IHRM Objectives Set 1

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Factors creating the global marketplace include all of the following except

• Lowering of costs of doing business globally
• privatisation and globalisation of government services
• growth in domestic businesses
• satellites and computer technology

2. Someone who lives and works in a foreign country is a(n)   

• Expatriate
• holiday maker
• international jet-setter
• immigrant

3. A major difference between International HRM and Domestic HRM is the

• Increased complexities such as currency fluctuations, foreign HR policies and practices, and differing labour laws
• number of employees covered by the HR policies
• ease with which employees adjust to new cultures
• development of effective cross-boarder management styles

4. HRM as practised by multinational organisations is called

• global HRM
• personnel management practices
• domestic HRM
• International HRM

5. The key questions to be asked when developing an international HRM policy is

• who is going to coordinate the HRM functions?
• What type of organisation is desired?
• how can cross-boarder training be designed?
• when should the HR manager begin developing HR policies?

6. Whirlpool’s use of a performance management system worldwide is an example of           

• extended management control over employees
• attempts to increase productivity in all its branches
• An international HRM policy
• a policy that has adopted a global village philosophy

7. To be effective in the international environment HRM policies must

• Reflect an international view
• focus on domestic issues
• accommodate differences in management styles
• effectively transplant HRM policies and practices from the home country to all other offices

8. Organisations that do not adopt a strategic HRM approach and a global vision

• develop effective two-way communication
• Are virtually guaranteed to fail
• find it easier to implement traditional HRM activities
• have much more flexibility in responding to environmental changes

9. When a person from one culture communicates with a person from another culture they are engaging in

• Cross-cultural communication
• two-way communication
• multi-focus communication
• verbal communication

10. Cultures where non-verbal communications and indirect language are used to transfer meaning are described as:

• low-context cultures
• medium-context cultures
• context cultures
• High-context cultures

11. Cultures where verbal communications are explicit and direct are    

• Low-context cultures
• medium-context cultures
• context cultures
• high-context cultures

12. The Japanese have a high-context culture, and therefore prefer to communicate

• by fax
• by email
• face to face
• both (a) and (b)

13. What is good and bad or right and wrong, or has to deal with moral duty and obligation is referred to as

• responsibilities
• ethics
• social expectations
• standards

14. Fraud, bribery, graft and the payment of secret commissions and kickbacks is

• Corruption
• normal business practice
• standard behaviour
• an ethical dilemma

15. In the year 2000 the most corrupt economies in the world were listed as

• Finland, Denmark and New Zealand
• Australia, the United Kingdom and Japan
• Nigeria, Indonesia and Yugoslavia
• United States, Korea and India

16. To help their managers deal with corruption in different countries BHP and      

• limited their business operations to countries that have similar business practices to those of their home country
• Produced a list of guidelines to help managers deal with the corruption quagmire
• decided to judge business operations in other countries by their own standards
• issued a blanket instruction to all managers not to enter into any arrangement that would be considered illegal or unethical back home

17. It has been recommended that companies take the following steps to ensure that their responses to different cultural environments are appropriate and ethical, with the exception of

• develop a clearly articulated set of core values as the basis for global policies and decision making
• train employees to ask questions that will help them to make business decisions that are both culturally sensitive and flexible within the context of those core values
• balance the need for policy with the need for flexibility or imagination
• Instruct managers to offer no inducements or incentives to win support for business developments

18. Developing the long-term business relationship needed in joint ventures requires

• The building of trust and commitment
• heavy financial investment
• favourable foreign currency exchange
• effective management skills

19. Trust is influenced by 

• ethical standards
• personality
• Culture
• philosophy of life

20. Australia and the United States are examples of

• low trust cultures
• High trust cultures
• no trust cultures
• conditional trust cultures

21. The particular approach used by a manager to achieve goals through other people is described as

• leadership
• situational behaviour
• Management style
• achievement approach

22. In cultures that emphasise hierarchy and status employees expect the overriding style of their managers to be

• participative
• egalitarian
• consultative
• Autocratic

23. Employees in countries such as Australia and the United States, expect to have a much greater say in decision making and more autonomy in their work. These cultures have been described as having

• Low power distance
• high power distance
• equality of status
• cooperative work environments

24. In high power distance countries such as China and Korea employees expect

• to have a say in all decision making
• Their managers to make the decisions and tell them what to do
• to be asked their opinion about changes to work processes
• managers to delegate a great deal of the decision making responsibility to their subordinates

25. Equal opportunity laws are

• rigidly enforced in all countries
• an attempt to monitor the organisation’s treatment of job applicants
• The product of society’s social values
• both (a) and (b)

26. HR issues that will require adaptation to fit different cultures include all of the following except

• training and development
• performance appraisal
• compensation
• Job analysis

27. In Thai firms performance evaluation is based on

• The employee’s attitude towards the company rather than on actual job performance
• job performance and political attitudes
• the quality of personal relations, political attitudes and output
• standard of job performance

28. Which of the following was not suggested by Stone as a suitable criteria for the evaluation of expatriate performance

• technical skills
• Language proficiency
• work performed
• personality variables

29. All aspects of training and development in international organisations are affected by all of the following except     

• cultural differences
• diversity of the work force
• Financial costs
• language differences

30. Hong Kong Chinese managers and Western managers have different approaches for all of the following except

• giving and securing feedback
• Identifying training and development needs
• handling conflict
• learning

31. Japanese firms stress the importance of what type of training

• leadership
• communication
• interpersonal skills
• Technical knowledge

32. When an organisation enters the international training and development area, the HR manager needs to

• Be sensitive to local customs and expectations
• identify costs of developing cross-boarded programs
• develop programs that focus on enhancing technical skills and knowledge
• ensure that training and development programs are clearly linked to compensation management

 

33. Cultures that value hierarchy and status differentials will have compensation strategies that

• have an emphasis on individual achievements
• Promote and reinforce differentials
• minimise status differentials
• are based on group performance and individual seniority

 

34. Compensation strategies that reward individual performance and the acquisition of individual skills and know-how are common in

• Individualistic cultures
• egalitarian cultures
• collectivist cultures
• risk-averse cultures

35. Bureaucratic reward systems that emphasise fixed pay are preferred in

• individualistic cultures
• group-oriented cultures
• Risk-averse cultures
• egalitarian cultures