Deck 4: National Differences in Culture

Question 1

The emphasis on individualism may make it difficult to build teams within an organization to perform collective tasks.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Values provide the context within which a society's norms are established and justified.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The emphasis on individualism results in a low degree of managerial mobility between companies.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

In general,Western societies tend to emphasize the primacy of the individual.

Question 5

In American society,the high degree of social mobility and the extreme emphasis on individualism have resulted in the emergence of class consciousness.

Question 6

Class membership in the United States is determined to a much greater degree by individual background and schooling,as opposed to economic achievements.

Question 7

Individuals become a member of the social category to which their parents belong.

Question 8

The emphasis on individualism has led to the widespread diffusion of self-managing work teams within Japanese organizations.

Question 9

Rituals and symbols are the most visible manifestations of a culture and constitute the outward expression of deeper values.

Question 10

Buddhism has the highest number of adherents in the world today.

Question 11

Strong identification with the group tends to create pressures for mutual self-help and collective action.

Question 12

There is a strict one-to-one correspondence between a society and a nation-state.

Question 13

The least rigid system of social stratification is a caste system.

Question 14

Society refers to a group of people whose values and norms differ from each other.

Question 15

It is easier for companies based in countries with a high degree of class consciousness to establish a competitive advantage in the global economy.

Question 16

Although upward social mobility was possible in Britain,it could not normally be achieved in one generation.

Question 17

Confucianism and Confucian ethics influence behavior and shape culture in parts of Asia,hence it is correct to characterize Confucianism as a religion.

Question 18

In a class system,individuals born into a class at the bottom of the social hierarchy can work their way up.

Question 19

A caste system is a closed system of stratification in which social position is determined by the family into which a person is born.

Question 20

The primacy of the value of group identification encourages managers and workers to move from company to company.

Question 21

The use of a grading system in schools teaches children the value of personal achievement and competition.

Question 22

In a social context,the term values is used to describe the:

A) economic benefits that are inherent to a culture.
B) collective wealth of the society.
C) abstract ideas about what a group believes to be good, right, and desirable.
D) political ascendancy of a country.
E) social rules and guidelines about the appropriate behavior in public.

Question 23

According to Max Weber,Protestant ethics discouraged the development of capitalism.

Question 24

Max Weber argued that the ascetic principles embedded in Hinduism encourage the kind of entrepreneurial activity in pursuit of wealth creation that we find in Protestantism.

Question 25

People who cannot take food or safety for granted tend to have authoritarian tendencies,and believe that men make better political leaders than women.

Question 26

Like Christianity and Judaism,Islam is a monotheistic religion.

Question 27

Buddhism was founded in China.

Question 28

Buddhism supports the caste system.

Question 29

_____ means an understanding of how cultural differences across and within nations can affect the way business is practiced.

A) Ethnocentrism
B) Cross-cultural literacy
C) Pan-culture integration
D) Cultural lag
E) Cultural capitalism

Question 30

Language is one of the defining characteristics of a culture.

Question 31

Islam is not just a religion; it is also the source of law,a guide to statecraft,and an arbiter of social behavior.

Question 32

Which of the following statements is true about culture?

A) Culture is static as it does not evolve.
B) Multinational enterprises can themselves be engines of cultural change.
C) The cost of doing business in a country or region is always independent of its culture.
D) It is not possible for a country to support multiple cultures.
E) The values and norms of a culture emerge fully formed.

Question 33

Under the Islamic banking method of mudarabah,when an Islamic bank lends money to a business,rather than charging that business interest on the loan,it takes a share in the profits that are derived from the investment.

Question 34

The concept of mobility between castes within an individual's lifetime makes no sense to traditional Hindus.

Question 35

According to the World Values Survey,as countries get richer,a shift occurs away from "traditional values" linked to religion,family,and country,and toward "secular rational" values.

Question 36

Confucianism is not concerned with the supernatural and has little to say about the concept of a supreme being or an afterlife.

Question 37

The murabaha contract is the most widely used among the world's Islamic banks,primarily because it is the easiest to implement.

