Human Relations: Interpersonal Job-Oriented Skills, 12e (DuBrin)
Chapter 8 Cross-cultural Relations and Diversity
8.1 Multiple Choice Questions
1) The true meaning of valuing diversity is to
A) tolerate and treat fairly people from many different groups.
B) establish quotas for hiring and promoting minority group members.
C) be able to joke about how others are different than you.
D) respect and enjoy a wide range of cultural and individual differences.
AACSB: Diverse and multicultural work environments
2) An important current emphasis in terms of making the workplace more inclusive is more
attention being paid to the needs of workers with
A) substantial financial problems.
B) physical, mental, or emotional disabilities.
C) strong dependence on mobile devices.
D) earnings that place them below the poverty level.
AACSB: Diverse and multicultural work environments
3) A key purpose of the diversity umbrella is to
A) provide legal protection of people who have been discriminated against in the past.
B) ensure that everyone in the organization is welcome.
C) protect lower-ranking workers from harassment by managers.
D) provide legal safeguards against the organization being charged with discrimination.
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4) A contributing factor to the increased profits associated with diversity is that
A) cultural diversity is used to justify lower wages.
B) the workforce is similar to the customer base in appearance and customs.
C) the conflict associated with diversity leads to better product decisions.
D) customers are usually willing to pay higher prices to companies with a diverse workforce.
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5) A person with high cultural sensitivity is likely to
A) regard people from different cultures as pretty much the same.
B) be too sensitive to criticism from people from different cultures.
C) recognize nuances in customs among cultures.
D) overlook nuances in customs among cultures.
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6) Larry wants to be politically correct, so when introducing Janis Stewart, the vice president of
marketing in his company to friends at a party, he says, “I would like you to meet Janis Stewart,
A) our woman vice president of marketing.”
B) the highest placed girl in our company.”
C) one of the best female minds in marketing.”
D) our vice president of marketing.”
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7) A concern about political correctness is that it often leads to
A) creating too many categories of people.
B) blandness and imprecision in language.
C) making many people feel inferior.
D) conflict between majority- minority-group members.
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8) People with high cultural intelligence are able to
A) learn foreign languages quickly.
B) observe subtle cues about how to act in another culture.
C) quickly pick up facts about a different culture.
D) get through airport customs inspection without arousing suspicion.
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9) Alexis is culturally intelligent, as indicated best by which one of the following behaviors she
exhibits on a business trip to South Korea?
A) Alexis chooses a South Korean delicacy during a restaurant meeting.
B) Alexis announces how many South-Korean made products she has in her household plus her
Kia sedan.
C) Alexis figures out how much to touch a South Korean work associate during an introduction.
D) Alexis quickly learns the conversion rate between the U.S. dollar and South Korean currency.
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10) A basic strategy for achieving crosscultural understanding is to
A) ignore differences in cultural customs.
B) establish a ranking of preferred cultures.
C) hire people from different cultures.
D) respect others in the workplace.
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11) Cultural fluency includes
A) using a computer program to translate from one language into another.
B) wearing latex gloves to avoid germs when visiting other countries.
C) getting homesick on long visits overseas.
D) knowledge of the international business environment.
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12) Manager Reggie comes from a culture with a high performance orientation so he is likely to
reward group members who
A) have well-developed outside interests.
B) share credit for their accomplishments with the work group.
C) improve their performance and are excellent performers.
D) know how to make him feel like an important manager.
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13) Which one of the following values is likely to be strongly held by Americans?
A) casual time orientation
B) urgent time orientation
C) emphasis on gender inequality
D) acceptance of power and authority
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14) Workers from cultures with a strong work orientation are likely to
A) spend relatively less time on vacation.
B) spend relatively more time on vacation.
C) retire at a relatively early age.
D) be quite formal in dealing with each other.
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15) Helen’s attitude toward power and authority is most likely to influence whether she
A) will accept full-time employment.
B) feels comfortable working with opposite-sex coworkers.
