Q&A Hero

Q: A culture based on entrepreneurial norms and values is less likely to encourage innovation than a culture that is conservative and bureaucratic.

Q: Competitive advantage is the ability of one company to outperform another because its managers are able to create more value from the resources at their disposal.

Q: A contingency is an event that might occur and must be planned for.

Q: Organizational design is the process by which managers select and manage aspects of structure and culture so an organization can control the activities necessary to achieve its goals.

Q: An organization's culture is shaped by the type of structure used by the organization.

Q: Organizations that provide essentially the same goods and services will always have similar organizational cultures.

Q: Organizational theory is primarily concerned with how an organization can outperform its competitors.

Q: Organizational structure is the formal system of task and authority relationships that control how people coordinate their actions and use resources to achieve organizational goals.

Q: Formation of organization results in increased transaction costs.

Q: Transaction costs are the costs associated with negotiating, monitoring, and governing exchanges between people.

Q: Economies of scale are cost savings achieved when an organization manufactures products in large volumes.

Q: Economies of scope are cost savings achieved when an organization manufactures products in large volumes.

Q: Economies of scale are cost savings that result when an organization is able to use underutilized resources more effectively because they can be shared across several different products or tasks.

Q: The environment in which an organization operates is a major source of uncertainty.

Q: As compared to a large company, the degree of specialization in a small company is higher.

Q: Government is a part of organizational environment.

Q: The organizational environment is a set of forces and conditions that operate within an organization's boundaries.

Q: Value creation by an organization takes place at three stages: input, conversion, and output. Out of these three stages, only the conversion stage is affected by the environment in which the organization operates.

Q: Entrepreneurship is the process by which people recognize opportunities to satisfy needs and then gather and use resources to meet those needs.

Q: Organizations die or are transformed when the needs satisfied by them are no longer important.

Q: An organization is a tool people use to coordinate their actions to obtain something they desire or value.

Q: The ________ process includes the production of one-of-a-kind items as well as unit production. A) job-shop B) assembly line C) serial D) parallel E) fixed position

Q: Which of the following process strategies is characteristic of the auto and appliance industries? A) repetitive process B) continuous process C) flexible process D) job-shop process E) low-volume process

Q: The process used to manufacture beer is a product-oriented, high-volume, and low-variety process. This can be called a(n) ________ process. A) cyclical B) job-shop C) repetitive D) assembly-line E) continuous

Q: A manufacturing company that produces plastic products creates a plan that outlines the different ways of managing the transformation process. The plan contains detailed information about aspects such as the handling of materials, operation of the assembly line, labor used in production, and the like. This plan of action is called a(n) ________ strategy. A) process B) product C) development D) layout E) capacity

Q: ________ is an operational plan of action outlining which goods and services an organization will produce and market. A) Capacity strategy B) Product strategy C) Process strategy D) Layout strategy E) Location strategy

Q: Which of the following is an example of a modern capacity strategy? A) Construct large plants that perform all the value adding activities. B) Produce more than the actual demand to minimize customer dissatisfaction. C) Build large specialized plants with the potential for expansion. D) Construct smaller and more specialized plants that focus on a few tasks. E) Produce less than the actual demand to reduce the costs of operation.

Q: ________ is a plan of action aimed at providing the organization with the right facilities to produce the needed output at the right time. A) Location strategy B) Process strategy C) Product strategy D) Layout strategy E) Capacity strategy

Q: The performance of managerial activities that involve selecting, designing, managing, controlling and updating production systems is called ________. A) strategic management B) tactical management C) operations management D) input management E) service management

Q: A flow of interrelated events toward a goal, purpose, or end is specifically referred to as a ________. A) process B) system C) strategy D) scheme E) structure

Q: The first step in using quality circles is ________. A) establishing the theme for observation B) determining the objective of observation C) implementing a new procedure D) obtaining necessary data E) determining the target rate

Q: An organization decides to improve its raw material handling process by buying a material handling crane. This is an example of using ________. A) artificial intelligence B) automation C) robotics D) flexible manufacturing E) fixed-position layouts

Q: ________ is the process used to determine how many products should be inspected to calculate a probability that the total number of products will meet organizational quality standards. A) Statistical quality control B) Quality assurance C) Six sigma D) Quality circle E) Kaizen procedure

Q: Quality assurance is a(n) ________. A) process used to determine how many products should be inspected to calculate a probability that the total number of products will meet organizational quality standards. B) process used to determine the number of products to be inspected during a random check C) standardized system used by organizations to measure employee performance in achieving the desired quality D) consortium of a small group of workers who meet with management to discuss quality-related problems E) operations process involving a broad group of activities aimed at achieving the organization's quality objectives.