Question 38

Max Weber argued that the Catholic promise of salvation in the next world,rather than this world fostered "a spirit of capitalism."

Question 39

According to Geert Hofstede,high power distance cultures were found in societies that tried to play down inequalities of power and wealth as much as possible.

Question 40

When Shop Smart opened its first super market in China it was unable to generate any sales.After conducting a research,it was understood that the local sales personnel found it difficult to communicate with the American store managers.In addition,Chinese consumers found it difficult to shop in the American way.Shop Smart's failure in China can be attributed to the lack of:

A) cross-cultural literacy.
B) class consciousness.
C) a first-mover advantage.
D) Confucian dynamism.
E) ethnocentrism.

Question 41

A difference in the attitudes of people toward time in different cultures is an example of the _____ in individual cultures.

A) folkways
B) religious doctrines
C) mores
D) laws
E) social structures

Question 42

Which of the following best exemplifies violation of folkways?

A) Committing a financial fraud
B) Practicing cannibalism under the belief that it leads to superpowers
C) Failing to greet a person you know
D) Stealing an author's or an inventor's intellectual property
E) Murdering a business partner

Question 43

Which of the following statements is true about most Western societies?

A) In Western societies social groups, rather than individuals, are the basic building blocks of social organization.
B) The value systems of many Western societies emphasize individual achievement.
C) In Western societies, the social standing of individuals is merely a function of who they work for.
D) The emphasis on individuals in Western societies has led to low level of entrepreneurial activity.
E) It is easier to build and manage teams within organizations in Western societies.

Question 44

Which of the following statements is true of mores?

A) Mores are actions of little moral significance.
B) Violation of mores is generally not a serious matter.
C) Social conventions regarding eating with the correct utensils is a good example of mores.
D) Mores do not differ among cultures.
E) Certain mores have been enacted into law.

Question 45

What is the difference between folkways and mores?

A) Folkways are norms that are seen as central to the functioning of a society whereas mores are the routine conventions of everyday life.
B) Violating mores tends to bring more serious retribution than violating folkways.
C) Folkways exclude rituals and symbolic behaviors included in mores.
D) Folkways have much greater significance than mores.
E) Mores cannot be enacted into laws, whereas folkways can.

Question 46

Which of the following statements is true about the business implications of the Japanese society?

A) In Japan, the social status of an individual is determined independent of the standing of the group to which he or she belongs.
B) It is difficult to find self-managing work teams within Japanese organizations.
C) Japan is more successful at pioneering radically new products and new ways of doing business than the United States.
D) There is a low degree of movement from company to company among managers and workers in Japan.
E) In Japan, the managers and workers lack company-specific knowledge, experience, and a network of interpersonal business contacts.

Question 47

Mores are best defined as:

A) fundamental duties to be followed in a society.
B) a set of greeting customs to be followed in different social contexts.
C) abstract ideas regarding one's personal conduct in a business setting.
D) norms that are seen as central to the functioning of a society and to its social life.
E) actions that are considered as taboos in a society.

Question 48

Which of the following is a possible downside of emphasizing the primacy of group identification over individualism?

A) It encourages managerial mobility between companies.
B) It leads to a lack of dynamism and entrepreneurship.
C) It hampers team building and cooperation.
D) It raises the costs of doing business due to its adverse impact on managerial stability.
E) It leads to the lack of company-specific skills and a network of contacts among managers.

Question 49

In a society,actions of people directed toward one another are governed by a set of social rules called:

A) norms.
B) manifestoes.
C) structures.
D) scriptures.
E) dialects.

Question 50

In many Western societies,the _____ is the basic building block of social organization.

A) family
B) community
C) work group
D) individual
E) social group

Question 51

If a society emphasizes the group as the primary unit of social organization,it is most likely to:

A) encourage competition between the members of the group.
B) expose managers to different ways of doing business.
C) foster dynamism and entrepreneurship.
D) discourage employees from moving from company to company.
E) fail to facilitate self-managing work teams.

