Sociocultural Forces 2nd Edition Exam Questions

Module 03 Sociocultural Forces

1) We are each born with a unique culture.

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Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Bloom's : Remember
Difficulty : 1 Easy
Topic : What is Culture?
Learning Objective : 03-01 Describe what culture is.

One of the critical aspects of culture is that it is learned, not inherent.

2) Anthropologist E. T. Hall suggests that there are hundreds of ways managers can learn the characteristics of other cultures.

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Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Bloom's : Understand
Difficulty : 2 Medium
Topic : Social Culture
Learning Objective : 03-01 Describe what culture is.

Hall suggests two ways to do this: either spending a lifetime in the culture or undergoing extensive training, including language.

3) When adjusting to other cultures, the first step managers can take is to compare their current culture to another to assess its value.

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The first step is to accept that other cultures are different.

4) Since all cultures have the same attitude toward authority, the role of the manager is comparable across cultures and is not a matter of concern for human resources.

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Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Bloom's : Understand
Difficulty : 2 Medium
Learning Objective : 03-02 Identify the ways culture affects all business activity.
Topic : Social Culture

There are different attitudes toward authority among cultures that affects the human resource context.

5) Leadership traits may vary some by culture, but underneath, they all build on the basic idea that all people want to be led and directed.

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Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Bloom's : Remember
Difficulty : 1 Easy
Learning Objective : 03-02 Identify the ways culture affects all business activity.
Topic : Social Culture

Leadership traits vary by culture, and the notion of what leadership is varies by culture.

6) A business with tight accounting controls suggests a culture with low levels of trust.

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⊚ false

Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Bloom's : Understand
Difficulty : 2 Medium
Topic : What is Culture?
Learning Objective : 03-02 Identify the ways culture affects all business activity.

Both accounting and finance are influenced by the culture's notion of the basic nature of people. Are controls needed to keep people honest? Tight accounting controls suggests a culture with low levels of trust.

7) A culture's aesthetics refers to the sense of moral behavior taught to the young.

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Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Bloom's : Remember
Difficulty : 1 Easy
Learning Objective : 03-03 Describe how culture shows itself.
Topic : Social Culture

Aesthetics refers to a culture's sense of beauty and taste.

8) Understanding how religion affects cultural attitudes is important for marketing professionals to know.

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Religion is an important component of culture and affects the attitudes and beliefs that influence human behavior, which is something marketing professional want to know.

9) Gift giving across cultures is viewed as a simple kindness and not a reflection of intent.

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Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Bloom's : Understand
Difficulty : 2 Medium
Learning Objective : 03-03 Describe how culture shows itself.
Topic : Social Culture

Gift giving can be a complicated process, and understanding what constitutes an acceptable gift in the culture and what role gift giving plays (what it means) is important. Your act of generosity may be received as an insult or as an attempt at manipulation.

10) Christianity has many denominations and within each denomination is a different belief.

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Although Christianity has many denominations, all of them share a single belief.

11) Buddhism is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Guatama.

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Buddhism is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Guatama, a royal prince who became known as Buddha.

12) In high-context cultures, nonverbal language plays a minor role. Business professionals rely more on the spoken word.

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In high-context cultures, meaning is conveyed through context rather than the words themselves.

13) There are three main classes of social institutions, based on the conditions of their formation: family, kinship, and free association.

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There are two main classes of social institutions, based on the conditions of their formation: kinship and free association. Free association may be formed by age, gender, or shared interest. Their understanding is important to marketers. The other is family or kinship.

14) In Hall's use, context is the irrelevant environment in a communication act.

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⊚ false

Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Bloom's : Understand
Learning Objective : 03-04 Describe four frameworks for analyzing culture.
Difficulty : 1 Easy
Topic : Hall's Concept of High and Low Context

Context is the relevant environment in a communication act.

15) In high-context cultures, people tend to form long-lasting relationships that endure over time.

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Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Learning Objective : 03-04 Describe four frameworks for analyzing culture.
Bloom's : Remember
Difficulty : 1 Easy
Topic : Hall's Concept of High and Low Context

In contrast, LC cultures tend to have many short-term relationships (Figure 3.3).

16) Hofstede is primarily concerned with social values and the dimensions he identified that help parents understand their children.

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⊚ false

Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Bloom's : Understand
Difficulty : 2 Medium
Learning Objective : 03-04 Describe four frameworks for analyzing culture.
Topic : Hofstede's Framework

Hofstede is primarily concerned with work values and his dimensions help managers understand how cultural differences affect organizations.

17) Feminine cultures in Hofstede's dimensions care about relationships and are not focused on business success.

