Q&A Hero

Q: What kind of an organization culture should a business develop in order to foster ethical behavior?

Q: Of the skills required for global leaders, there is: A. a broad array of competencies. B. a solid understanding that rests on domestic leadership theory. C. no understanding of what is needed. D. limited understanding of the global leader's activities. E. wide consensus on what is needed.

Q: What are the five things that an international business and its managers can do to make sure ethical issues are considered in business decisions?

Q: The Pyramid Model of Global Leadership identifies: A. character traits necessary for global leaders B. personality traits necessary for global leaders. C. a progression of skills required for effective global leadership. D. a progression of activities necessary to build global leadership skills. E. A and B.

Q: Discuss John Rawls principles of justice

Q: A. not needed by global leaders. B. that belongs in the legal arena, not the business arena. C. needed by global leaders to confront ethical dilemmas. D. included in the concept of complexity. E. needed by global managers who implement, not leaders. Global leaders will confront ethical dilemmas and should have moral reasoning skills, suggests Dalton.

Q: Discuss the utilitarian approach to business ethics and examine its weaknesses.

Q: Brake's leadership triad includes: A. culture knowledge, foreign languages, and business acumen. B. business, culture, and geographic acumen. C. business knowledge, relationship skills, and personal effectiveness skills D. self-discipline, motivational skills, and business skills. E. personal, business, and motivational skills.

Q: Compare and contrast cultural relativism and righteous moralism.

Q: "Culture does not affect leadership attributes." This statement is: A. true, because leadership traits are universal. B. true, because leadership is a top-down concept. C. true, because the desire to be led is universal. D. false, because all cultures understand what leadership is. E. false, because traits understood as critical for leaders vary some by culture.

Q: Discuss any two straw men approaches to business ethics.

Q: The roles of the global leader include: A. negotiator and change agent. B. supervisor and administrator. C. superintendent and monitor D. marketer and salesperson for change. E. B and D.

Q: Why are home-country managers, working abroad in multinational firms (expatriate managers), likely to experience more than the usual degree of pressure to violate their personal ethics?

Q: Global leadership can be regarded as different in kind from domestic leadership because: A. it requires much more knowledge of foreign languages and geography. B. the differences between them are inconsequential. C. their differences are of such great degrees with regard to their level of skills and application. D. the domestic context does not require travel or knowledge of geography. E. the domestic context is so limited.

Q: Discuss the concept of ethical dilemma.

Q: Leadership traits viewed universally as unacceptable, according to the Project GLOBE study, are: A. egocentric, loner, and dictatorial. B. indecisive, unprincipled, and dishonest. C. indirect, indecisive, and antisocial. D. passive, indirect, and unprincipled. E. indirect, intellectual, and passive.

Q: Discuss the arguments that are for and against the payment of bribes and speed money.

Q: Acceptable leadership traits across cultures, according to Project GLOBE, include: A. directive, not afraid of criticizing others, and direct. B. planning, able to stick to schedule, and able to stay within budget. C. effective bargainer, dependable, win-win problem solver, and plans ahead. D. high context, high power distance, and high tolerance for ambiguity. E. low power distance, female, and low tolerance for ambiguity.

Q: Discuss the global tragedy of the commons.

Q: Project GLOBE found that: A. all cultures think of leadership in the same way. B. leadership is individualistic to each culture, with little overlap. C. leadership is nonexistent in some developing countries. D. leadership tends to be stable in developed economies and unstable in developing economies. E. some leadership traits are shared among all cultures

Q: Discuss the environmental issues related to businesses operating in developing nations.

Q: Global leaders confront increased ambiguity because: A. they find themselves unable to make decisions. B. their environment is more difficult than that of the domestic leader. C. much of the information they receive is difficult to give meaning to because it lacks clarity or has unclear cause-and-effect relationships. D. they function in a world with too much clarity. E. A and B.

Q: Describe how violation of the apartheid laws by Western businesses helped improve human rights in South Africa.

Q: The interdependence that confronts global leaders results from: A. needing to depend on others to implement change plans. B. increased levels of linkage, both within and outside the company. C. global logistics conditions. D. outsourcing of manufacturing. E. offshoring of personnel.

Q: How can international businesses tackle the dangers of being ill-informed about cultural differences?

Q: According to Warren Bennis: A. the leader inspires, while the manager controls. B. the leader orders, while the managers requests. C. the leader is charismatic, while the manager is a functionary bureaucrat. D. the leader is acclaimed, while the manager is appointed. E. the leader initiates, while the manager waits for directives.

Q: Explain why economic advancement and globalization are important factors in societal change.

Q: The foundation of a global mindset is: A. knowledge of and experience in other cultures. B. knowledge of foreign languages and cultures. C. intellectual intelligence and global emotional intelligence. D. global skills. E. A, B, and D.

