Exam Institute SIBS

Exam Name Core Areas of Business 7

Exam Code SIBS LBVB22CAB7A
Date MOCK EXAM
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Passing Grade 55 points out of 100 points

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This exam consists of 9 questions. The total number of points available are 100. Students need 55
points to pass this exam. The questions cover human resource management, intercultural
competence and corporate social responsibility.

Question 1 - The Changing World of HRM (10 points)

In the HRM textbook, the changing world of HRM is discussed. HR managers and managers in
general, are facing issues that they need to be aware of in a modern labour market. Companies need
to be more competitive, adapt to changing demographics and so forth.

A. To become more competitive, companies need to improve the productivity of the organization.
According to the textbook, name and explain in 2-3 sentences the 2 components of productivity that
managers need to continually improve. (1 points for each component, 1.5 points for each
explanation; total 5 points)

Answer: Effectiveness – a function of getting the job done whenever and however it must be done.

Efficiency – a function of how many organizational resources were used in getting the job done.

B. To adapt to changing demographics, Adler identifies five cultural strategies that companies can
employ to manage the impact of diversity. Please list the five cultural strategies that Adler identifies.
(1 point per correct cultural strategy; total 5 points)

Answer: Correct Feedback:

Cultural synergy

Cultural avoidance

Cultural dominance

Cultural compromise

Cultural accommodation
Question 2 - Strategy-Driven HRM (20 points)
According to the HRM textbook, strategic planning should follow a process and is about planning for
the long-term future. At the core, developing an effective strategy depends on two essential
elements: (1) addresses the question of how a firm will compete in a particular industry and (2)
construct an organizational culture that understands and accepts the organization's strategic
priorities and objectives.

A. A vision and mission are two of the most critical components of any successful corporate
strategy. Describe in 2-3 sentences the difference between a vision and a mission. Explain how these
two statements help an organization design a strategy and focus its resources. (4 points for the
difference, 6 points for explanation; total 10 points)

Answer: The vision is fuzzy; it is not specific in that we don’t say how we’re going to do a particular
thing. Instead, we identify a future state for the organization. So, the question that we answer with
the vision is, “What do we want to become as an organization?” In contrast, the mission is more
specific. It is a statement of what the various organizational units will do and what they hope to
accomplish, in alignment with the organizational vision. So, the mission statement answers the
question “What do we need to do in order to become what we have envisioned?” When you put the
vision and mission together, the people in the organization get a more complete picture of what
direction they are expected to go in. This allows the people in the organization to focus on going in
that particular direction. Once everyone is focused on going in the same direction, it becomes much
easier for the organization to design and achieve goals in keeping with the mission and vision. This
focus on moving in the same direction is the thing that makes a vision and mission so powerful. If
everyone in the organization is focused on the same end result, it is much more likely that the
organization will achieve that end result.

B. Each organization has a preferred internal culture to facilitate the execution of its business
strategy, and Trompenaars states that the fundamental orientation should be on the personality and
objectives of the company. Hence, he identified four types of organizational cultures, which received
symbolic names: Incubator, Guided Missile, Family or Eiffel Tower culture.

Please assign Trompenaars’ four metaphors for organizational cultural to the following ten
statements. Please be aware that more than one metaphor can be assigned to the statements listed
if applicable (NB: not a requirement to list both metaphors in order to score full points). (1 point per
correctly assigned metaphor; total 10 points).

1. “Whatever it takes” attitude to complete a task in these organizations

2. Culture acts as a sounding board for ideas.
3. Roles of employees are described, and outputs are quantified.
4. Relationships tend to be diffused in these organizations.
5. There is a low priority to efficiency.
6. There is a rationale of means in such organizations.
7. Status is ascribed in these organizations
8. Change is usually fast, unexpected and spontaneous in these organizations.
9. Duty is an important concept for employees in this culture.
10. The purpose of these organizations is to free individuals from routine.
Answer:

1. “Whatever it takes” attitude to complete a task in these organizations

GM, INC

2. Culture acts as a sounding board for ideas.

INC

3. Roles of employees are described, and outputs are quantified.

ET

4. Relationships tend to be diffused in these organizations.

FC, INC

5. There is a low priority to efficiency.

FC, INC

6. There is a rationale of means in such organizations.

ET, GM

7. Status is ascribed in these organizations.

ET, FC

8. Change is usually fast, unexpected and spontaneous in these organizations.

INC, GM

9. Duty is an important concept for employees in this culture.

ET

10. The purpose of these organizations is to free individuals from routine.

INC
Question 3 - Workforce Planning (5 points)
Workforce planning is a key task for the Human Resource Department, ensuring the right people are
in the right jobs. Part of the workforce planning is the process of job analysis.

