Chapter 23
Organization Development in Global Settings
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of the following is not a reason to increase OD practice in international
settings?
a. the rapid development of foreign economies
b. the increasing number of international OD practitioners
c. the increasing sophistication of foreign firms
d. the emergence of a global economy
e. none of the above
2. The extent to which members of a society value and accept status differences refers to:
a. uncertainty avoidance
b. individualism
c. power distance
d. achievement orientation
e. diversity
3. Which economic and cultural context tends to be most difficult for traditional OD
processes?
a. Industrial/Low power distance
b. Industrial/Low individualism
c. Industrializing/High power distance
d. Industrial/ High fit
e. Industrializing/Low individualism
4. A worldwide organization:
a. offers products or services in more than one country
b. must balance product, functional, and graphic concerns
c. utilizes home country personnel whenever possible
d. A and B
e. all of the above
5. OD interventions in organizations implementing a global strategic orientation will
most likely focus on:
a. efficiency
1
b. interpersonal relationships between the parent country and the subsidiary officer
c. decentralizing decision making policies
d. clarifying geocentric personnel policies
6. Which of the following is not a worldwide strategic orientation?
a. Global
b. Multinational
c. Transitional
d. International
e. none of the above
7. A regiocentric personnel selection and recruitment policy is most likely to be
associated with what type of strategic orientation?
a. Global
b. Multinational
c. International
d. Transnational
e. Worldwide
8. Changing to a transnational strategic orientation typically involves:
a. gaining the ability to coordinate operations on a worldwide basis
b. centralizing structures
c. standardizing products
d. ethnocentric staffing
9. Which of the following activities are associated with OD in global social change
organizations?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
changing the values of the local organization
developing vertical linkages
building horizontal linkages
B and C
all of the above
10. Unlike more traditional organizations, global social change organizations tend to:
a. be more focused on profit
b. more concerned with environmental change
c. less politically oriented
d. more concerned with internal efficiencies
2
True/False Questions
11. Many of the traditional OD interventions can be used to help organizations
operating in foreign cultures.
12. OD interventions implemented under traditional OD assumptions are most
likely to work well in industrialized economies with values that fit with traditional
OD assumptions.
13. OD interventions that improve local subsidiary effectiveness are more likely to
support a global strategic orientation.
14. All worldwide organizations eventually evolve toward a transitional strategic
orientation.
15. Global social change organizations tend to be dominated by a strong set of
normative values and beliefs.
16. Change agents working in global social change organizations need to possess
good networking skills
Essay Questions
18.
Describe how OD interventions need to be adapted to fit different cultural
contexts.
19. Pick one of the worldwide strategic orientations and describe how OD can
improve the implementation of that strategy.
20. How do global social change organizations differ from traditional organizations?
3