Chapter 16
Organizational Behavior across Cultures
1. Handling the social factors of operating a plant is easier than managing the technical factors
of building it in the first place.
2. Culture consists of the unwritten social rules that shape individual thought and behavior.
3. Power distance is frequently observed in Asian and South American countries.
4. The lending of skilled people to a nation for training their local replacements may provide a
lasting benefit to its development.
5. The penalties for major offenses may vary dramatically from culture to culture, but minor
offenses are treated similarly.
6. In some nations, employee layoffs are restricted by law.
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Page: 443
Difficulty: Easy
7. Inflation is a common economic condition that occurs only in developed countries.
8. Inflation encourages workers to spend their income quickly, before their money loses its
value.
9. Ethnocentrism means that people are predisposed to believe that their race is inferior to
others.
10. A small amount of cultural distance has no effect on people’s responses to business-related
issues.
11. Expatriate employees need to develop ethnocentrism in order to integrate imported and local
social systems.
12. Cultural shock is virtually universal.
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written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Ans: True
Page: 448
Difficulty: Easy
13. Employees who are low in ethnocentrism and other possibly troublesome characteristics can
be given priority for selection for international assignments.
14. Cultural intelligence includes having an intuitive sense of what is happening and why it is
occurring.
15. Adjustment to new surroundings is easier if employees are sent to nations that are similar to
their own.
16. A Canadian employee assigned to Australia is likely to adjust more slowly than a Spanish
employee in the same assignment.
17. Many organizations try to hasten adjustment to a host nation by encouraging employees to
learn the local language.
18. People from low-context cultures use situational cues to develop a complete portrait of a
visitor.
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of a visitor.
Page: 452
Difficulty: Medium
19. Cross-cultural reentry can be more difficult if a number of changes have occurred since
departure.
20. Transcultural employees are frequently fluent in more than one language.
1. _____ occurs when the employees in two or more cultures interact with each other on a
regular basis.
A) Multiculturalism
B) Ethnocentrism
C) Bypassing
D) Stereotyping
2. Different countries have different conditions of work because of differences in:
A) attitudes.
B) values.
C) expectations from participants.
D) all of the above.
3. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of cultures that emphasize individualism?
A) Very loosely knit social networks
B) High importance for face-saving
C) Considerable importance toward self-respect
D) Strong emphasis on personal rewards
4. Face-saving is highly important in _____cultures.
A) collectivistic
B) individualistic
C) feminine
D) low power distance
5. Employees with high uncertainty avoidance characteristics:
A) prefer structure, stability, rules, and clarity.
B) define gender roles in more traditional and stereotypical ways.
C) give high importance to wealth acquisition.
D) all of the above.
6. Feminine cultures treasure all of the following EXCEPT:
A) relationships among people.
B) balance between family and work life.
C) acquisition of wealth.
D) caring for others.
7. Cultures that value the past and accent the present, with a rich respect for tradition and the
need to fulfill historical social obligations are said to possess _____.
A) low power distance
B) low uncertainty avoidance
C) long-term orientation
D) short-term orientation
8. _____ refers to the belief that strong and legitimate decision-making rights separate managers
and employees.
A) Power distance
B) Uncertainty avoidance
C) Parochialism
D) Ethnocentrism
9. Masculine societies tend to:
A) have broader viewpoints on gender roles.
B) value achievement and the acquisition of wealth.
C) treasure relationships among people.
D) look for a greater balance between family and work life.
10. Which of the following social factors affect multinational operations?
A) Inability of an organization to employ local labor productively
B) Restrictions on employee layoffs
C) Subordination of employers to an authoritarian state
D) Rapid inflation
11. A major issue affecting multinational corporations has been how to deal with contrasting:
A) local mores.
B) local customs.
C) ethical behaviors.
D) all of the above.
12. Which of the following concepts states that expatriate managers must learn to operate
effectively in a new environment and must be flexible enough to respond to local conditions?
A) Ethnocentrism
B) Social loafing
C) Cultural contingency
D) Parochialism
13. Which of the following statements holds true for the community role of expatriate
managers?
A) They should avoid establishing an image that they are callous to local culture or have desires
to change it.
B) They face minimal risk of misinterpreting the community’s value structure.
C) They need to realize that host nation’s traditional practices are to be used exclusively.
D) All of the above.
14. _____ means people see the situation around them from their own perspective and fail to
recognize key differences between their own and others’ cultures.