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⊚ false

Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Learning Objective : 03-04 Describe four frameworks for analyzing culture.
Topic : Hofstede's Framework
Bloom's : Remember
Difficulty : 1 Easy

Feminine cultures have a small gap between male and female roles. They are concerned with both relationships and business success.

18) Hofstede’s pragmatic versus normative dimension reflects an assessment of how individuals handle unexplainable aspects of their lives.

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⊚ false

Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Difficulty : 2 Medium
Learning Objective : 03-04 Describe four frameworks for analyzing culture.
Topic : Hofstede's Framework
Bloom's : Remember

This dimension is a measure of how people deal with the unexplainable of their lives. It is a modification of what was formerly called Confucian dynamism.

19) Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck developed their cultural values classification system based on universal problems, such as people’s relationship to nature.

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These two U.S. anthropologists listed five problems to which all cultures offer solutions. One of these reflects people’s relationship to nature.

20) The MBI model is linked with the global mind-set since it can be used to connect cultures across diversity boundaries.

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Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Bloom's : Understand
Difficulty : 2 Medium
Learning Objective : 03-05 Describe the global mind-set and the MBI model.
Topic : Creating a Global Mindset

The Map-Bridge-Integrate model is associated with the global mind-set.

21) A basic cultural concept is

A) our way is the best way.
B) our way is not the only way.
C) Western culture leads others.
D) power goes to those who take it.

Each culture has a set of beliefs that work in that culture.

22) Because culture is not directly observable,it is

A) best learned about by observation of how it manifests itself.
B) best ignored in foreign sales, to avoid mistakes.
C) best studied through language, since language is closest to culture.
D) likely to be impossible to comprehend.

Culture is best studied through its manifestations, the social world in which it exists.

23) Ethnocentricity gets in the way of communication across cultural borders because

A) it provides a channel for active listening.
B) people with inferior cultures will not want to communicate.
C) cultural borders promote an ethnocentric approach.
D) people living in their own culture are often unaware of its influence on them.

Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Bloom's : Remember
Difficulty : 1 Easy
Topic : Social Culture
Learning Objective : 03-01 Describe what culture is.

Society is composed of people living in their culture, often unaware of its influence on them.

24) Culture is a group of shared worldviews, social rules, and interpersonal dynamics that is

A) chosen consciously by each group to set themselves apart from other groups.
B) learned, interrelated, and shared.
C) used as a way to separate economic classes.
D) a collection of noble pursuits including opera, art, ballet, and classical music.

Culture is shared, learned, and its various parts are interrelated.

25) Molly has lived in Ireland her entire life and believes that the only way to do things is “the Irish way.” This belief is an example of

A) stereotyping.
B) cultural adaptation.
C) social hierarchy.
D) ethnocentrism.

Ethnocentrism is the belief that your own culture is superior to other cultures.

26) When interacting with an international affiliate, business professionals should remember that ethnocentrism

A) can be beneficial to negotiations.
B) is detrimental and noninclusive.
C) is atypical behavior and uncommon in most cultures.
D) should be practiced whenever possible.

Ethnocentrism is the view that a home culture’s approach is the best approach. This can be detrimental and noninclusive in business practices.

27) When you assert that a certain aspect of your own culture is superior, you are probably exhibiting

A) objective observation.
B) ethnocentric behavior.
C) your understanding of truth.
D) material culture.

Most cultures exhibit this tendency to judge the home culture superior to other cultures.

28) E. T. Hall suggests that to learn another culture, you have to undergo extensive training or spend

A) a lifetime in the other culture.
B) considerable time with people of the other culture, but perhaps outside that culture.
C) time studying the language of the other culture.
D) considerable amounts of time and money taking guided tours in the other culture.

Hall suggested that there are two ways to learn another culture: either spend a lifetime within a culture or undergo an extensive training program on the culture.

29) Kya believes an annual review should be a reflection of an employee’s accomplishments from the year while Marcus believes an annual review should be used to motivate an employee to work harder. Their beliefs are based on the culture in which they were raised. Which business function is being affected by culture in this scenario?

A) marketing
B) production
C) human resources
D) accounting

Culture can affect all functions of business. In this scenario, the human resources function is being affected.

30) Accounting controls directly relate to a culture's assumptions about

A) the basic nature of people.
B) inventory policy.
C) efficiency.
D) leadership.

Tight controls imply a low level of trust while looser controls imply a higher level of trust.

31) Two basic ways to understand the role of leadership are to provide direction for a collection of individuals or to

A) limit the freedom of individual group members.
B) integrate a group.
C) link top management with workers.
D) organize workers for production.