C) is willing to work overtime regularly.
D) offers suggestions to an older manager.
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16) Manfred was raised in a culture with a strong value of social support seeking, so on the job
he is likely to
A) ask for help and comfort when facing a difficult problem.
B) take members of the custodial staff to lunch.
C) be persistent in asking for salary increases.
D) avoid assignments that would require him to work on weekends.
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17) In attempting to understand how cultural values influence human relations on the job, the
most important factor is the
A) cultural value profile of that individual’s country.
B) individual’s age.
C) individual’s value profile.
D) level of job satisfaction and happiness.
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18) An example of a cultural blooper would be for an American to
A) pressure an Asian job applicant to bring about personal accomplishments.
B) deemphasize organizational rank when conducting business in Scandinavia.
C) upon first contact, address a French executive by title and last name.
D) give a small gift to a Japanese business associate.
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19) In cross-cultural relations, being attentive to individual differences in appearance helps
overcome the problem of
A) confusing the identity of people from the same racial or ethnic group.
B) being politically correct.
C) appearing cold and distant to people from a different culture.
D) being too informal toward people of another culture.
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20) A particularly sensitive part of cross-cultural differences in etiquette is to observe
A) whether or not a smile is appropriate.
B) what type of physical touching is acceptable.
C) to what extent your clothing should match that of the work associate from the other culture.
D) whether or not it is appropriate to say “Thank you.”
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21) A subtle concern about overcoming potential cross-cultural communication barriers is that
certain
A) hair styles may offend people in the other culture.
B) shades of finger nail paint might be offensive to members of another culture.
C) key words might be unacceptable in the other culture.
D) types of smiles might be offensive.
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22) A few research studies about biases and evaluation of customer service concluded that
A) customers tend to be biased in their evaluation of services provided.
B) most customers can control their biases.
C) customers prefer to be served by workers from a different demographic group.
D) services provided by women and nonwhite employees received the highest evaluations.
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23) A key part of cultural intelligence training is to
A) learn a second language the way the natives speak it.
B) understand the history and culture of another culture.
C) learn how to size up the environment to determine which course of action is best.
D) forgive people from other cultures for their mistakes.
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24) An important goal of a diversity training program is to
A) achieve minority hiring quotas.
B) help employees deal more effectively with people of different cultures.
C) move women and minorities into managerial positions more quickly.
D) market products to ethnic groups more effectively.
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25) Maria joins the Chevrolet division of General Motors, and is placed in a cross-gender
mentoring program. She is likely to be mentored by
A) an experienced manager who is male.
B) a coworker who is female.
C) two women from the human resources department.
D) an experienced manager who is transsexual.
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Job Scenario, Multiple-Choice
Isabella is a production supervisor in an American company that manufactures high-tech
equipment for the optics industry. She is sent to Beijing, China to help troubleshoot a problem
with a machine installed at a major client. As Isabella attends the first meeting, the Chinese
managers and professionals are courteous, and they smile frequently. Yet she detects a little
resistance in dealing with her. One of the Chinese managers says, “When will your boss be
here?” Another manager says, “You must be the secretary from America. I hope the technical
details in the meeting will not bore you.”
26) To begin asserting her authority, Isabella might try which one of the following tactics?
A) Give the group a small lecture about gender egalitarianism, and explain that she is from the
United States, not China.
B) Say to the group, “I understand that my job might seem a little unusual, but I am the
production supervisor sent here to work with you. I want to help you because you are an honored
customer.”
C) Explain that although she is the manufacturing supervisor sent to fix the problem, she is
flexible enough to carry out such roles as serving coffee and tea at the meeting.
D) Say to the group, “You are an honored customer and our company wants to fix your problem.
But I suggest that we cancel our meeting, and I will return after your management team has
completed diversity training.”
