Q&A Hero

Q: Generally speaking, _____ bring(s) networks of people together to collaborate on projects, solve problems, or socialize. A. cloud computing B. social media C. social discrimination D. grid computing E. primary group

Q: Which of the following is true of e-HRM? A. Most administrative and information-gathering HRM activities can be part of e-HRM. B. E-HRM is less economical than traditional HR systems. C. E-HRM has adversely affected employee manageability. D. The number of organizations actively engaged in e-HRM is steadily decreasing. E. A major drawback of e-HRM is that employees cannot help themselves to the information they need when they need it.

Q: Most of the human resource information is confidential, so organizations engaging in e-HRM are: A. continuously limiting the amount and type of information made available to company personnel. B. increasingly placing company-specific information on a secure intranet with links to resources on the broader Internet. C. consolidating information into a single file and restricting access to the database to only top-level personnel within the company. D. not in favor of knowledge sharing within the organization. E. encouraging employees to restrict the use of intranet.

Q: Which of the following exemplifies one of the most creative developments in human resource information systems technology? A. Decision support system B. Transactional processing system C. HR dashboard D. Expert system E. Intranet

Q: Which of the following helps in making confidential HR-related information widely available to authorized users within an organization? A. A decision support system B. An expert system C. The intranet D. A transactional processing system E. The Internet

Q: _____ is a display of a series of HR measures, showing human resource goals and objectives and progress toward meeting them. A. Performance review template B. Job preview C. Expert system D. HR dashboard E. Relational database

Q: Which one of the following is an advantage of a relational database? A. It facilitates the storage of employee information in a single, large file. B. It replicates the traditional method of filing employee data by name, a system that is strongly preferred by organizations worldwide. C. It helps HR staff in retrieving information about specific applicants. D. It helps people arrive at decisions that reflect expert knowledge. E. It is designed to exclusively meet the needs of the HR department.

Q: A standard feature of a modern HRIS is the use of _____, which store data in separate files that can be linked by common elements. A. graph databases B. hypermedia databases C. relational databases D. unstructured databases E. parallel databases

Q: Expert systems: A. can only be used by those employees who have proven expertise in a certain area. B. could cause errors if the user is fatigued or biased. C. are typically unstable. D. deliver quality at a very high cost. E. help many people to arrive at decisions that reflect the expert's knowledge.

Q: _____ are computer systems that incorporate the decision rules used by people who are considered to have proficiency in a certain area. A. Decision support systems B. Expert systems C. E-HRM systems D. Transactional processing systems E. Clouds

Q: A manager wishes to test a range of assumptions on the availability of a certain skill in the labor market. He plans to enter different assumptions or data to check how the likely outcomes alter in accordance with the corresponding change in data. Which one of the following is the most suitable system for such a purpose? A. Decision support system B. Expert system C. e-HRM system D. Transactional processing system E. Transitional matrix

Q: Decision support systems refer(s) to: A. computer software systems that allow users to see how outcomes vary when assumptions or data are altered. B. the network of remote servers used to store reusable data. C. systems that incorporate the decision rules used by people who are considered to have expertise in a certain area. D. the set of topics on which a human resource information system collects and maintains information. E. online training and development materials which employees can access at their own convenience from anywhere around the world.

Q: Which one of the following refers to the computations and calculations involved in reviewing and documenting HRM decisions and practices? A. e-HRM B. Transaction processing C. Automation D. Expert systems E. Decision support systems

Q: New technology usually involves _____that is, using equipment and information processing to perform activities that had been performed by people. A. downsizing B. outsourcing C. offshoring D. automation E. diversification

Q: Compensation systems can help create the conditions that contribute to high performance. Consequently, organizations can increase empowerment and job satisfaction by: A. communicating the basis for decisions about pay. B. disassociating compensation from performance measures. C. discouraging negotiations regarding pay. D. limiting employee participation in management. E. limiting the use of gainsharing and profit sharing.

Q: Merit pay, gainsharing, and profit sharing are all methods of: A. including employees in organizational planning. B. disassociating compensation from performance measures. C. disseminating organizational learning. D. increasing employee participation in strategic decision making. E. linking compensation to performance measures.