When considering purpose and function, leadership can integrate a group of people or provide direction for a collection of individuals.

32) The assembly line found in automobile manufacturing facilities is an example of how culture affects

A) accounting.
B) marketing.
C) procurement.
D) production.

All aspects of a business can be affected by culture. The assembly line is a reflection of how culture affects production in a business.

33) The focus group participants were asked if they liked the website for Welby Appliance Corp. The majority responded that they did. Months later, the manufacturer was surprised when people in certain parts of the world were angry that no instructions came with the appliance they purchased and were told they could find them on the website. However, these particular customers didn’t have access to a computer. In this instance, what department of Welby Appliance failed to take into account culture?

A) finance
B) marketing
C) production
D) human resources

Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Difficulty : 2 Medium
Learning Objective : 03-02 Identify the ways culture affects all business activity.
Bloom's : Apply
Topic : Economic and Business Implications of Cultural Change

Culture affects all business disciplines. In this scenario, the marketing department didn’t ask the focus group all the questions that it needed to ask.

34) Culture exerts an influence on all business disciplines

A) except accounting, which is objective.
B) because they all aspire to be culturally central.
C) because they exist in a social world in which culture operates.
D) except finance and accounting, which are quantitative.

All business disciplines are influenced by culture because they exist in a web of social relationships.

35) Aesthetics is

A) an area of psychology that deals with truth.
B) a measurement used in the Middle East, similar to a hectare.
C) an area of philosophy that deals with beauty.
D) the area of medicine concerned with hygiene.

A culture's aesthetics deal with the sense of beauty found in the culture.

36) Connor’s manager told him not to make the “OK” sign with his hand when meeting with the representatives from France as that gesture is viewed as vulgar and inappropriate in their culture. Which aspect of culture is his manager referring to?

A) spoken language
B) material culture
C) nonverbal communication
D) religion

Both body language, a part of nonverbal communication, and spoken language demarcate cultures.

37) Religion is a part of a group's culture because

A) it is a symbol of worship.
B) religion is culture.
C) groups choose their religion, and culture is chosen.
D) it influences behavior through attitudes and beliefs.

Religion influences behavior, and culture manifests through behavior.

38) The marketing team decided to develop two promotional campaigns: one featuring slender models and the other using curvier models to address the cultural differences of their audience. With what aspect of culture is the marketing team concerned?

A) artifacts
B) gift-giving
C) aesthetics
D) verbal communication

Aesthetics applies to our ideas about body weight and physical beauty. This can vary among cultures.

39) Real Country Boots was surprised when its marketing campaign featuring a cowboy fell flat in some South American countries but prospered in the United States. They later determined that a cowboy was considered “just another job” in parts of South America so it held little appeal to consumers. In this instance, the company used what aspect of aesthetics incorrectly?

A) gift-giving
B) nonverbal communication
C) folklore
D) art

The incorrect use of folklore such as this example provides can prove detrimental to a business.

40) When Corinne was introduced to the manager from the overseas office, she noticed he tended to lean in as he spoke with her. This made her uncomfortable, so she did her best to put some space between them during the meeting. What is causing Corinne to feel uncomfortable?

A) aesthetics
B) conversational distance
C) material artifacts
D) polychronic time constraints

Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Difficulty : 2 Medium
Learning Objective : 03-03 Describe how culture shows itself.
Topic : Social Culture
Bloom's : Apply

Conversational distance varies across cultures, tending to be closer or shorter in high context cultures.

41) In a business setting, anthropologist Marcel Mauss viewed the ritual of gift-giving as a way to

A) unfairly influence or bribe prospective customers/clients.
B) obtain a huge advantage for international managers.
C) show fondness.
D) publicly acknowledge interrelationships and obligations.

According to the anthropologist Mauss, gift-giving is a public way to acknowledge relationships and obligations.

42) Kinship and free association are examples of

A) choices people make about their friendships.
B) the two basic types of social institutions.
C) social clubs that operate as microcosmic cultures.
D) ethnocentric forms of communication.

These are the two kinds of social groups or institutions as defined by sociologists.

43) What is the basic unit of institutions based on kinship?

A) education
B) wealth
C) corporation
D) family

The family is the basic unit of institutions based on kinship. Families in many nations extend to include all relatives by blood and marriage.

44) Material culture includes

A) only things that are used in production processes.
B) the makers of things but not those who use them.
C) all human-made objects.
D) all textiles and fabrics.

Material culture includes all things people make, including who makes them, why they make them, and how.

45) Kendrik decided not to take the overseas position because he knew managers worked alongside their staff and did not have private offices in this particular international culture. He thought this made managers look less important and inconsequential. What aspect of culture is he concerned with?