A. Define the process of job analysis and describe in 2-3 sentences why job analysis is one of the
most important tasks in human resource management. (2 points for definition, 3 points for reason;
total 5 points)

Answer: Job analysis is the basis of almost everything that HR does. We need to analyze jobs in order
to do HR planning, compensate employees correctly, recruit, select, train, and manage people
successfully. It is the basis of recruiting the correct candidates. If done correctly, it can save the
company time and money.

Question 4 - Culture Characteristics (5 points)

A. Using Gesteland’s concept of deal-focused, moderately deal-focused, and relationship-focused
cultures, assign one of the three concepts to the following countries listed below. (0.5 point per
culture; total 5 points)

1. United States
2. Indonesia
3. The Netherlands
4. China
5. Germany
6. Hungary
7. Iceland
8. United Kingdom
9. Colombia
10. Brazil

Suggested Answer:

1. United States

DF

2. Indonesia

RF

3. The Netherlands

DF

4. China

RF

5. Germany
 MDF

6. Hungary

MDF/RF

7. Iceland

DF

8. United Kingdom

DF

9. Colombia

RF

10. Brazil

RF

Question 5 - Recruiting Job Candidates (16 points)

Recruiting is a major expense for many companies. Therefore, it is important to hire the right people
for the right job with the right cultural fit. In this example, a Korean candidate has applied for the
position of project manager, in an Irish company. The selection interview has taken place with the
HR manager and the Head of Operations.

A. According to the textbook, list the three questions HR managers should ask themselves when
trying to determine if the candidate is a good fit for a job (2 points per correct question; total 6
points).

Answer: (1) Does the candidate have the basic qualifications for the job–right personality, ability and
person organization fit? (2) Does the person want this specific job? Will the candidate experience
satisfaction and long-term engagement in the company? (3) Is this candidate fundamentally an
honest person? Are they telling the truth about their skills and qualifications?

B. Given that this Korean candidate is rooted in Family culture, but this Irish company is deeply
rooted in Guided Missile culture, please answer the following questions based on this context.

If the Korean candidate rooted in Family culture needs to execute a project in the Irish company that
is deeply rooted in Guided Missile culture. Give 5 recommendations to the Korean manager on how
to successfully manage this project. (NB: think about do’s and don'ts) (2 points per correct
recommendation; total 10 points)

Suggested Answer:
 • FC: used to hierarchy, while GM is an expertise-oriented organization, less hierarchy, flat: this
affects communication, management.GM: no one is better, a more egalitarian organization.
• FC: relationship orientation, whereas GM is a task-oriented organization, impersonal. So:
personal relations are less important, this is about expertise.
• Direct communication (whereas FC is far more indirect)
• No power games and be like an expert. Feedback is given constructively, task related only
• Flexible: goal is clear, trajectory uncertain
• Collective vs. individualistic culture
• GM: management by objective, FC: management by subjective

Question 6 - Learning, Training & Development (9 points)

Once new employees have been successfully recruited, it is important that they receive training.
Training can be costly; therefore, it needs to be done correctly.

A. Name and explain one of the methods mentioned in the HRM textbook to measure the success of
training. (1 point for name, 4 points for explanation; total 5 points)

Answer: Return On Investment, customer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction are ways to
measure training success. ROI and customer service are results metrics, while employee satisfaction
is a reaction metric. There are strong correlations between employee satisfaction and customer
satisfaction, and indirect relationships with ROI through individual productivity and accuracy/quality
of work.

B. Explain 2 reasons why an effective onboarding is important for new employees (2 points per
reason; total 4 points).

Answer: Effective onboarding is crucial for many reasons. (1) It is important to initially socialize a new
employee into an organization. Socialization is important because employees who do not feel
connected to their colleagues tend to quit organizations. (2) Additionally, socialization helps new
employees get a feel for the culture of an organization and helps new employees adapt to the new
norms of the organization more easily. (3) It helps employees understand the structure of the
organization, for example, they’ll know where to go or who to ask when a question arises. (4) Finally,
effective onboarding is important to an organization because acclimating new employees quickly and
making them feel comfortable in a new environment decreases employee turnover.
Question 7 - Performance Management and Appraisal (15 points)
Please read the following case carefully:

A Danish executive attempted to get his first contract with a particularly important potential Chinese
client. The Danish spent the first two weeks in Shanghai and Guangzhou dining and playing golf with
the Chinese, without scheduling any formal business meetings or product discussions. However, the
Danish manager’s boss in Aarhus became increasingly annoyed, thinking his colleague had confused
a business trip with a vacation, and planned to give the Danish a POOR performance rating when he
returned. In the end, the Danish got the contact as quite a surprise to his boss.

A. According to the HRM textbook, there are 4 reasons why performance appraisals are conducted.
Describe two of the four reasons performance appraisals are conducted, mentioning why they are
significant (3 points per description, 2 points for significance; total 10 points)

Answer: (1) Personal biases and (2) stereotyping are two of the most significant appraisal problems.
Other problems include (3) halo error, (4) distributional errors (either the grading is too harsh or too
lenient, or everyone is judged to be average), (5) similarity error, (6) proximity error, (7) recency
error, (8) contrast error, and (9) attribution error.

