JL SpecSet Test 3
Production manager Jim McIntyre has been successful in his Canadian assignment using a participative management style. If he uses this same style in some other countries, he may be regarded as an incompetent manager. :T/F
T
Some of the advantages of using home-country nationals for overseas managerial assignments are that the talent is already available within the organization and that the organization can have greater control. :T/F
T
Subsidiaries of multinational corporations are usually run as independent companies. :T/F
T
The balance-sheet approach to compensation refers to designing pay systems that equalize the purchasing power of employees at comparable position levels living overseas and in the home country. :T/F
T
The employment of guest workers may result in indirect costs that may be substantial. :T/F
T
The first step in selecting expatriates should be self-selection, where employees who volunteer to go abroad are given the chance to do so. :T/F
T
The host country is the country in which an international business operates. :T/F
T
The source of overseas employees that provides the advantages of less cost and greater facility in the language is host-country nationals. :T/F
T
Transnational teams are composed of members from multiple nationalities working on projects that span multiple countries. :T/F
T
Women expatriates are thought to succeed in part because they are visible and distinctive. :T/F
T
Heineken recently organized a group of individuals with specialized skills representing each major region within Europe. This group an example of which of the following?
a transnational team
IAM Inc. has operations in many countries. Recently, it used staff from four of these countries to work on a project. What type of team would this be?
a transnational team
Many nannies come to Canada to work for a period of time. What is the name of the document issued by the government granting authority to these nannies to seek employment in Canada?
a work permit
Anna works as a compensation manager for IDL Inc., a multinational firm located in British Columbia. She has been posted to Hong Kong on an assignment. What type of employee is Anna?
an expatriate
Rand Computers is a mid-sized firm located in Toronto. As a result of personal connections, Rand Computers has started a division in Buffalo, New York. What type of corporation is Rand Computers?
an international corporation
Cultural environment includes all of the following components EXCEPT which one?
corporate structure
Which of the following is one of the most common problems that occur with performance appraisals of international assignees?
criterion deficiency
Deccan Hardware Company, a Canadian firm, is now establishing a subsidiary in Mexico. As with many organizations at the early stages of international expansion, what type of employees would Deccan most likely use?
home country nationals
There are several ways in which expatriates can be compensated for their services. At one end, their pay can be based on their earnings in the home country. Which of the following is at the other end of expatriate pay?
host based pay
Which of the following is the source of overseas employees that provides the advantages of less cost and greater facility in the language?
host country nationals
In collectivist societies such as Japan and Taiwan, which of the following is a key focus of the pay system?
internal equity and personal needs
According to cross-cultural studies, nations tend to cluster according to similarities in all of the following cultural dimensions EXCEPT which one?
laws
The International Labour Organization has set itself a new agenda—called the "Decent Work Agenda." Which of the following is the main purpose behind this move?
to highlight the ethical dimension of work
Performance evaluations of expatriates should occur in both the home and the host countries. :T/F
T
A global corporation has fully autonomous units operating in multiple countries. :T/F
F
A multinational corporation is essentially a domestic firm that builds on its existing capabilities to penetrate overseas markets. :T/F
F
An advantage of home country nationals is that they have intimate knowledge of the environment and culture. :T/F
F
At early stages of international expansion, many organizations prefer to use host-country nationals. :T/F
F
Canadian companies have been conducting business on an international basis longer than anyone else. :T/F
F
Codetermination refers to the training an expatriate manager receives before an international assignment.:T/F
F
Cultural differences have little impact on international compensation.:T/F
F
Employee benefits in Canada are among the highest in the world.:T/F
F
Expatriates should not be expected to evaluate their own performance. :T/F
F
In Europe, most union negotiations occur at the company level. :T/F
F
International HRM is virtually identical to domestic HRM. :T/F
F
Multinational corporations tend to use different kinds of external recruitment sources than are used in their home countries. :T/F
F
North American managers tend to have highly autocratic decision-making styles. :T/F
F
Pay plans in Japan tend to focus on individual performance and achievement. :T/F
F
Repatriation is usually a planned and positive experience for employees returning from an international assignment. :T/F
F
Repatriation refers to the training a manager receives before taking an international assignment. :T/F
F
The European Union (EU) was established to facilitate free trade with North America. :T/F
F
The failure of expatriate assignments is usually due to technical or managerial concerns. :T/F
F
The internationalization of HRM has grown at a faster pace than the internationalization of Canadian corporations. :T/F
F
A multinational corporation (MNC) has three basic sources to use when staffing its foreign operation. Name the three sources of overseas managers and state advantages and disadvantages of each.