A) verbal communication
B) aesthetics
C) unspoken language
D) folklore

Question Details
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Difficulty : 2 Medium
Learning Objective : 03-03 Describe how culture shows itself.
Topic : What is Culture?
Bloom's : Apply
AACSB : Knowledge Application

Unspoken language includes spatial relationships, such as office size and location.

46) When Maddie got to her manager’s office, she noticed the door was closed and decided the manager was busy so she should come back later. What aspect of culture is affecting her decision to return later?

A) ethnocentric values
B) spatial relationships
C) performance issues
D) conversational distance

Unspoken language includes spatial relationships, including those where we work. In the United States, an office door that is closed suggests a request for privacy.

47) The music and folklore associated with a society are one way to communicate a culture’s

A) ethnocentrism.
B) polychronic time.
C) uncertainty avoidance.
D) aesthetics.

Music and folklore communicate a culture’s aesthetics.

48) The most obvious cultural distinction a company must take into account when deciding to undertake international business is

A) religion.
B) language.
C) aesthetics.
D) finance.

Probably the most obvious and distancing cultural distinction for newcomers to international business is language, both spoken and unspoken.

49) Material culture includes

A) manufactured goods.
B) the services associated with marketable goods.
C) objects of which the culture is proud.
D) produced goods that affect the symbolism of a culture.

Material culture includes all manufactured goods, all human-made objects.

50) Understanding a person’s body language and facial expressions would be especially important during business conversations in which type of culture?

A) low context
B) high context
C) polychronic
D) monochronic

In high-context cultures, the unspoken word conveys significant meaning such as meaning displayed through body language and facial expressions.

51) Joshua realized the company’s marketing materials should avoid the color red in South Africa because it is the color of mourning in that country. What part of culture is Joshua taking into consideration?

A) stereotypes
B) spoken language
C) gift-giving
D) aesthetics

Aesthetics reveal a country’s sense of beauty and taste.

52) When considering whether or not to give a gift in a new cultural business situation, the first practical question you should ask is

A) What is an acceptable gift?
B) When should I give the gift?
C) How many gifts should I get?
D) Should I wrap the gift?

On a practical level, the first point to figure out about gifts in a new culture is how the ritual plays out and what constitutes an acceptable gift.

53) Culture frameworks are helpful, but their use may

A) oversimplify and limit our understanding and learning after a point.
B) give too much emphasis on culture.
C) result in too much empathy for a different culture.
D) lead to further frameworks and further complication.

Culture frameworks are a sophisticated form of stereotyping, so they must be used with care and awareness that don't explain the whole picture, but only suggest likelihoods.

54) After college, Thomas moved from California to take a job overseas. He was surprised to find that the city he moved to had strict curfew laws and all the shops and restaurants closed by 10 pm. The culture he moved into seems to want to minimize unpredictable situations which reflects which of Hofstede’s dimensions?

A) uncertainty avoidance
B) masculinity-femininity
C) power distance
D) individualism-collectivism

Question Details
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Learning Objective : 03-04 Describe four frameworks for analyzing culture.
Topic : Hofstede's Framework
Bloom's : Apply
Difficulty : 3 Hard
AACSB : Knowledge Application

Hofstede's uncertainty avoidance measures a society's discomfort with uncertainty. Japan has high uncertainty avoidance, while Jamaica has low uncertainty avoidance.

55) Hofstede's masculinity-femininity dimension is a measure of a culture's

A) distribution of roles between the sexes.
B) inclination to be kind and caring or task-focused and linear.
C) tolerance of gender-based workplace rules.
D) commitment to work (masculine) or family (feminine).

The masculine-feminine dimension measures how the culture distributes roles between the sexes. Feminine cultures (Scandinavian) can have thriving businesses, so it is not a measure of work commitment.

56) Trompenaars's universalism-particularism dimension addresses

A) a culture's inclination to have a global foreign policy.
B) whether rules or relationships regulate behavior.
C) the degree to which the individual (particularist) is the focus of social attention.
D) which matters most to people in the society, universal goodness or particularist emotions.

Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Learning Objective : 03-04 Describe four frameworks for analyzing culture.
Topic : Trompenaars's Dimensions
Bloom's : Remember
Difficulty : 1 Easy

The universalism-particularism dimension describes whether behavior is regulated by rules (universalist) or by relationships (particularist). Low-context cultures (Hall) tend to be universalist.