Q: Performance management systems support organizational goals best if they: A. define and measure performance in broad behavioral terms. B. link performance measures to meeting internal and external customers' needs. C. ignore situational constraints. D. are outsourced to professional behavior management firms. E. choose business goals based on employees' skills and abilities.

Q: At a high-performance organization, recruitment and selection aim at obtaining the kinds of employees who can thrive in this type of setting. These employees are _____. A. primarily individual contributors B. enthusiastic about knowledge sharing C. averse to risk taking D. averse to experimentation E. averse to taking initiatives

Q: Which one of the following is a selection method that organizations can adopt to identify employees who innovate, share ideas, and take initiative? A. Technical proficiency test B. Psychological test C. Structured interview D. Aptitude test E. Physical ability test

Q: A high-performance work system is most likely to place employees in work teams where: A. employee empowerment is considerably low. B. employees primarily work as individual contributors. C. employees collaborate to make decisions and solve problems. D. the affective job satisfaction among employees is low. E. Technology is used to the minimum.

Q: Job design aimed at empowerment: A. is complex. B. limits flexibility. C. includes access to resources. D. increases employee turnover. E. includes a rigid pay structure.

Q: How can companies help expatriates return to the home country after completing a foreign assignment?

Q: Discuss the challenges related to compensating employees from other countries.

Q: What is cross-cultural preparation? What are the methods used in this process? In which phases of an international assignment is cross-cultural preparation required?

Q: What criteria should be used for selection of employees for foreign assignments? Which of these criteria most strongly influences whether an employee completes a foreign assignment or not?

Q: Discuss how differences among countries affect HR planning at organizations with international operations.

Q: Discuss how economic systems impact HRM in international markets.

Q: Explain Hofstede's dimensions of culture.

Q: Distinguish between international, multinational, and global organizations. Also briefly outline the HR issues associated with each type of organization.

Q: Describe the terms parent country, parent-country national, host country, host-country national, third country, and third-country national. Give examples of each.

Q: What are the reasons behind the trend toward expansion into global markets?

Q: In the context of the activities that an organization uses to help expatriates return home, which of the following activities involves giving the expatriate recognition for the overseas service when the person returns home? A. Resolution B. Dissolution C. Rationalization D. Communication E. Validation

Q: Which of the following is NOT helpful in easing the repatriation of employees after an overseas assignment? A. Organization staying in touch with employees during their stay abroad B. Expatriates maintaining important contacts in the company and industry C. Communicating career development plans before and during the overseas assignment D. Giving expatriates praise and recognition for their overseas service E. Limiting all professional ties in the home country while overseas

Q: Two activities used by companies in the process of helping employees repatriate are communication and _____. A. validation B. equalization C. dissolution D. resolution E. exclusion

Q: Repatriation refers to the process of: A. preparing employees to go on an overseas assignment. B. negotiation between unions and management. C. preparing employees to return home from a foreign assignment. D. helping employees to adjust to a new culture and its norms, values, and perspectives. E. preparing employees to work with host-country nationals.

Q: Which of the following is true of the four components of expatriates' total pay package? A. Usually, the employer of an expatriate withholds the amount of tax to be paid in the host country, then pays the taxes due in the parent country. B. Housing allowances ensure that the expatriate can maintain the same standard of living as other employees in the host country. C. Expatriates' salaries are usually lower than the pay of employees working at the headquarters. D. Determining the base salary is simple because exchange rates rarely fluctuate. E. Most benefits issues have to do with whether an employee can use the same benefits in the foreign country.

Q: Which of the following is an advantage of the balance sheet approach? A. It ensures that the expatriates maintain a balance between productivity and expected performance. B. It develops the criteria for measuring the success of an overseas assignment. C. It helps expatriate managers to recognize differences and similarities between cultures. D. It helps managers to get the same standard of living as in the home country. E. It helps expatriates to develop valuable skills during the overseas assignment.