Question 52

The United Republic emphasizes individual performance and achievements in every sphere of society.Which of the following statements is true about the society of this country?

A) The country suffers from a low degree of dynamism and innovation.
B) The country has a low degree of managerial mobility.
C) There is a low degree of entrepreneurial activity in the country.
D) The employees in this country will lack loyalty and commitment to a company.
E) Managers in such a country have highly developed company-specific skills but they lack general skills.

Question 53

Indictments against theft,incest,and cannibalism are examples of how violating _____ can bring about serious retribution.

A) social structures
B) mores
C) folkways
D) etiquettes
E) doctrines

Question 54

_____ are social conventions concerning things such as the appropriate dress code in a particular situation,good social manners,eating with the correct utensils,neighborly behavior,and the like.

A) Folkways
B) Proscriptions
C) Reprobations
D) Fellowships
E) Taboos

Question 55

Which of the following is an implication of high degree of managerial mobility in societies that emphasize individualism?

A) Reduced costs of doing business
B) Increased managerial loyalty and commitment to an individual company
C) Lack of company-specific experience, knowledge, and a network of contacts among managers
D) Lack of exposure among employees to different ways of doing business
E) Inability to apply good practices and techniques developed in one firm to other firms

Question 56

In the context of social structure,the American society is characterized by a low degree of:

A) social stratification.
B) mobility between strata.
C) entrepreneurial activity.
D) managerial mobility.
E) dynamism and innovation.

Question 57

Which of the following best exemplifies violation of mores?

A) Attending a business meeting in casual clothes
B) Committing a financial fraud
C) Failing to greet a person you know
D) Eating with the inappropriate cutlery in a social gathering
E) Keeping a good friend waiting at a coffee shop

Question 58

When compared to the American society,the Japanese society lacks:

A) commitment to lifetime employment.
B) emphasis on group memberships.
C) self-managing work teams.
D) close cooperation between individuals.
E) dynamism and entrepreneurship.

Question 59

Which of the following is a dimension of social structure that is particularly important when explaining differences between cultures?

A) The average income of the people who belong to a particular culture
B) The dominant race and the gender in the society
C) The extent to which work is viewed as more important than family
D) The degree to which the society is stratified into classes or castes
E) The degree to which a society supports multiple subcultures

Question 60

One of the downsides to the emphasis on individualism is that it:

A) is difficult to build teams within an organization to perform collective tasks.
B) does not support entrepreneurship and innovation.
C) discourages managerial mobility.
D) fails to foster general managerial skills required to find solutions to current problems.
E) discourages competition among employees within a company.

Question 61

According to Max Weber,Protestantism encouraged capitalism's development by:

A) believing that salvation occurred in the next world, rather than this world.
B) encouraging the consumption of accumulated wealth by indulging in worldly pleasures.
C) adhering to the hierarchical domination of religious and social life that characterized the Catholic Church.
D) limiting an individual's religious freedom.
E) emphasizing on the importance of hard work and wealth creation for the glory of God and frugality.

Question 62

The rise of Islamic fundamentalism is,in part,a response to the:

A) denial of equal rights for women and other minorities.
B) movement in traditional Islamic societies toward modernization.
C) narrowing gap between the rich and the poor.
D) increasing standard of living in Islamic societies.
E) widening gap between the highly developed and the less developed nations.

Question 63

Muslim countries are likely to be receptive to international businesses as long as those businesses:

A) behave in a manner that is consistent with Islamic ethics.
B) do not hold affiliations with supranational organizations like the WTO or IMF.
C) adopt western ideologies of doing business.
D) generate income in the form of interest on the loans.
E) do not undertake any charitable activities because Islam has very strict rules about the way these activities should be conducted.

Question 64

Which of the following is the most dominant religion in the world in terms of numbers of adherents?

A) Judaism
B) Christianity
C) Islam
D) Buddhism
E) Confucianism

Question 65

Which of the following statements is true about the class system in the United States when compared to the British class system?