57) Trompenaars's diffuse cultures are called diffuse because

A) their differentiation between public and private life is spread out freely (diffused).
B) specific responsibilities are spread over a wide area, that is, nonhierarchical.
C) they extend the concept of culture to religion and other institutions.
D) diffusion exists to moderate cultural differences.

A diffuse culture has reduced borders between public and private, so work life, for example, diffuses across an individual's social roles.

58) According to Trompenaars’s seven dimensions, which type of culture tends to be rule-based?

A) universalist
B) particularist
C) individualist
D) collectivist

People in universalist cultures apply rules to all people at all times, without exception.

59) In Trompenaars’s ascription culture, a person’s identity is based on

A) socioeconomic norms.
B) his or her work achievements.
C) his or her family lineage.
D) educational diversity.

Ascription cultures consider a person’s identity in terms of his or her family lineage, age, or other attributes.

60) Jay-yeong is the finance director of a firm in Seattle. He often attends meetings for work and it is not uncommon for these meetings to overlap one another so he is finishing up with one while he should be at another. Trompenaars would say that Jay-yeong works at a company that reflects what dimension of time?

A) ethnocentric
B) polychronic
C) theocentric
D) monochronic

Question Details
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Learning Objective : 03-04 Describe four frameworks for analyzing culture.
Topic : Trompenaars's Dimensions
Bloom's : Apply
Difficulty : 3 Hard
AACSB : Knowledge Application

In polychronic cultures, many actions can occur at more or less the same time.

61) Based on the work of Edward Hall, the explicit communicator in a low-context culture is

A) direct, unsubtle, and unambiguous: What you say is what you mean.
B) subtle, nuanced and indirect: Meaning accrues through not exactly what is said or done.
C) unprepared and wary: The message is in the context.
D) ready to act: Communication will happen regardless of cultural differences.

The explicit communicator in an LC culture is direct, unsubtle, and unambiguous: What you say is what you mean. There is relatively less subtlety. "Telling it like it is" is understood as a positive trait.

62) How do the dimensions of Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck's framework help us to better understand other cultures?

A) They are meant to help us decode kinship patterns.
B) They present choices that cultural members make when they act.
C) They help us decode evil.
D) They help us to further understand beliefs and actions in other cultures.

Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck extend Hall's framework. It is theoretical rather than empirical.

63) Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s framework reveals that low-context cultures tend to focus on

A) cultural traditions.
B) the future.
C) the collective.
D) the past.

This framework reveals that low-context cultures tend to focus on the future, whereas high-context cultures focus on the past and are more influenced by tradition.

64) Trompenaars’s specific-diffuse dimension has to do with

A) social patterns for child-rearing.
B) patterns for public and private life.
C) regard for the individual or the collective.
D) whether rules or relationships regulate behaviors.

The specific-diffuse dimension differentiates cultures based on social patterns for public and private life. The specific pattern has a small private life that is kept private and a large public life. In a diffuse culture, there is a large private life and a smaller public life, with no clear distinction between work life and private life.

65) Trompenaars's achievement versus ascription dimension describes social status based on what one does or who one is. In the United States, where people build who they are through work, social status tends to be

A) based on achievement.
B) ignored because the United States does not have classes.
C) based on ascription.
D) a subtle form of prejudice.

Ascription is status based on who you are, not what you've done. Ascription could consider family lineage, age, or other attributes. Status via work is achievement oriented.

66) Low-context cultures such as the United States tend to have these kinds of communication patterns:

A) subtle.
B) nondirective.
C) loudly voiced.
D) explicit.

Low-context cultures are explicit in their communication. The act itself has to carry the communication because the context is not contributing to the conveyance of meaning (see Figure 3.3).

67) Holly is a multitasker and prefers to work on more than one project at a time at work. Edward Hall would say that Holly favors which approach to time?

A) monochronic
B) mnemonic
C) polychronic
D) ionic

Question Details
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Difficulty : 2 Medium
Learning Objective : 03-04 Describe four frameworks for analyzing culture.
Bloom's : Apply
Topic : Hall's Concept of High and Low Context
AACSB : Knowledge Application

In a polychronic culture, two or more activities are carried out at the same time and switching among activities is desirable.

68) What is Hall's high- and low-context framework based on?

A) communication styles
B) level of industrialization
C) presence of power in society
D) scientific data

Context is a critical aspect of communication style.

69) When we use frameworks to help us understand culture, it's important to remember that frameworks

A) describe other cultures with precision.
B) can't be used to describe our own cultures.
C) are comparative, with our own culture the reference point.
D) accurately describe reality.

The use of frameworks is implicitly comparative. Remembering this is important.

