Leadership Across Cultures&Global Human Resource Management

Workers with a high-power-distance value tend to accept the idea that

• people from different cultures also have power.

• they may not achieve power until the distant future.

• people have unequal power throughout the firm.

• power comes through hard work.

Hospital administrator Amanda has an urgent time orientation so she is likely to ________________

• be laid back and casual about time.

• value time as a scare resource.

• invite her staff to participate in many retreats.

• enjoy sitting through PowerPoint presentations of substantial length.

Call center manager Charlie has a strong performance orientation value, so he is likely to _________________

• be quite confrontational when a customer is unrealistic.

• treat men and women workers quite differently.

• encourage high standards of performance at the call center.

• set high work standards for himself, and low standards for others.

When faced with conflict, a Malaysian manager is likely

to ____________

• give in readily to the other side.

• ignore the situation.

• be diplomatic in finding a solution.

• look for ways to intensify the conflict.

In contrast to his or her southern counterpart, the stereotypical U.S. northern manager is

likely to be ___________________

• laid back and interested in relationship building.

• impolite and impatient for results.

• concerned about gender differences.

• concerned about conducting business ethically.

Major account executive Katrina is visiting another country, and soon discovers that her customers will not talk about business until the group has dined together for several hours. Katrina would show cultural sensitivity by __________________

• attempting to conduct business as soon as the main meal is

  completed.

• explain that her company discourages wasting time.

• explaining with tact that the group is wasting time and

  money.

• trying to understand the dining tradition.

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

• expatriate

• holiday maker

• international jet-setter

• immigrant

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?

Organisations that do not adopt a strategic HRM approach and a global vision will ___________

• 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

1. 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