Q: Which of the following determines the compensation of expatriates by adjusting the manager's compensation so that it gives the manager the same standard of living as in the home country plus extra pay for the inconvenience of locating overseas? A. The scorecard approach B. The balance-sheet approach C. The equalization approach D. The exchange-rate approach E. The correspondence approach

Q: Which of the following is true about preparing expatriates for international assignments? A. Learning a new language is usually not required for communicating in a foreign country. B. Preparation of the expatriate should include career development activities. C. The preparation process ends when the employee leaves for the assignment. D. Cross-cultural training is used to create an appreciation of the host country's culture and not of the home culture. E. Instilling verbal skills should be given more importance over writing skills.

Q: Which of the following shows that an employee is motivated enough for an overseas assignment? A. The employee has no medical problems that can be a hindrance to the success of the assignment. B. The employee has a realistic understanding of what working and living abroad require. C. The employee's spouse has the ability to meet the language requirements. D. The employee is very ethnocentric. E. The employee has the technical skills required for training employees abroad.

Q: According to expatriates, the most important qualities for an international assignment are, in order of importance: A. family situation, flexibility and adaptability, job knowledge and motivation, relational skills, and openness to other cultures. B. openness to other cultures, flexibility and adaptability, relational skills, job knowledge and motivation, and family situation. C. job knowledge and motivation, flexibility and adaptability, relational skills, openness to other cultures, and family situation. D. self-confidence, a sense of advantage, technical know-how, and family situation. E. adaptability, job knowledge and motivation, relational skills, family situation, and openness to other cultures.

Q: The day-to-day decisions about labor relations are usually handled by foreign subsidiaries because: A. labor costs in industrialized countries are far lower than in newly industrialized countries. B. the control over labor relations is centralized in most countries. C. labor relations on an international scale involve differences in laws and economic systems. D. this reduces the power distance across countries. E. the host governments require them to do so.

Q: Which of the following statements is true of international labor relations? A. In comparison with U.S. organizations, European organizations exert more centralized control over labor relations in the various countries where they operate. B. The day-to-day decisions about labor relations are usually handled by each foreign subsidiary. C. Governments never get involved to protect workers who immigrate to other countries. D. Most U.S. organizations, in contrast to European organizations, bargain with a union representing an entire industry's employees, rather than with the local union. E. Companies that operate across national boundaries mostly work only with unions in the home-country.

Q: Which of the following is true of employee benefits? A. In both the U.S. and Europe, the awarding of stock options is linked to specific performance goals. B. Pension plans are more widespread in the U.S. and Japan than in Western Europe. C. Unlike in the U.S., compensation plans in other countries are less likely to include benefits. D. Paid vacation tends to be more generous in Western Europe than in the United States. E. Although stock options became a common form of incentive pay in Europe during the 1990s, American businesses did not begin to adopt them until the end of that decade.

Q: Which of the following is true about decisions related to a global compensation strategy? A. They affect a companys costs and ability to compete. B. They focus more on flexibility than on fairness to account for differences across cultures. C. They are made on the basis of the cost of living in the home country. D. They focus only on comparing wages across countries. E. They are determined only by labor costs.

Q: Which of the following is a reason for big pay differences between jobs? A. Shortage of talent in local labor markets B. Government rules regarding minimum wages for different jobs C. Low rates of employee turnover in certain jobs D. Low power distance E. High uncertainty avoidance

Q: Which of the following is true of the performance management process across national boundaries? A. The specific methods of performance management work the same way in almost every country. B. U.S. employees are much more used to indirect feedback than are employees in other countries. C. Which behaviors are rated, how and the extent to which performance is measured, who performs the rating, and how feedback is provided are usually uniform across countries. D. While the measures used may vary from country to country, the legal requirements remain the same as those in the United States. E. In rapidly changing regions, the organization may have to update its performance plans more often than once a year.

Q: For which phase of an international assignment does the preparation involve providing information about the employee's community and home-country workplace? A. Preparation for departure from the home-country B. Preparation during the assignment itself C. Preparation for the culture shock phase in the host country D. Preparation for the return to the home-country E. Preparation for the honeymoon phase in the host country

Q: Which of the following is true of cross-cultural preparation for the different phases of an international assignment? A. Training consists only of lectures. B. Preparation ends once the employees have adjusted to the host-country's environment. C. Preparation is only required for the employees, not their families. D. Preparation for departure includes language instruction. E. Employees and their families should be insulated from the locals.