70) Referring to Hall's high- and low-context framework, in a high-context culture

A) communication is explicit.
B) the context carries much of the communication.
C) communication is direct and focused on the topic.
D) the context is irrelevant.

In a high-context culture, context carries much of the communication, so the communication tends to be more subtle and indirect than in a low-context culture.

71) Monochronic time is best illustrated by

A) the flight schedule at an airport.
B) a rock concert.
C) the multitude of activities required by new parents.
D) individual sleep patterns.

Monochronic time is linear and divisible into blocks, reflecting an economic approach.

72) In low-context cultures it is common to find

A) subtlety and innuendo during conversations.
B) that communication tends to be explicit.
C) indirection is prized because it recognizes the ability of the other.
D) leadership is mostly from behind, allowing the workgroup to self-direct.

In low-context cultures, communication tends to be explicit, so what you say tends to be what you mean.

73) In high-context cultures, direct conversations that “tell it like it is” would be viewed as

A) appropriate.
B) expected.
C) humorous.
D) rude.

In high-context cultures, directness is considered brash or rude.

74) Hofstede’s individualism-collectivism measures

A) the degree to which people in the culture are integrated into groups.
B) the tendency to differentiate male roles.
C) the degree to which social inequality is tolerated.
D) the amount of social distance between relatives.

Individualism-collectivism measures the degree to which people are integrated into groups.

75) The fact that almost everyone in the United States self-identifies as middle class suggests that the United States

A) is a successful meritocracy.
B) measures low on the uncertainty avoidance dimension.
C) economy has failed to support an aristocracy.
D) measures low on the power distance dimension.

Power distance is a measure of social inequality; it focuses on how much inequality seems right. The United States measures low on this dimension.

76) In a low power distance culture,

A) people will want direction, so top-down leadership styles are appropriate.
B) seniority, rank, and title are important.
C) first names are likely to be used in the office because the ideal is equality.
D) relatives will be welcomed into the workforce.

Low power distance suggests informality, such as the use of first names in work relationships.

77) Uncertainty avoidance describes the search for truth, according to Hofstede, because

A) truth is primary to our human value system; everything else depends upon it.
B) it describes how comfortable the culture's members feel in an unstructured situation.
C) once you have truth, you can avoid change, which is always disruptive.
D) truth describes reality.

Hofstede said that the uncertainty avoidance dimension “ultimately refers to man’s search for Truth.”

78) Shondra grew up in eastern Europe but moved to New York after college. Compared to her friends that stayed in Europe, she enjoys much more freedom with her time and is able to enjoy leisure activities and be active in her career. Which of Hofstede’s dimensions does this demonstrate?

A) indulgence vs. restraint
B) pragmatic vs. normative
C) masculinity vs. femininity
D) uncertainty avoidance

Question Details
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Difficulty : 2 Medium
Learning Objective : 03-04 Describe four frameworks for analyzing culture.
Topic : Hofstede's Framework
Bloom's : Apply
AACSB : Knowledge Application

The dimension of indulgence vs. restraint is about happiness and a culture’s tendency to allow relative free gratification of human desires or suppress human drives.

79) Hofstede's masculinity-femininity dimension suggests that, as an international manager, you might

A) avoid feminine cultures because their production levels will lag.
B) avoid highly masculine cultures because they violate EEOC standards.
C) find men and women equally ready to assume leadership roles in a feminine culture.
D) find women too competitive in a feminine culture.

In a feminine culture, there is relatively less variation between male and female roles, which suggests that leadership and decision-making roles would be equally open to men and women.

80) Hofstede's power distance dimension can be described as

A) the expectation by individuals that uncertainty is possible.
B) the expectation that power will be equally distributed amongst members of society.
C) the extent to which society expects power to be distributed unequally.
D) the expectation that uncertainty will be kept at a distance from society.

The power distance dimension is the extent to which members of a society expect power to be distributed unequally and accept that it is.

81) Which characteristic would be typical in a feminine culture?

A) People live in order to work.
B) Quality of work life is important.
C) Environmental matters are a personal, not a business, concern.
D) Strong variation between male and female roles.

Question Details
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Bloom's : Understand
Difficulty : 2 Medium
Learning Objective : 03-04 Describe four frameworks for analyzing culture.
Topic : Hofstede's Framework
AACSB : Analytical Thinking

In a feminine culture, quality of work life is important.

82) Trompenaars's particularist dimension describes a culture in which

A) the judgment of something depends on the situation.
B) rules never apply.
C) rules rather than relationships regulate behaviors.
D) all rules apply to all people at all times.

In particularist cultures, the particular circumstances matter when rules are applied.