Host-country nationals cost less to place, are preferred by the local governments, know the language, and have an excellent knowledge of and feel for the local/national environment. However, host-country nationals must have the managerial ability and technical skills the MNC needs. Home-country nationals, known as expatriates, are already known quantities within the MNC. The MNC expects to have greater control over them, since they have provided the expatriates with work experiences. Offering mobility and international experience is often desirable to the MNC and the manager. However, the cost of relocation is extremely high, expatriates or their families may not adjust well, and many expatriates fear they will be passed over for promotions when they return. Third-country nationals, who are from one country, are working for an MNC located in a second, and are now assigned to yet a third country, bring a very broad experience and background to foreign assignments. They have an international outlook and are multilingual. However, their cost of relocation might be as high as an expatriate's. Further, unless operating within their own "zone," they may not bring with them any of the advantages a host-country national would offer.
If you were concerned about maximizing your career benefits with a foreign assignment, which of the following questions would be the most important to ask?
How many executives within my organization have a foreign-service assignment in their background?
In some countries, such as India, profit sharing is mandated by law. Thus, companies have to distribute some of their profits to the employees. Which of the following is the key reason for this requirement?
It allows for a redistribution of wealth at the firm level.
Which of the following is associated with cultural conditioning?
It influences the attitudes, behaviours, and reactions of both workers and their managers.
Which of the following is an attribute of an effective global HR information system?
It must meet challenges of administrative and cultural issues.
One of the biggest causes of expatriate failure is a spouse's inability to adjust to his or her new surroundings. :T/F
T
In designing compensation systems, what does the philosophy of "thinking globally and acting locally" mean?
Pay plans should be designed to support the overall strategic intent of the organization and also provide enough flexibility to customize certain policies to meet the needs of employees in specific locations.
One reason to employ host-country nationals is that local governments want good jobs for their citizens. :T/F
T
Cultural environments differ across the world. What does this imply for business firms?
Strategies, structures, and management styles that work in one area of the world may be inappropriate in another.
A Canadian firm with fully autonomous operating units in Korea, Spain, and Sweden would be classified as a multinational corporation. :T/F
T
A global HR information system facilitates coordination between world units; however, there are many important factors to ensure effective implementation. :T/F
T
A work permit or work certificate allows a foreign individual to seek employment in another country. :T/F
T
Culture shock refers to the disorientation people experience adjusting to a new culture. :T/F
T
Different cultural environments require different organizational behaviours. :T/F
T
English is almost universally accepted as the language for international business.:T/F
T
Expressions such as "tabling a subject" and "it is inconvenient" may have meanings in other cultures that are very different from their North American meanings. :T/F
T
Global managers must be capable of managing highly decentralized organizations. :T/F
T
If an organization wanted to decrease the failure rate of its expatriates, one good strategy would be to give more women international assignments. :T/F
T
In appraising the performance of an employee on an international assignment, many appraisers resort to using criteria that are easy to measure rather than criteria that capture all responsibilities. :T/F
T
In general, it is typically better to hire host-country nationals when operating abroad because it is less expensive, it pleases the local government, and it eliminates the problem of employees adjusting to the culture. :T/F
T
In some countries, unions are part of alliances between political parties, churches, or governments. :T/F
T
In the future, companies will probably employ more internal consultants to coordinate international HR activities. :T/F
T
Lack of training is one of the principle causes of failure among employees working internationally. :T/F
T
Learning how people think and act in their relations with others is a part of cultural training that prepares employees for working internationally. :T/F
T
Managers in Latin American countries can encourage performance by using personal influence and working through individual members of a group. :T/F
T
Managers' attitudes and behaviours are influenced by the society in which they received their education and training. :T/F
T
NAFTA has spurred job growth in all three member countries. :T/F
T
Define and describe the balance-sheet approach used by many multinational corporations to calculate the compensation they wish to offer to their expatriates.
The balance-sheet approach is a system designed to equalize the purchasing power of employees at comparable levels living overseas and in the home country, and to provide incentives to offset qualitative differences between assignment locations. The four elements of this approach are (1) base pay, which should be equal to the domestic pay for a comparable job; (2) differentials, a cost-of-living-type adjustment generally computed from U.S. Department of State data; (3) incentives, an adjustment often at about 15 percent of base pay, used to compensate the expatriate for separation from his or her family and friends; and (4) assistance programs, used to cover costs of moving and storage as well as car and education expenses.