Q: Training to make employees and their family members ready for an assignment in a foreign country is called: A. acculturation. B. international education. C. cross-cultural preparation. D. community training. E. biculturalism.

Q: In the context of the effect of culture on training, a culture with long-term orientation has trainees who: A. expect trainers to be authoritarian and controlling of session. B. value relationships with fellow trainees. C. are likely to accept development plans and assignments. D. have less tolerance for impromptu style. E. expect formal instructional environments.

Q: Employees from cultures high in uncertainty avoidance expect a training session where: A. trainers adopt an impromptu style of instruction. B. a formal instructional environment exists. C. trainers are flexible and open to schedule and activity changes. D. trainees are allowed to determine the pace of the programs. E. relationships with fellow trainees are emphasized.

Q: Employees from cultures high in power distance expect a training session where: A. they are able to discuss and ask questions about the training content. B. an informal, unstructured agenda exists. C. trainers are viewed as experts and are authoritarian and controlling of the sessions. D. trainees are allowed to determine the pace of the programs. E. there is an equal relationship with the trainer.

Q: In the context of the effects of culture on training design, a culture low in _____ values relationships with fellow trainees. A. collectivism B. femininity C. uncertainty avoidance D. time orientation E. masculinity

Q: Which of the following is a challenge specially associated with the training and development of a global workforce? A. Effective programs for all participating employees, regardless of their country of origin B. Making employees aware of the training content C. Linking training objectives to performance management D. Making employees aware of the development plans E. Deciding the duration of the training program

Q: Which of the following terms describe the disillusionment and discomfort that occur during the process of adjusting to a new culture? A. Culture shock B. Honeymoon C. Euphoria D. Acculturation E. Acclimatization

Q: Which of the following is the first emotional stage associated with a foreign assignment? A. Culture shock B. Learning C. Adjustment D. Honeymoon E. Acculturation

Q: Successful completion of overseas assignments is most likely among employees who are: A. agreeable and conscientious. B. more knowledgeable about their job. C. more technically qualified. D. higher in the managerial hierarchy. E. introverted.

Q: The labor supply of _____ is useful when needed skills are scarce in a particular location, but the ability to tap it is limited by government paperwork and delays, as well as by expanding opportunities in fast-developing nations. A. host-country nationals B. immigrant workers C. parent-company nationals D. local contract workers E. local temporary workers

Q: Which of the following is true of selecting employees in a global labor market? A. A host-country national can more easily understand the local values and customs. B. Employees are usually very eager to take a foreign assignment. C. Host-country nationals are usually more skilled than expatriates. D. Training for and transporting families to foreign assignments is less expensive than hiring people in the foreign country. E. Organizations generally fill all key foreign positions with host-country nationals.

Q: Which of the following is a benefit of having a wide latitude in reducing workforce? A. It gives the option of hiring for peak needs and laying off employees if needs decline. B. It helps in protecting workers jobs. C. It helps employees to adjust to a new culture. D. It allows workers to keep more of their earnings regardless of the taxes they pay. E. It gives employers the advantage to choose from local workers or immigrant workers according to the work requirement.

Q: In which country would one experience the greatest latitude in reducing one's company's workforce in response to a forecasted oversupply of workers? A. The United States B. Germany C. The United Kingdom D. France E. Sweden

Q: Which of the following is true of countries with small power distance? A. People address one another with titles B. People try to eliminate inequalities C. People tend to rely heavily on religion D. People seem to take each day as it comes E. People value money making more than relationships

Q: Which of the following is true about the influence of economic systems on human resource practices in international markets? A. Socialist economic systems provide ample opportunities for educational development. B. In developed countries with great wealth, labor costs are relatively low. C. In capitalist economic systems, education is free for students. D. Capitalism may not provide economic rewards for increasing one's education. E. In socialist systems, students bear more of the cost of their education.