83) In Trompenaars’s affective culture, emotions are seen as

A) responses to be freely displayed.
B) private, and therefore, not displayed.
C) a weakness, and therefore hidden.
D) appropriate to share with family members only.

In affective cultures, the cultural rules encourage the display of emotions.

84) An achievement culture is one in which members are

A) rewarded with social status for who they are in a spiritual sense.
B) rewarded for what they do, what they have accomplished, so what they are.
C) not rewarded at all because achievement is a doing mentality.
D) rewarded for their lineage.

Achievement cultures reward members for what they do, not who they are.

85) According to Trompenaars, a culture's attitude toward the environment can range from

A) peaceful to war-like.
B) overwhelmed by aesthetics to dominating the environment.
C) control over the environment to harmony with it.
D) submission to atheism.

The dimension is described as moving from control to harmony.

86) Jamie prefers to keep her work life and home life separate. She doesn’t socialize with her work associates after-hours and doesn’t discuss her family when she is at work. Which of Trompenaars’s dimensions does this exemplify?

A) achievement vs. ascription
B) individualism vs. collectivism
C) specific vs. diffuse
D) universalism vs. particularism

Question Details
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Difficulty : 2 Medium
Learning Objective : 03-04 Describe four frameworks for analyzing culture.
Topic : Trompenaars's Dimensions
Bloom's : Apply
AACSB : Knowledge Application

The specific vs. diffuse dimension distinguishes among cultures based on differentiations between private life and public or work life.

87) Trompenaars’s neutral vs. affective dimension is used to determine how a culture

A) regulates behaviors.
B) respects individual or group behaviors.
C) expresses emotions.
D) values work over social life.

This dimension is used to determine how a culture expresses emotions.

88) Trompenaars’s dimension of internal vs. external direction is similar to Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s relationship to

A) religion.
B) behaviors.
C) nature.
D) social life.

The internal vs. external direction is similar to how K&S noted the relationship to nature.

89) Which cultural framework is based on communication styles?

A) Trompenaars's dimensions
B) the Globe study
C) Hall's (high and low context)
D) Hofstede's dimensions

Hall's context is a basic characteristic of communication events.

90) Hall suggests that communication tends to be implicit and indirect in

A) the United States.
B) high-context cultures.
C) low-context cultures.
D) Australia.

In a high-context culture, much communication is conveyed by context rather than direct verbal interaction.

91) In high-context cultures, relationships tend to be

A) short term.
B) inconsistent.
C) long term.
D) pragmatic.

Refer to Figure 3.3, High- and Low-Context Attributes.

92) Hall's high and low context is based on communication styles, and specifically on the role of

A) feedback.
B) nonverbal behavior.
C) the communication channel.
D) context.

Hall specifically studied the role of context and its relationship to cultural communication patterns.

93) A global mind-set is a set of skills that evidence

A) an openness to diversity and an ability to work across cultural borders.
B) an ability to think in the big picture.
C) an inclination to learn languages quickly and enjoy crossing cultural borders.
D) the belief that one’s own culture is superior to other cultures.

Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Bloom's : Remember
Difficulty : 1 Easy
Topic : Economic and Business Implications of Cultural Change
Learning Objective : 03-05 Describe the global mind-set and the MBI model.

A global mind-set is an openness to diversity along with an ability to pull ideas together across boundaries created by that diversity. This ability to synthesize across diversity requires a willingness to deal with complexity.

94) Map-Bridge-Integrate is a useful tool to

A) build team-based groups.
B) help figure out what matters when working across cultures.
C) combat cultural diversity so a diverse group can be task focused.
D) plan escape routes when the strategic plan fails.

Map-Bridge-Integrate helps one determine what does matter in culturally diverse groups.

95) One danger of using the culture frameworks introduced in Module 3 is that of applying them prescriptively because

A) we'll be able to understand too much detail of a culture, and this will slow down decision making.
B) we'll enrich our perceptions.
C) our perceptions will become stereotypes, however sophisticated.
D) our understanding of culture will be complex and obstruct decision making.

Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Bloom's : Remember
Difficulty : 1 Easy
Learning Objective : 03-06 Discuss cautions for using cultural frameworks in business.
Topic : Elements of Culture

We have to remember that these frameworks need to be applied to enrich our understandings of another culture rather than limit them. They are possible descriptors, what we might look for or be perceiving, and not prescriptions, which would support stereotypes.

96) The belief that your own culture is superior to other cultures is ________.

Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Bloom's : Remember
Difficulty : 1 Easy
Topic : Social Culture
Learning Objective : 03-01 Describe what culture is.

Ethnocentricity influences most of us.