Q: Briefly describe the five cultural dimensions in Hofstede s model.

Q: A global mindset involves: A. a good, fundamental understanding of geography. B. solid training in foreign languages and geography. C. an openness to diversity and inclination to synthesize across its borders. D. early foreign experiences. E. A and D

Q: The route to global leadership: A. is well established on the MBA foundation. B. has many options, depending on context. C. involves recognizing the traits early because global leaders have skills they were born with. D. is dependent on early career success in accounting or auditing and knowledge of foreign languages. E. A and D.

Q: How does a good education system impact a nation's economy?

Q: The successful domestic leader: A. can easily adapt to the global arena because the leadership challenges there are the same as those in the domestic arena. B. faces daunting new skills in transferring to the global leadership arena, skills having to do with understanding a fast-moving environment and cultural differences. C. can be retrained to lead globally through an international global leadership program. D. will need to learn foreign languages and nonverbal communication patterns to be a global leader. E. C and D.

Q: Global managers who want to drive change need to be able to communicate across cultural boundaries and build trust.

Q: What are the three values that are central to the Confucian system of ethics?

Q: People from cultures with high power distance will feel most comfortable with top managers' making decisions and issuing directives.

Q: Compare and contrast the principles of Hinduism and Buddhism.

Q: Cultures that tolerate high levels of ambiguity, such as Japan and Germany, are likely to be more change-friendly.

Q: The influence of organizational culture on change efforts is stronger than the influence of national culture.

Q: Some of the culture dimensions that are involved in change are tolerance of ambiguity and power distance.

Q: Kotter's model for change is an eight-step process that includes ways to make the change stick through leadership and succession.

Q: Kurt Lewin's model of change involves understanding the need for change, changing, and evaluating the change.

Q: Research on global change has led to well-developed theories of the process of global change.

Q: Change is understood differently in different cultures, which suggests that leading global change is a challenging process.

Q: Seeing what needs to be done is a management, rather than leadership, element.

Q: Performance appraisal for global teams is influenced by national-level culture.

Q: Social loafing is not an issue on virtual teams.

Q: Teams with strong heartbeats may meet less regularly than at their launch and during crisis.

Q: Most virtual teams meet at their launch and during crisis.

Q: Virtual communication is more effective than face-to-face communication.

Q: Virtual team leadership is similar to co-located team leadership.

Q: Effective bridging in a team situation is a substitute for integration.

Q: Bridging involves seeing the other person's point of view.

Q: Mapping is figuring out a geographical outline for all team members.

Q: A way to open up the cultural assumptions team members have is the map-bridge-integrate model.

Q: In collectivist cultures such as Thailand, accountability is assumed at the group level.

Q: In cultures with hierarchical values, such as Japan and Brazil, a single leader with decision-making power is often the case.

Q: Expectations of team leadership style are the same in all cultures.

Q: Multiplicity for global team leaders is evidenced by more players in the game than in a domestic setting.

Q: Team norms are legitimate, shared standards against which the appropriateness of behavior can be evaluated.

Q: Coaching is not important in a diverse team if the norms are strong.

Q: Creating an environment for team norms to come into play is especially useful in global teams, because they are characterized by high levels of diversity.

Q: Team establishment involves weakly linked member identification to ensure creativity.

Q: The three main team leadership activities in any environment are establishing the team, coaching team members, and setting team norms.

Q: Global teams are characterized by low levels of diversity and high levels of geographic dispersion.

Q: Global teams are a decreasing form for international work, since transportation cost reductions have been implemented in many corporations.

Q: Transformational experiences are a recommended part of preparation for global leadership.

Q: A study of the liberal arts disciplines of history, political science, foreign languages, and geography would be a helpful background for an aspiring global leader.

Q: The GLED model suggests that there are some individual characteristics that are antecedent to the development process.

Q: The GLED model is used to develop management skills.

Q: Research indicates that global leaders are born, not developed through experience or training.

Q: Assessing global leadership skills is a well-understood, basic process.

Q: Women's leadership skills coincide with global leadership skills.

Q: The Global Leadership Triad includes skills in business, relationships, and personal effectiveness.

Q: Among the skills necessary for a global leader are cultural adaptability and an ability to build global teams.

Q: Egocentric ruthlessness is a leadership trait admired in some cultures, as suggested by Project GLOBE.

Q: What are the types of information that an international company needs to have reported to it by its units around the world, and why is each type important for the IC and its control efforts?

Q: Explain why and where decisions are made among ICs and their subsidiary units.

Q: Describe the global product form, explain why a company might adopt this form, and identify the disadvantages of this structure.

Q: What are the four primary dimensions that need to be considered when designing the structure of an international company, and why are they important?