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14-1
Module 14 Managing Human Resources in an International Context
Answer Key
True / False Questions
1.
An expatriate is a person living outside his or her country of birth.
2.
The effectiveness of every organization depends, to a great extent, on how well its human
resources are used.
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Topic: International Staffing Policies
3.
Sources of successful managers for international company (IC) activities include the home
country, the host country, or a third country.
4.
Populations in developing nations tend to be growing larger and younger at the same
time.
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5.
Low birthrates and low levels of immigration are leading to a decline in populations in
many developed countries.
6.
While the population of people aged 65 or older was 425 million in 2000, by 2050 this
group will be nearly twice as large.
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7.
Nearly 30 percent of the world's population lived in urban areas in 1950; in 2010, more
than half of the world's population was urban, and this proportion is projected to increase
to 60 percent by the year 2030.
8.
Classical economists assumed that labor was a mobile production factor.
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9.
The U.S. has 5 percent of the world's population and 20 percent of the world's migrants.
10.
Many economic migrants are involved in what are sometimes referred to as "3-D" jobs—
digital, developmental, and demanding—which are well paid but which have inadequate
numbers of qualified host-country workers to satisfy demand.
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11.
The loss by a country of its most intelligent and best-educated people, a phenomenon
known as reverse brain drain, is usually due to the desire to seek improved economic
circumstances and pursue better professional opportunities.
12.
International companies contribute aggressively to reverse brain drain as they outsource
knowledge work—engineering, software, product design, and development—to such
countries as China and India.
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13.
Outsourcing may be a way for the firm to avoid operating with a labor union.
14.
Because of the importance of the workforce to the effectiveness of organizational
operations, a company's approach to international human resource management (HRM)
should drive its competitive strategy.
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15.
Companies with a primarily international strategic orientation may adopt an ethnocentric
staffing policy.
16.
Parent company nationals (PCNs) commonly encounter difficulty overcoming the biases of
their own cultural experience and being able to understand and perform effectively within
a new operating context.
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17.
Under a polycentric staffing orientation, ICs primarily hire host-country nations (HCNs) for
subsidiaries and PCNs for headquarters' positions and movement from the local
subsidiaries to headquarters' positions is common.
18.
A disadvantage of hiring local managers is that they are often unfamiliar with the home
country of the IC and with its policies and practices.
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19.
Companies with a regional strategic approach can use a polycentric staffing policy,
employing a variety of host-country nations (HCNs) and third-country nationals (TCNs).
20.
The disadvantages of using employees from the home or host countries can sometimes be
avoided by sending third-country nationals to fill management posts.
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21.
Companies with a transnational strategic orientation follow a global staffing policy,
selecting the best person for each job without considering national origin and generally
having consistent HRM strategy across all subsidiaries.
22.
Worldwide, nearly 50 percent of expatriate positions are held by women.
23.
Failure rates for expatriate assignments have been reported to range from 25 to 45
percent.
24.
Once a person has grown accustomed to a new culture, returning to one's home culture
can produce an experience of reverse culture shock.
25.
Relatively few expatriate failures are family-related. Most relate to the expatriate's lack of
technical skills.
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26.
A recent study reported that 77 percent of companies considered that cross-cultural
training was highly valuable and required such training for their expats or their families.
27.
Planning for an expatriate's return should begin while he or she is still on his or her
overseas assignment.
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28.
In the method favored by the majority of American ICs, the salary part of an expatriate
employee's compensation package will generally be governed by the employee's level in
the organization and will not be higher because of the foreign assignment.
29.
There is a trend toward treating third-country nationals the same as home-country
expatriates in terms of their compensation plans.
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30.
Being from another country qualifies expatriates for international status.
Multiple Choice Questions
31.
A local labor market
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Topic: International Labor Relations
32.
Growing labor pools are found in
33.
Countries with the largest populations are
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Topic: International Labor Relations
34.
Countries that are projected to decline in population between now and 2050 include all of
the following except
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35.
In 2010, what percent of the population in developed countries was 65 or older?
36.
By the year 2050, what percent of the population in developed countries is projected to be
65 or older?
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37.
By the year 2030, what percent of the world's population is projected to be living in urban
areas?
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38.
In 2010, more than half the world's population
39.
As of 2013, the nations and regions with the largest percentage of population aged 65 and
above were to be found in