A) Ethnocentrism
B) Parochialism
C) Cultural shock
D) Cultural distance
15. _____ occurs when people are predisposed to believe their homeland conditions are the best,
and this thought interferes with their understanding of human behavior in other cultures and
obtaining productivity from local employees.
A) Ethnocentrism
B) Parochialism
C) Cultural shock
D) Cultural distance
16. Samuel, an HR manager working in Florida, had been sent to a foreign country for a project.
During his stay there, he kept insisting to his host country colleagues that American companies
had the best employees and HR practices. Which of the following culture barriers is being
exemplified in this scenario?
A) Ethnocentrism
B) Xenophobia
C) Collectivism
D) Reverse culture shock
17. _____, when demonstrated consistently, will result in geocentric organizations that largely
ignore a person’s nationality while accenting employee ability in selection, assignment, and
promotional decisions.
A) Cultural contingency
B) Ethnocentrism
C) Parochialism
D) Cultural empathy
18. A(n) _____ integrates the interests of the various cultures involved and seeks to ignore a
person’s nationality while accenting employee ability in selection, assignment, and promotional
decisions.
A) polycentric organization
B) ethnocentric organization
C) geocentric organization
D) all of the above
19. Cultures may vary along the dimensions of _____.
A) language
B) social structure
C) morals
D) all of the above
20. Which of the following statements is true of cultural distance?
A) It affects the response of all people to business-related issues.
B) Expatriates are free from the problems associated to cultural distance.
C) It is the feeling of confusion, insecurity, and anxiety caused by a strange new environment.
D) It takes into account only the major differences between the social systems of different
countries.
21. Which of the following is the first phase of the reactions experienced by employees when
they enter another nation?
A) Excitement and stimulation
B) Disillusionment
C) Insecurity and disorientation
D) Adaptation
22. In the context of the reactions experienced by employees when they enter another nation, in
the _____ phase, employees respond constructively to their new surroundings at work and at
home.
A) excitement and stimulation
B) disillusionment
C) insecurity and disorientation
D) adaptation
23. When an employee enters another nation, he/she experiences the most critical change in the
_____ phase, which is caused by encountering all parts of a different culture.
A) excitement and stimulation
B) disillusionment
C) insecurity and disorientation
D) Adaptation
24. Cultural shock may result from encountering:
A) a loss of responsibility.
B) different management philosophies.
C) similar language and lifestyle patterns in the other organization
D) changes in one’s level of status in the organization.
25. Cognitive strategies related to cultural intelligence include gaining knowledge at the surface
about _____.
A) food
B) attitudes
C) beliefs
D) values
26. High-context cultures place a high value on all of the following EXCEPT:
A) prioritizing business.
B) personal relations.
C) trust.
D) nonverbal cues.
27. _____ causes a manager to discount or reject an expatriate’s international experiences.
A) Agoraphobia
B) Acrophobia
C) Monophobia
D) Xenophobia
28. Which of the following is an outcome of reverse cultural shock?
A) Difficulty in adjusting to new foods, styles of dress, and so on
B) Diminished responsibility after reentry
C) Increased decision-making authority
D) Difficulty in adjusting to an unfamiliar language
29. Transcultural employees are:
A) typically required in companies operating in similar cultures.
B) highly susceptible to cultural shock.
C) low in ethnocentrism.
D) fluent in a single language.
30. Which of the following leadership styles is most universally acceptable and desired for
adapting to a country’s cultural values?
A) Transactional leadership
B) Participative leadership
C) Transformational leadership
D) Autocratic leadership
1. Describe the concept of uncertainty avoidance.
2. How are American workers protected from discrimination while working in a foreign US
company?
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written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Page: 442-443
Difficulty: Medium
3. How does inflation impact workers’ lives?
4. Why is the community role of an expatriate manager important?
5. What is parochialism and how does it impact how the person views a new culture?
6. What is the definition of cultural distance?
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written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Difficulty: Medium
7. Explain briefly the reactions experienced by employees entering another country.
1. In the first phase, they are often excited and stimulated by the challenge of a new job, home,
2. This positive attitude is soon followed by disillusionment, as they discover various problems
3. In the most critical stage, they tend to suffer insecurity and disorientation caused by
4. Usually, if they can emotionally survive the first few weeks, they will gradually reach the
fourth phase, that of adaptation.
Difficulty: Medium
8. How does fluency in the host language contribute to cultural adaptation?
9. Write a brief note on high and low context cultures.
10. Why are transcultural employees needed?
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written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Difficulty: Easy