this case? -Private, face-to-face conversation -Phone call witnessed by another person in the manager's office -E-mail reviewed by someone else for tone and legal liability -Brief and specific text message
Cancel the regular meetings.
A new HR director is told that the staff has always met weekly to review progress on assignments. At the first meeting, the new director notes that many staff members are barely paying attention and are reviewing e-mail on their phones. What should the HR director do? -Seek guidance from a mentor about how to make the meetings more engaging. -Publish an agenda before each meeting. -Assign a member to take notes and send a summary to the staff after the meeting. -Cancel the regular meetings.
Hold additional offline conversations with individual meeting participants.
A total rewards team is made up of persons from countries on opposite sides of the world. What can the team leader do to facilitate relationship building among these virtual team members? -Avoid using blogs or wikis and use videoconferencing for all meetings. -Hold all meetings during the same four-hour time window. -Keep meetings and discussions focused on agenda items rather than personal lives. -Hold additional offline conversations with individual meeting participants.
Hire expert legal advice on the laws in that particular country.
Although its latest venture isn't a company's first entry into global operations, it is its first experience with a country whose laws are derived from religious traditions. HR must create policies and practices that comply with this legal system. Which is the best way to approach this task? -Hire expert legal advice on the laws in that particular country. -Apply standardized global policies and practices to avoid allegations of favoritism. -Send the HR manager to training on religious beliefs and codes. -Hire an HR manager from the country to oversee policy development.
Express the vice president's opinion and its merits back to him.
An HR director is working with the vice president of another division on a plan to improve HR services to the division. The vice president disagrees with HR's plan. How can the HR director show respect to this individual but still be in a position to influence him to accept a third, negotiated plan? -Express the vice president's opinion and its merits back to him. -Express the original HR plan in a new way that helps the vice president better understand it. -Ask allies in the organization who support the HR position to talk to the vice president. -Use observation and conversation to find out flaws in the vice president's plan.
By developing and following a communication strategy for major initiatives
An HR leader mentions an upcoming change in compensation strategy at a management retreat. The news quickly spreads, employees are alarmed, and productivity (and the reputation of HR) suffers. How can this be avoided in the future? -By avoiding cross-functional meetings when major initiatives are pending -By developing and following a communication strategy for major initiatives -By immediately making a public announcement of the new policy -By requesting confidentiality from the other participants in the retreat
Bring up the skill of active listening with the supervisor in a private conversation.
An HR manager observes a supervisor describing an assignment to a staff person. The supervisor is doing all the talking. The HR manager notes that the staff person looks confused and uncomfortable. What should the HR manager do? -Bring up the skill of active listening with the supervisor in a private conversation. -Talk privately with the staff person about being more assertive in these situations. -Don't interfere. The supervisor should not be undermined with his or her staff members. -Go to the supervisor's superior and suggest that the supervisor take a communications class.
Choose a more private and quiet setting.
An HR manager takes a subordinate to lunch in the company cafeteria to discuss ways to improve the subordinate's performance. How could this communication have been improved? -Choose a more private and quiet setting. -Use a written summary instead of an oral discussion. -Have the employee paraphrase the manager's performance comments. -Soften the message by focusing on positive performance first.
Confirm understanding by observing actual on-the-job performance.
An HR manager tells a staff member how to deliver quality customer service to internal customers. Although the staff member paraphrases the coaching advice and seems to understand it, the manager still receives negative comments from other functions who work with the staff member. How could this communication be improved? -Try writing out the directions for the staff member. -Repeat the message until the performance improves. -Ask the staff member directly about other issues affecting performance. -Confirm understanding by observing actual on-the-job performance.
The HR director will not receive this crucial information about an organizational risk.
An HR manager wants to alert the HR director about a potentially serious employee complaint. Since the HR director is always busy and it is hard to find a private moment to discuss the issue, the manager sends an e-mail. What is the likely outcome? -The HR director will be able to move quickly to manage potential risks to the employer and employees. -The HR director will not appreciate that the manager has communicated the issue in a way that can be documented. -The HR director will not receive this crucial information about an organizational risk. -The HR director will ask the manager why the manager has not already investigated and addressed the issue.