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27) On the second day of the meeting, Isabella believes that she has been making progress in
working well with her Beijing customer, yet she still feels that communication should flow more
smoothly. Getting the machine running smoothly is so important that Ken Chiu, the CEO, enters
the meeting. Isabella thinks, “Wow, this is big. The CEO is going to sit in on the meeting.” Chiu,
a man apparently in his late 70s or early 80s enters the room. Isabella might best take the
following approach:
A) Bow just slightly and say, “Mr. Chui, I am the American representative, and I am so honored
that you would attend our meeting.”
B) Raise her right hand in a high-five gesture and say, “Hi, Ken, how’s it going?”
C) With a smile on her face, say “Hi there Mr. CEO. In America you would have been retired
long ago.”
D) Extend her hand to shake Chiu’s hand and say, “I will be happy to work with you, but please
note that I am not a secretary.”
AACSB: Analytical thinking
8.2 True/False Questions
1) People from the same demographic group, such as Latino or African American, are frequently
members of different cultures.
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2) The goal of a diverse organization is for all workers to achieve their potential, not held back
by group identities such as sex, nationality, or race.
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3) The diversity umbrella includes mostly people who have been discriminated against in the
past.
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4) You are introduced to Jennifer, the new information technology specialist in your group, who
has a Chinese physical appearance. You are being politically correct when you say, “Hi Jennifer,
are your parents from China?”
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5) Cultural intelligence is relatively easy to learn through such means as travel guides and
smartphone apps.
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6) The emotional/motivational source of cultural intelligence gives a person the confidence
necessary to adapt to another culture.
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7) The term cultural fluency refers generally to having a working knowledge of two languages in
addition to one’s native language.
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8) CEO Mike is an American who believes strongly in gender egalitarianism, so in his company,
he is likely to promote very few women to key positions.
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9) In a culture that accepts power and authority, managers are likely to make many decisions by
themselves simply because they are the boss.
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10) Melissa comes from a culture that highly values social support seeking, so she is likely to be
quite independent in solving her own problems.
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11) A person’s individual value profile is usually more important in understanding how that
person will behave than the typical value profile for a person from his or her culture.
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12) Cultural values have their biggest impact on job behavior when the position in question is
mostly technical in nature.
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13) The importance of avoiding cultural bloopers has multiplied because of e-commerce and
other forms of Internet communication.
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14) Pascal comes from a culture that high values in-group collectivism, so he is likely to be quite
proud of his company and his family members.
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15) While on a business trip to a middle-eastern country, Trevor is invited to dinner. Trevor
commits a cultural blooper when he says, “Thanks anyway, but I’m going to eat dinner at a
nearby McDonald’s because you people eat disgusting food.”
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16) Now that English is the universal language of business, communicating in the native tongue
of your customers offers very little advantage.
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17) Fortunately for the international worker, nonverbal communication signals tend to be the
same from one country to another.
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18) A recommended approach for overcoming cross-cultural communication barriers when
meeting work associates from another culture, is to kiss the person on both cheeks, accompanied
by a big hug.
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19) Just to be safe, when meeting managers from any country outside the United States, it is best
to bow slightly and say, “I am so honored to make your acquaintance.”
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20) When making presentations to people from another culture, it is good practice to make sure
that any key word you use is acceptable in that culture.
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21) You are having difficulty getting a computer program working, so your first move is to ask
coworker Ashok, a native of India, to help you even though he is a cost accountant. Your
reasoning is that a worker from India must be good with software. You are displaying a
demographic bias.
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22) Cultural intelligence training would help a person develop the right strategy for figuring out
how to behave in a given situation in a foreign culture.
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23) The major purpose of diversity training is to bring about workplace harmony.
AACSB: Diverse and multicultural work environments
24) Sara, an accountant who is African American, is assigned to a cross-cultural mentoring
program at a large consumer products company. So her mentor is most likely to work overseas,
with mentoring sessions being conducted over e-mail and by Webcam.
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25) One of the purposes of a cross-cultural mentoring program is to facilitate the career
advancement of targeted minority groups.
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