Q: Which of the following is true of pay structures in collectivist cultures? A. They appreciate great differences in pay between the organizations highest- and lowest-paid employees. B. They see compensation tied to individual performance as fair. C. They tend to have much flatter pay structures. D. They get motivated with individual performance awards. E. They value person-job fit more than person-organization fit.

Q: How does a collectivist culture influence the HRM decisions related to job design? A. It gives more importance to skills, resources, and personality to succeed on the job. B. It encourages employees to make their own decisions. C. It gives emphasis to personorganization fit. D. It focuses on long-term rewards. E. It relies heavily on personjob fit.

Q: Individualistic cultures often exhibit: A. flatter pay structures. B. greater differences between the highest and lowest pay in the organization. C. emphasis on organizational rather than individual performance. D. collective decision making. E. compensation systems based on fixed pay according to seniority.

Q: According to Hofstede's dimensions of culture, which of the following is true of cultures with a short-term orientation? A. They value saving and persistence. B. They protect people in a particular group. C. They maintain large differences in power. D. They have a preference for structured situations. E. They promote respect for fulfilling social obligations in the present.

Q: In the context of Hofstede's dimensions of culture, which of the following is a characteristic of cultures with a long-term orientation? A. They value achievement, money making, and assertiveness more than anything else. B. They value saving and persistence. C. They expect people to think and act as members of a group.. D. They maintain large differences in power. E. They have a preference for structured situations.

Q: Values such as success, achievement, assertiveness, and competition are associated with: A. short-term oriented cultures. B. masculine cultures. C. high-power-distance cultures. D. low uncertainty avoidance cultures. E. collectivist cultures.

Q: According to Hofstede's dimensions of culture, _____ refers to a strong cultural preference for structured situations. A. low power distance B. individualism C. masculinity D. high uncertainty avoidance E. long-term orientation

Q: Mark, an American national, is visiting Mexico for a business meeting. Since he is used to addressing people by their first name, he calls his host, the Chairman of the company, by his first name rather than his title. The Chairman and the other Mexican board members get offended. This reveals differences in the cultural dimension of _____ between Mark and his Mexican hosts. A. individualism/collectivism B. uncertainty avoidance C. power distance D. long-term/short-term orientation E. masculinity/femininity

Q: According to Hofstede's dimensions of culture, _____ defines the amount of inequality that is normal. A. individualism B. uncertainty avoidance C. power distance D. collectivism E. masculinity

Q: In cultures high in _____, people think of themselves mainly as group members. A. power distance B. individualism C. masculinity D. short-term orientation E. collectivism

Q: According to Hofstede's cultural dimensions, a culture in which people are expected to look after their own interests is high in: A. power distance. B. femininity. C. individualism. D. uncertainty avoidance. E. long-term orientation.

Q: By far the most important influence on international HRM is the _____ of the country in which a facility is located. A. politics B. educational system C. culture D. economic system E. currency

Q: Which one of the following statements is true of transnational HRM systems? A. To ensure fairness, they make decisions that are uniform and rigid. B. The participants from various countries and cultures contribute ideas from a position of equality. C. They emphasize the use of managers from the parent country. D. They feature decision making from a parent-country perspective. E. The host-country culture dominates the decision making process.

Q: Which of the following terms refers to a type of HRM system that makes decisions from a global perspective, includes managers from many countries, and is based on ideas contributed by people representing a variety of cultures? A. Host country-based HRM system B. Parent country-based HRM system C. Transnational HRM system D. International HRM system E. Multinational HRM system

Q: Which one of the following is true of global organizations? A. All of their managers come from the host country. B. They increasingly emphasize standardization of products across market segments. C. They tend to have centralized, parent-country decision-making structures. D. HRM practices at such companies tend to be uniform across cultures. E. Managers at such companies must be able to get results across national boundaries.

Q: Which of the following is a characteristic of global organizations? A. They are rigid. B. They keep costs of products as high as possible. C. They use cultural differences as a challenge. D. Their decisions are decentralized. E. Their HRM practices do not treat different cultures as equals.