Deck 11: Managing for Ethics and Social Responsibility in a Global Environment

Question 1

If a company official is abducted by Somali pirates and held for ransom, the Foreign Corrupt Practices act (FCPA) calls for the company to forego negotiating for the employee's release and to not pay a ransom.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Unfortunately, fluency in a foreign language assists with verbal communication, but helps little in understanding the culture.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Research suggests that if we understand how people think and behave in their native environment, we will understand how a particular group will behave in relation to cultural outsiders.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Unfortunately, corporate citizenship has no influences on consumers buying habits.

Question 5

The Golden Rule ("do unto others as you would have them do unto you") appears in the teachings of every major world religion.

Question 6

Spouses of high level expatriate managers generally serve in a corporate "ambassador" role.

Question 7

The term emotional intelligence (EQ) has been used to describe an individual's ability to be effective in cross-cultural situations.

Question 8

Visitors to another culture will notice things that are important at home but that may not be important in the target culture.

Question 9

Behavior is difficult to predict because people adapt their behaviors to what they believe others expect of them.

Question 10

Research finds that successful international business persons are inflexible when it comes to cultural aspects with little or no tolerance for ambiguity.

Question 11

According to researchers at Harvard, in developing their firm's codes of conduct, multinational firms would be wise to stick with the eight principles identified by their research as the core of global standards of conduct and to not deviate or supplement the principles with values unique to their respective firms.

Question 12

Interestingly, ethical issues are universal and do not vary from culture to culture.

Question 13

The additional cost of corruption to international projects is less than 5% on average making it practical to include corruption as a cost of doing business.

Question 14

In its Bribe Payers Index (BPI) of 2008, Transparency International (TI) cited Russia, China, Mexico, and India for having particularly high levels of perceived bribery.

Question 15

Because of the cultural differences in Asia and Latin America, "help lines" are more effective when they are oriented more toward reporting misconduct.

Question 16

A country's sociopolitical environment increases the number of ethical questions with a company must deal.

Question 17

Although bribes are an accepted part of commercial transactions in many Asian, African, Latin American, and Middle Eastern countries, it is usually against the law in these very same countries.

Question 18

Because of the expatriate manager's and the manager's family's inability to adjust to the foreign work environment, many overseas assignments end early and unsuccessfully.

Question 19

Given the larger distance, workers in a culture of high power distance are more willing to question the boss's authority or even blow the whistle on an unethical manager.

Question 20

Justice and fairness are universal human values. Therefore, specific beliefs and preferences about what is a fair allocation are also universally interdependent.

Question 21

Which of the following is false about culture?

A) Culture can be defined as "collective mental programming."
B) Culture represents different patterns of believing.
C) Culture is used to interpret the world.
D) Cultures new to an individual will impact his/her interpretation of experience.

Question 22

The "psychic distance paradox" causes performance failures because:

A) Negotiators who are working in a similar culture to their own perceive the two cultures as being significantly different.
B) When doing business in cultures that are perceived to be similar, managers prepare less and do not realize the cultures are actually quite different.
C) Expatriate managers are unable to connect with the local culture after moving from a similar culture.
D) Managers do not understand the culture's behavior despite language proficiency.

Question 23

Which of the following is false?

A) Organizations are affected by the expatriate manager's ability to adjust to the new setting.
B) Organizations are not affected by the expatriate family's ability to adjust to the new setting.
C) Foreign language proficiency is more important for non-English speakers in English-speaking countries.
D) Cross-cultural training can help an expatriate manager better adjust to the new culture.

Question 24

Reebok Corporation has made human rights a hallmark of its corporate strategy, culture, and identity. Briefly describe at least two of the ways in which the company addresses international human rights issues.

Question 25

Which of the following is legal according to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) passed in 1977?

A) Payments to high ranking government officials
B) Grease payments to lower-level government officials
C) Bribes to political parties
D) Kickbacks to win overseas contracts

Question 26

"When in Rome, do as Romans do" is an example of:

A) Ethical imperialism
B) Ethical relativism
C) Cultural imperialism
D) Corporate relativism

Question 27

According to the 2012 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), which country would be the least corrupt?

A) United States
B) Haiti
C) Bangladesh
D) New Zealand

Question 28

Social Accountability International developed a standard called Social Accountability 8000 (SA 8000) to help organizations in workplace conditions including but not limited to a. Child labor
B) Forced labor
C) Health and safety
D) Discrimination
E) All of the above

Question 29

___________ defines themselves in terms of their group memberships and their contributions to the success of those groups.

A) Individualists
B) Collectivists
C) High power distance
D) Low power distance

Question 30

When dealing with an individual from a different culture,

A) Negotiators generally adapt their negotiation behavior to that of the negotiation partner.
B) American negotiators are the most flexible to their negotiation partner's behavior.
C) Canadian and Japanese negotiators are the least flexible to their negotiation partner's behavior.
D) Negotiators generally do not adapt their negotiation behavior to that of the negotiation partner.

Question 31

Which of the following is an example of a high power distance country?

A) India
B) United States
C) Israel
D) None of the above

Question 32

____________ reflects acceptance of inequality and respect for social status or class boundaries.

A) Individualism
B) Collectivism
C) High power distance
D) Low power distance

Question 33

Civil society refers to:

A) Countries with a certain type of governance structure.
B) Groups interested in business ethics (such as the media, not-for-profit organizations, academic institutions, and religious and political groups).
C) Government agencies in foreign countries.
D) Countries that share the same culture, customs, and norms.

Question 34

Which of the following is true about collectivists? Collectivists tend to

A) prefer mediation because it involves compromise.
B) prefer adjudication because it is perceived to be fairer.
C) prefer direct manifestations of conflict.
D) avoid psychological warfare.

Question 35

Of the following statements about the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Anti-Bribery Convention (the "Convention") which are untrue. a. Participating countries include countries in Western Europe and North America
B) The Convention requires signatories to make it a crime to bribe foreign public officials
C) The Convention includes the application of criminal penalties
D) The Convention bans gifts to political parties
E) The Convention outlaws tax deductibility for bribes
F) All are statements are true
G) Statements d and e are untrue

Question 36

____________ assumes absolute truths that would require exactly the same standard and behavior in every culture.

A) Ethical imperialism
B) Ethical relativism
C) Cultural imperialism
D) Cultural relativism