Which of the following is most likely to happen when companies fail to use the knowledge, skills, and understanding that expatriate managers acquire in international assignments?
The expatriates often take lower-level jobs upon return or leave the company.
What are the primary differences among international, multinational, global, and transnational corporations?
The international corporation is essentially a domestic firm that builds on its existing capabilities to penetrate overseas markets. A multinational corporation (MNC) is a more complex form that usually has fully autonomous units operating in multiple countries. The global corporation can be viewed as a multinational firm that maintains control of operations back in the home office. Finally, a transnational corporation attempts to achieve the local responsiveness of an MNC while also achieving the efficiencies of a global firm through the use of a network structure that coordinates specialized facilities positioned around the world.
When comparing European countries such as Norway and Denmark with North America, which of the following trends is evident in terms of compensation systems?
There are higher wages and benefits in Europe.
Which of the following factors is NOT a reason why firms may want to use host-country nationals?
They are mobile.
Which of the following best describes transnational teams?
They tend to be focused on projects that span multiple countries.
General Motors, headquartered in the United States, has operations in many parts of the world. Jimmy Lee, an IT manager from its Canadian operations, has been posted to India to oversee a start-up operation. What type of employee is Jimmy?
a third country national
If Canadian company Bombardier transferred Karl Hammer, a native German, away from his assignment in Bonn, Germany, to a new assignment in Paris, France, Karl would then be considered which of the following?
a third country national
Which of the following best describes the difference between labour relations in Canada and those in Europe?
Unions in Canada have more political power than in most European countries.
Which of the following organizations is pursuing a transnational strategy?
a brewery trying to achieve scale economies while simultaneously customizing its taste and marketing efforts for local markets
Think about a spider's web with the spider in the middle. In this scenario, the spider controls the web from the centre. What type of corporation does this web resemble the most?
a global corporation
When a Canadian multinational corporation hires an employee from Australia to work in its office in Sydney, this employee referred to as which of the following?
a host country national
Compared to North American managers, European managers—especially those in France, Germany, and Italy—tend use which of the following decision-making styles?
a more autocratic style
Compared to Canadian managers, Japanese managers tend to use which of the following decision-making styles in the workplace?
a more participatory style
ABM is an international firm with headquarters in the United States. Its operations in other parts of the world are fully autonomous. What type of firm is ABM?
a multinational corporation
While GH Motors is located in Canada, it has allowed management in all of international operations to make independent decisions on how they conduct business in their different environments. How would you classify GH Motors?
a multinational corporation
Which of the following is the major reason for failure among expatriates?
a spouse's inability to adapt
If you were developing a performance appraisal system for individuals on international assignments, it would be best to base individuals' appraisals on information from which of the following?
both home- and host-country evaluations
Which of the following is NOT one of the attributes of successful global managers that Levi Strauss identified?
capability to manage a highly centralized organization
A very high level of worker participation in management is found in Germany, where national law requires that labour be part of the boards of directors of companies. What is this participative arrangement called?
codetermination
In using the balance-sheet approach to compensating expatriate managers, the term "incentive premiums" refers to which of the following concepts?
compensating the managers for separation from family and friends
Which of the following is the main purpose of free trade agreements, such as NAFTA?
to facilitate the free movement of goods, services, capital, and people across borders
Some Japanese firms, such as Matsushita and NEC, tend to operate as domestic firms but see the whole world domestically—that is, as their market. What type of firms are these?
global firms
Which of the following is the key purpose of repatriation?
to help employees make the transition back home
Which of the following is a current trend among multinational corporations when setting compensation levels for host-country managers?
narrowing the salary gap between the host-country and the expatriate managers
Individuals working internationally need to know as much as possible about all of the following host-country characteristics EXCEPT which one?
popular fashion trends
Which of the following is a recent trend in expatriate assignments?
shorter, project-based assignments
According to your text, which of the following is NOT a core skill that is critical for success abroad?
strategic thinking
MAGNA is a Canadian firm located in Ontario. In this instance, what does Canada represent?
the host country
Which of the following is the key purpose of the balance-sheet approach to compensating expatriate managers?
to ensure that the expatriate does not lose financially in his or her international assignment