A) The class system in the United States is more pronounced than in Britain.
B) In the United States, upward social mobility cannot normally be achieved in one generation.
C) Class membership in the United States is mainly determined by an individual's background and schooling.
D) In American society, the extreme emphasis on individualism increase the impact of class background on business operations.
E) Successful individuals from humble origins are highly respected in American society.

Question 66

Which of the following is most likely to be the result of high degrees of class consciousness in societies?

A) High levels of social mobility
B) Healthy relationship between management and labor classes
C) Low levels of industrial disruption
D) Increase in the costs of production
E) Greater opportunities for businesses to establish competitive advantage

Question 67

Mountland Republic follows a system of social stratification that allows for flexibility in terms of social mobility.In this system of open stratification the status of a person is solely determined by his or her own socioeconomic achievements.Mountland Republic is most likely to be following a _____ system of social stratification.

A) caste
B) class
C) religious
D) grade
E) bureaucratic

Question 68

Which of the following statements is true of Islam?

A) Islam has roots in Confucianism.
B) Islamic ethics support worldly gain and temporal power.
C) Islam forbids the consumption of pork and alcohol.
D) Islam makes a clear distinction between church and state.
E) Unlike Christianity and Judaism, Islam is not a monotheistic religion.

Question 69

Although the number of societies with caste systems diminished rapidly during the twentieth century,one partial example still remains in:

A) Japan.
B) the United States.
C) India.
D) Britain.
E) Germany.

Question 70

In the Republic of Cedia,people are extremely conscious about their social backgrounds.This in turn regulates their relationships with members of other classes.As a result of the heightened class consciousness:

A) the mobility between the social classes of the Cedian society will increase.
B) the level of industrial disruption and industrial disputes will be low.
C) most of the population will perceive itself to be middle class.
D) an antagonistic relationship will exist between management and labor classes.
E) successful individuals, irrespective of their origins, will be highly respected.

Question 71

A _____ system is a closed system of stratification in which social position is determined by the family into which a person is born,and change in that position is usually not possible during an individual's lifetime.

A) caste
B) merit
C) class
D) economic
E) bureaucratic

Question 72

Which of the following statements is true about social stratification?

A) The most rigid system of social stratification is a class system.
B) Individuals are born into a particular social stratum.
C) It is not possible for people to move between social strata.
D) Britain is an example of a society where the caste system is predominant even today.
E) Individuals born into a stratum toward the bottom of the social hierarchy tend to have better life chances.

Question 73

Islam has roots in both Judaism and _____.

A) Buddhism
B) Hinduism
C) Christianity
D) Confucianism
E) Shinto

Question 74

In 1904,_____ theorized that there was a relationship between Protestantism and the emergence of modern capitalism.

A) Karl Marx
B) Alfred Schmidt
C) Max Weber
D) Abraham Maslow
E) Adam Smith

Question 75

In a country called Burnada,the citizens are restricted from moving out of the strata they are born into.Also,individuals are allowed to engage only in the occupation associated with their particular strata.The system of social stratification being practiced in Burnada can be identified as a:

A) cluster system.
B) caste system.
C) merit-based system.
D) class system.
E) bureaucracy-based system.

Question 76

_____ refers to a condition where people tend to perceive themselves in terms of their class background,and this shapes their relationships with members of other classes.

A) Social mobility
B) Class consciousness
C) Cross-culture literacy
D) Social awareness
E) Class representativeness

Question 77

Which of the following is a religion that prohibits the payment or receipt of interest,as it is considered to be usury?

A) Hinduism
B) Buddhism
C) Christianity
D) Confucianism
E) Islam

Question 78

A _____ system is a form of open stratification in which the position a person has by birth can be changed through his or her own achievements or luck.

A) class
B) caste
C) rank
D) grade
E) merit

Question 79

_____ are defined as hierarchical social categories,often based on family background,occupation,and income.

A) Social modes
B) Social empires
C) Social strata
D) Social councils
E) Social clusters

Question 80

_____ is an ethical system that has influenced behavior and shaped culture in parts of Asia,however it cannot be considered as a religion.

A) Confucianism
B) Hinduism
C) Islam
D) Christianity
E) Buddhism