97) An example of a culture-based error in marketing is when a company tried to sell ________ in Southeast Asia where people chew betel nut.

Pepsodent made this error. People who think black, betel nut juice-stained teeth are beautiful don't have a need for whitening toothpaste.

98) A culture's ________ refers to its sense of beauty and taste.

Aesthetics is the area of philosophy that deals with beauty. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

99) The name Islam comes from an Arabic word meaning ________.

The value of submission (to God's will) is a core belief in Islam.

100) ________ is the oldest of the major world religions.

Hinduism began in India around 2,500 BCE. Hindus believe in one Supreme Reality, called Brahman.

101) Material culture includes all the human-made objects of a culture, also known as its _________.

Artifacts are the objects of a material culture.

102) ________ are societal organizations that may be formed based on age, sex, or common interest.

The two types of groups are kinship and free association.

103) The second aspect of Trompenaars's time dimension describes whether actions are sequential or ________.

In monochronic or linear cultures, actions tend to be sequential. In polychromic cultures, many actions can occur at more or less the same time.

104) ________cultures consider who a person is in terms of his or her family lineage, age, or other attributes.

The other characteristic on this dimension is achievement. The United States is strongly achievement oriented whereas HC cultures tend to be more toward the ascription end of the continuum.

105) The Hofstede ________ dimension is a measure of how people deal with the unexplainable in their lives.

In normative societies there is a strong desire to explain and to know the absolute truth. There is respect for tradition, a low propensity to save, and a focus on quick results. A pragmatic orientation suggests a people who are not concerned with understanding so much because life as a complex process is a given. For them, truth depends on context, time, and situation. There is a strong inclination to save and persevere. (This is a modification of an earlier Hofstede dimension called Confucian dynamism.)

106) Hall classifies cultures based upon their ________ styles.

Communication styles, and specifically, the role of context, are the basis for Hall's classification of cultures.

107) In Hall's __________ cultures, the words contain most of the communication.

In LC, context plays a much smaller role than in HC, where much of the communication exists outside of the explicit communication, that is, the words.

108) In a __________ approach to time, two or more activities are carried out within the same clock block and switching among activities can be both desirable and productive.

What occurs in a polychronic setting may appear rude to monochromic people, including multiple conversations, little privacy for meetings, and the like.

109) According to Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck, ___________ is a strong culture value that is found widely in North America.

Doing is a strong LC culture value; North Americans are doers and pride themselves on their accomplishments.

110) In Hofstede's ________ society, the level of inequality is endorsed by followers as well as by leaders.

Large power distance suggests that inequality is the way things should be, that there is unequal distribution of power in the society.

111) The dimension of indulgence versus restraint is about ________.

The dimension of indulgence versus restraint describes a culture's tendency either to allow relatively free gratification of human desires or suppress human drives though strict social norms.

112) Hofstede's ________ dimension is a measure of how people deal with the unexplainable in their lives.

Normative societies value absolute truth, whereas pragmatic societies focus on living life.

113) People in Trompenaars's ________ cultures apply rules across the board.

In universalist cultures, rules apply to everyone, regardless of circumstances. Circumstances matter greatly in particularist cultures, though.

114) According to Trompenaars's framework, ________ cultures are meritocracies that reward what you do.

In achievement cultures, the individual is largely responsible for his or her social status. In ascription cultures, the family is responsible for social status.

115) Contradictions between the culture's values you expect to see, based on your use of the frameworks and your growing experience, and what you actually observe are known as ________.

Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Bloom's : Remember
Difficulty : 1 Easy
Topic : What is Culture?
Learning Objective : 03-06 Discuss cautions for using cultural frameworks in business.

They suggest that your observations and understanding of the culture are growing beyond the frameworks.

116) Describe how cultural learning programs, such as those advocated by E. T. Hall, can benefit international business managers.

Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Topic : Social Culture
Bloom's : Apply
Difficulty : 3 Hard
Learning Objective : 03-01 Describe what culture is.

117) Discuss the various aspects of spoken and unspoken language and how it plays a role in the cultural distinctions surrounding international business found in our world. Explain how high-context and low-context cultures vary in their expectations of language.

Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Learning Objective : 03-03 Describe how culture shows itself.
Topic : Social Culture
Bloom's : Apply
Difficulty : 3 Hard

118) Discuss the six rules of thumb managers can use when doing business across cultures.

Question Details
AACSB : Reflective Thinking
Accessibility : Keyboard Navigation
Topic : Social Culture
Bloom's : Apply
Difficulty : 3 Hard
Learning Objective : 03-06 Discuss cautions for using cultural frameworks in business.

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