There are several ways to avoid these problems. (1) The first option would be to develop accurate
performance measures. Accurate performance measures use multiple criteria, minimize trait-based
evaluations, and can be analyzed using the OUCH test and the Blanchard test. (2) Next, we should
train the evaluators, because as soon as they know some of the common errors, those errors will
become less pronounced. (3) We can also use multiple raters to mitigate any potentially biased
evaluations and minimize other errors such as similarity, contrast, and attribution errors. (4) Finally,
don’t evaluate what you don’t know. Find someone in the organization who does know the job and
have that person evaluate the individual performing the job.

B. Link Gesteland’s concept of deal or relationship focused culture to the case provided above and
explain the case. Explain the Chinese perspective, using three characteristics of this concept in your
answer.
(1 point per correct concept, 2 points in total, for full 3 points give 3 characteristics; total 5 points).

Denmark is a ___________________ focused culture.

China is a ____________________focused culture.

Suggested Answer:

Denmark is a DEAL focused culture.

Chinese is a RELATIONSHIP focused culture.

Question 8 - Corporate Social Responsibility (12 points)
Integrating Human Resource management, Intercultural Competence, and Corporate Social
Responsibility is essential for creating and sustaining fundamental change — both within the
organization and in society at large. The human resource department plays an important role in
developing, managing and monitoring corporate social responsibility in an organization.

A. Describe the three levels of corporate social responsibility available to organizations. (2 points per
level; total 6 points).

Answer: Legal CSR focuses on maximizing profits while obeying the law; it focuses on increasing sales
and cutting costs to maximize returns to stockholders. In dealing with market stakeholders, these
firms meet all their legal responsibilities. In dealing with nonmarket stakeholders (society and
government), they obey all the laws and regulations. Ethical CSR focuses on profitability and doing
what is right, just, and fair. These companies meet reasonable societal expectations and exceed
government laws and regulations to be just and fair to stakeholders. Benevolent CSR focuses on
profitability and helping society through philanthropy. This highest level of CSR is also called “good
corporate citizenship.” Benevolent firms are philanthropic, giving gifts of money, or other resources,
to charitable causes. Employees are expected, encouraged, and rewarded for being active volunteers
in the community often on company time.

B. Explain in 2-3 sentences two methods how organizations should ethically manage their diverse
and changing workforce. (3 points per method; 6 points total)

Answer: Organizations should ethically manage their diverse and changing workforces by treating all
of their employees (from bottom to top) with respect and inclusion. Organizations need to work on
creating cultural change in their companies to promote respect and tolerance in their organizations,
because unmanaged change in an organization will lead to organizations ultimately failing their new
and diverse workforce. Organizations need to promote atmospheres where it is acceptable and even
encouraged for people to have different beliefs and practices and to accept these different beliefs
even if one doesn’t agree with them. To change their organizational cultures, organizations will need
to improve their trainings connected to diversity and inclusion. Research has demonstrated that
focusing on tolerance and respect in these trainings will be more effective in meeting the new
challenges that the diversified workforce is presenting.
Question 9 - GLOBE project (8 points)

Cultural differences have a profound impact on international business. The graphs below, taken
from the GLOBE Project website, explores the cultural dimensions of France and Japan.

Graph 1 and 2: France and Japan (source: GLOBE Project website)

Based on the cultural differences above, now give and explain 4 practical recommendations for a
French manufacturer on a first visit to Japan hoping to have a successful meeting with new business
partners, using the dimensions above.
For example:

Practical recommendation:

Japan scores higher on performance orientation, compared to France. This means that
individuals value training and development, value competitiveness, and value what one does
more than who one is. My advice is ...

Practical recommendation 1:

Practical recommendation 2:

Practical recommendation 3:

Practical recommendation 4:

(1 point per correct practical recommendation, 1 point per correct explanation; total 8 points)
Suggested Answer:

Practical recommendation 1:

Japan scores lower on assertiveness, compared to France. This means that individuals value
cooperation, tend to communicate indirectly, try to “save face,” try to be in harmony with
their environment, expect subordinates to be loyal, and build trust based on predictability.

My advice is …

Practical recommendation 2:

Japan scores higher on future orientation, compared to France. This means that individuals
save for the future, emphasize work long-term success, organizations tend to be flexible and
adaptive, and view material success and spiritual fulfillment as an integrated whole.

My advice is …

Practical recommendation 3:

Japan scores higher on institutional collectivism, compared to France. This means that in
Japan group loyalty is encouraged over individual goals, rewards are driven by seniority, and
that critical decisions are made by groups instead of individuals.

My advice is …

Practical recommendation 4:

Japan scores slightly lower on uncertainty avoidance, compared to France. This means that in
Japan individuals rely on informal norms for most matters, are less calculating when taking
risks, and show less resistance to change.

My advice is …