Research laws in new locations to determine which laws benefit the employee more.
An organization has decided to expand into new states, and HR is tasked with recruiting and sourcing candidates for the new locations. How should HR approach the challenge of complying with employment laws in all locations? -Develop and publish employment policies and handbooks for each business location. -Instruct new locations to follow the home state's statutes and policies, since requirements in the headquarters location will prevail. -Focus on making all policies in all locations compliant with federal requirements. -Research laws in new locations to determine which laws benefit the employee more.
Affective
How would Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner label a culture in which individuals express their emotions freely? -Affective -Synchronic -Particular -External
Several members struggled during the training for the system.
It can be a struggle to contact team members whose e-mail boxes are overflowing. What might prevent an HR leader from fully adopting a new team chat application designed as an alternative to internal e-mails? -The system could be misused and end up wasting people's time. -Several members struggled during the training for the system. -The medium isn't formal enough for certain communications. -IT requires that all organization communications be documented and traceable.
Determinism
Often in a large, multicultural organization, managers shrug and defend performance problems as the natural result of cultural differences. Which type of cultural attitude does this represent? -Relativism -Parochialism -Ethnocentrism -Determinism
external culture
People can adapt to nature; they cannot dominate it. Fatalistic.
A manager who interacts well with all levels of HR's internal customers and vendors.
The leader of HR in a global organization is considering a group of headquarters managers for promotion to a position as regional director of HR. Which individual shows the most potential for developing a global mindset? -A manager who interacts well with all levels of HR's internal customers and vendors. -A manager who is significantly younger than all of the other candidates. -A manager who had a minor concentration in a foreign language in college. -A manager who has been with the organization longer than any of the other candidates.
Civil, common, religious
What are the three main types of world legal systems? -Written, oral, transcribed -Civil, criminal, corporate -Civil, common, religious -Legislative, judicial, executive
Purpose, objectives, target audience, and key messages
What does a strong communicator use to determine which communication method is most suitable? -Most innovative methods available -Purpose, objectives, target audience, and key messages -Best tools that are already at hand -Timetable, group voting, encoding, and decoding
Understanding cultural expectations of stakeholders
What is the key challenge in balancing stakeholder needs in a global organization? -Managing expectations of external stakeholders -Solving ethical dilemmas between groups -Understanding cultural expectations of stakeholders -Weighing short- and long-term goals
Due process
What is the term for the concept that laws are to be enforced only through accepted, codified procedures? -Conflict of law -Due process -Jurisdiction -Rule of law
Anyone can be financially successful if they work hard and demonstrate achievement of goals and objectives.
Which is the likely view of employees in an individualist culture? -Who you know is more important for determining financial success than what you know and can accomplish. -Anyone can be financially successful if they work hard and demonstrate achievement of goals and objectives. -Financial rewards should be shared and based on the entire team's efforts rather than paid as individual bonuses. -Those who try hard should not be penalized for failing because they have no control over outcomes.
Create opportunities for managers to travel and to work on teams.
Which steps can HR use to develop managers to effectively work in a diverse organization? -Require all managers to enroll in intensive off-site training. -Find opportunities for managers to learn foreign languages. -Encourage all managers to enroll in intensive off-site training. -Create opportunities for managers to travel and to work on teams.
diffuse culture
access to one's private life is granted only when there is trust,
synchronic culture
believes that the past and the present are as important as the future-possibly more important. Schedules can be subordinated to tending to a relationship or participating in a ritual.
cultural determinism
implies that "the culture made me do it." This perspective basically absolves individuals of any responsibility for their actions.
affective culture
people feel free to express their emotions
relativism
pertaining to the belief that moral behavior varies among individuals, groups, and cultures, as well as across situations
Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions
power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation
