The belief that my culture is normal and central to human experience is called
ETHNOCENTRISM
The idea that everyone underneath is
just the same after all is helpful to business communication.
FALSE
English is the most widely accepted language for business; therefore, native English speakers do not need to learn a foreign language.
FALSE
Perceptions of fluency in a foreign language are influenced by nonverbal communication.
TRUE
Ethnocentric staffing means that a firm staffs all managerial positions in a foreign subsidiary with people from the home country.
TRUE
all managers in all subsidiaries come from the
respective subsidiary country
Polycentric Staffing
Members of a culture are not necessarily the best authorities on that culture.
TRUE
Some cultures hold that firsthand
experience alone enables a person to "know" with certainty.
TRUE
Everyone, regardless of culture, learns by asking questions.
FALSE
Some things are considered unknowable to members of some cultures.
TRUE
Logic is defined and practiced the same way in all cultures.
FALSE
Workers in some cultures who may appear "disorganized" to members of other cultures, may be using a simultaneous, rather than a sequential, approach to work.
TRUE
Self-construal is either interdependent or co-dependent
FALSE
Independent self-construal tends to appear in collectivist cultures.
FALSE
Interdependent self-construal is the same thing as collectivism.
FALSE
The individual is the basic unit of society in all cultures.
FALSE
The Japanese expression, “The nail that sticks up will be pounded down” indicates that culture is collectivist.
TRUE
Collectivist cultures value cooperation and, correspondingly, individualist cultures value competition.
TRUE
In cultures where group membership in permanent, members of
groups prefer not to engage in open confrontation.
TRUE
It is unimportant to business people whether or not members
of a culture feel comfortable displaying
emotion in public.
FALSE
It is possible for foreigners to cause shame to members of "shame cultures" without even realizing it.
TRUE
Form means rules of etiquette and manners while interacting with others for business purposes.
TRUE
Form is the same thing as formal, and the opposite of informal.
FALSE
The idea is what travels from sender to receiver.
FALSE
The place for culture in the communication model is at the decoding stage, to make the model complete.
FALSE
The why in business communication refers to the purpose for which a message is written.
TRUE
To communicate successfully across cultures, the communicator has to make assumptions about meaning.
TRUE
Channel choice (email, face-to-face, telephone) for communication is not affected by culture.
FALSE
Clarity and conciseness are important characteristics of business messages in any culture.
FALSE
Indirect plan organization means putting the main message in the first sentence.
FALSE
Developing a context for a business message is important to most Asian communicators
TRUE
Low-context cultures generally use indirect plan for persuasive messages.
TRUE
Logic based on facts is the only way people in collectivist cultures are persuaded.
FALSE
When communicating about problems, members of high-context cultures may refer to past experiences for assurance of correct solutions.
TRUE
Saying "no" is often done with delay and indirectness in low-context cultures.
TRUE
One way to communicate about a solution to a problem is through narrative.
TRUE
Behavior, such as the way a cup of coffee is offered, cannot communicate as effectively as words.
FALSE
Japanese communicators value "hearing one and understanding ten."
TRUE
Arabic speakers and English speakers both prefer elaborate phrases and using large numbers of words.
FALSE
Choice of channel may be culturally based--for instance, preferring written memos over oral communication.
TRUE
Communication between international parties is always by memo.
FALSE
Framing is explaining a context of a message before delivering it.
TRUE
Cultures that emphasize relationships may negotiate differently from cultures that emphasize results.
TRUE
Businesspeople around the world agree a sequential approach to items is the way to negotiate.
FALSE
Every culture is learned, and therefore:
a. a person can describe his or her own culture completely
b. culture is learnable
c. culture is something you know from birth
d. it is not possible to live outside your own culture
B
Values in a culture:
a. are what that culture thinks is important
b. are the same in all cultures
c. are attitudes about power
d. are the result of attitudes
A
Biases are
a. something you can erase if you try hard enough
b. preferences
c. something not everybody has
d. not always operating in business encounters between members of different cultures
B
When biases are acted upon,
a. the result may be discrimination
b. the person acting upon them clearly recognizes that fact
c. communication is clearer
d. the result is typical of modern cultures
A
When you determine which language to
study, you should
A.consider the political and
economic importance of a language
B. evaluate your career goals
C. find out who the major players
are in the industry you are most interested in
D. all of the previous choices.
D
In order to improve the environment for
communicating with a foreign partner, you should
B.
Which of the following is not true?
A.
Cultural generalizations
a. need to be used carefully to avoid cultural determinism
b. cannot legitimately be used to make predictions about behavior
c. never play a role in cultural determinism
d. are the same thing as stereotypes
A
Cultures that prefer high-context communication
a. try to avoid ambiguity, as a rule
b. also have a high rate of verbs in their communication
c. tend to be technologically undeveloped
d. communicate in ways that can be called elliptical and indirect
D
Cultures that prefer low-context communication
a. rely on context to communicate meaning
b. are explicit in their messages
c. do not trust words
d. tend to have a high rate of verbs in their communication
B
Being cultures
a. stress the importance of human beings
b. value stillness, collectedness, and serenity
c. view activity as important for its own sake
d. prefer to fill emptiness with talk and action
B
Results cultures
a. do not put a high priority on winning
b. do not identify goals and work toward them
c. do not quantify and measure progress
d. do not value relationships as highly as results
D
Self-construal is
a. the same as self-motivation
b. only relevant to Western cultures
c. the way we see ourselves in relation toothers
d. the way we see ourselves without reference to others
C
Interdependent self-construal
a. is the same as individualism
b. is the same as collectivism
c. is a structured notion of self as independent
d. is a structured notion of self as connected to others
D
The individual
a. is the basic unit of society in individualist cultures
b. is the starting point for decisions in collectivist cultures
c. is important in cultures that value interdependence
d. is important in cultures that can be called collectivist
A
The interpretation of obligation as a cultural dimension involves
a. cultural values concerning the environment
b. cultural values concerning achievement of results and group membership
c. the ability of the more affluent party to wait for repayment
d. the rules established by the poorer party
B
The role of words
a. is not important in Japanese culture, in which words alone are not trusted
b. is not important in Arabic cultures, in which words alone are not trusted
c. is not important in German culture, in which words alone are not trusted
d. is not important in New Zealand culture, in which words alone are not trusted
A
There is a suggested relationship between language and the way people think. Which of the following statements about the relationship is NOT true?
a. it was explored in the late 1950s by Benjamin Whorf
b. it proposes that the categories by which we understand the world are related to the way we organize language
c. it claims that native speakers of the same language think in similar patterns
d. it proves that speakers of different languages think alike
D
1. The volume, pitch, and intonation are referred to as
a. Vocalization
b. Fillers
c. Nonverbalqualities
d. Vocal qualifiers
D
1. In Japanese culture, intense eye contact is
a. A sign of honesty
b. A sign of shiftiness and untrustworthiness
c. An invasion of privacy
D. A sign of embarrassment
C
1. In which of the following cultures are men most likely to show their anger through big gestures?
a. Saudi Arabia
b. Japan
c. China
d. New Zealand
A
1. Which of the following does not help in examining the
timing of spoken exchanges?
a. Who initiates the communication?
b. What language do the speakers use?
c. What is acceptable behavior for interrupting the
speaker?
d. What are the patterns for frequency of exchange?
B
1. Who of the following would feel most comfortable with
silence during a conversation? A manager from
a. The United States
b. Germany
c. Great Britain
d. Japan
D
1. Power distance is a concept that was developed by
Hofstede to describe
a. The acceptance by the less powerful members of a society of unequal power distribution between members of that society
b. The power difference between members of a society
c. The power differential between developed and less
developed countries
d. The power difference between men and women.
A
1. Which does not describe American business
communication?
a. Clarity is more important than harmony.
b. The goal is to get the message across.
c. The argument should show the logical connection between ideas.
d. Americans want to get a feel for the other person before they start with detailed business discussions.
D
Hierarchical societies typically
a. Try to avoid conflict over status
b. Encourage open disagreement
c. Discourage consensus
d. Base relationships on merit.
A
Assertiveness is a positive value in
a. Egalitarian societies
b. Authoritarian societies
c. Hierarchical societies
d. Family-oriented societies
A
1. You want to recognize the ten most successful
salespeople from last year at a big banquet. You think a family vacation for each if them would be an appropriate reward. Salespeople from which country would be least receptive to this idea?