Q: James believes that involving all company employees in quality control would help them obtain better ideas on how to solve quality problems. It would also help the firm improve employee morale. Which of the following strategies should he use for this purpose? A) quality circles B) Six Sigma C) flexible manufacturing D) statistical quality control E) quality assurance

Q: MSS Technologies Inc., distributes electronic components to the radio frequency (RF), wireless and power conversion, electron device, and display systems markets. James, the production manager of the firm, is in search of innovative ways to improve the quality of the company's products.In an attempt to reduce the number of defective products, James decides to select and inspect a sample to ensure that the units produced meet the established quality standards. Which of the following is a specific technique used to determine how many products should be included in the sample?A) statistical quality controlB) Six SigmaC) flexible manufacturingD) quality circlesE) quality assurance

Q: According to Deming's flow diagram for improving product quality, which of the following is the next step after the receipt and test of materials? A) testing of processes, machines, methods, costs B) production and assembly of raw materials C) assembly and inspection of raw materials D) distribution of materials across the organization E) conducting consumer research on product quality

Q: Furntech Corporation manufactures and markets traditional and computer-related office products and supplies. The company is looking for ways to improve its productivity to become more competitive. Which of the following actions of the company will be least effective in improving organizational productivity? A) It makes necessary changes to product design. B) It provides additional training to its workforce. C) It automates some of its lengthy processes. D) It attempts to improve its recruitment procedures. E) It reduces its level of production to focus on product quality.

Q: Which of the following is the most accurate observation of product quality? A) Quality is more dependent on labor than the other factors of production. B) It is a measure of how well a product does what it is intended to do. C) Quality refers to a product's ability to make an impact on the customers. D) It can be defined as a ratio of the total output to the total inputs. E) Quality refers to the design attributes that are formed internally.

Q: Which of the following is the best strategy that a company can use to improve organizational productivity? A) Increase employee salaries and provide additional incentives to the employees. B) Attempt to increase the bargaining power of the suppliers. C) Automate the lengthy processes that exist in the value chain. D) Allocate more budget to the operational activities of the firm. E) Reduce the number of units produced per day to give more attention to product quality.

Q: Which of the following terms specifically refers to the ratio of outputs to inputs? A) effectiveness B) quality C) productivity D) revenue E) competency

Q: ________ refers to the relationship between the total amount of goods or services being produced and the organizational resources needed to produce them. A) Productivity B) Zero-base measure C) Control factor D) Quality assurance E) Break even ratio

Q: Which of the following statements is true about production in organizations? A) Production is considered a process of conception rather than transformation. B) The production process does not occur in most service organizations. C) Organizational assets remain unaffected in the process of production. D) Production can be considered to be the process of transforming inputs to outputs. E) The production process is not considered a part of an organization's value chain.

Q: The assets available to managers for production are called ________. A) managerial structures B) organizational layouts C) process structures D) organizational resources E) functional layouts

Q: Value analysis is a cost control technique rather than a cost reduction technique.

Q: Break-even analysis helps managers understand the relationships between fixed costs, variable costs, total costs, and profit and loss within an organization.

Q: The break-even point is the level of production at which the total revenue of an organization equals its total costs.

Q: Costs of packaging a product and costs of materials needed to make the product are fixed costs associated with production.

Q: A control tool is a specific procedure or technique that presents pertinent organizational information in a way that helps managers and workers develop and implement an appropriate control strategy.

Q: Inventory turnover ratio is a profitability ratio used in organizations.

Q: Zero-base budgeting is a planning and budgeting process that requires managers to justify their budget by referring to budget amounts established in previous years.

Q: Cost control relates to all organizational costs and emphasizes activities in all organizational areas.

Q: Pure-breakdown policy involves regular activities such as machine adjustments, lubrication, cleaning, parts replacement, and painting.

Q: JIT is based on the management philosophy that products should be manufactured only in the quantities customers require.

Q: Work methods analysis is an operational tool that is performed for new or existing jobs to improve productivity and ensure the safety of workers.

Q: A process layout is a layout pattern that groups together similar types of equipments.

Q: The fixed-position layout is one in which the resources are stationary while the products flow from one resource to another.

Q: Layout strategy is a plan of action outlining the means and methods the organization will use to transform resources into goods and services.

Q: Organizations commonly employ more than one type of manufacturing process at the same time and in the same facility.

Q: Product strategy is an operational plan of action outlining which goods and services an organization will produce and market.

Q: Effectiveness refers to doing things right whereas efficiency refers to doing the right things.

Q: Activities such as setting production levels and scheduling production are examples of continual operations management activities.

Q: A system is a flow of interrelated events toward a goal, purpose, or end.

Q: Human effort is often replaced by electromechanical devices in such operations as welding, materials handling, design, and drafting. This is called automation.

Q: Quality circle is a process used to determine how many products should be inspected to calculate a probability that the total number of products will meet organizational quality standards.

Q: Quality assurance is a continuum of activities that starts when quality standards are set and ends when quality goods and services are delivered to the customer.

Q: Deming's flow diagram for improving product quality focuses on aspects such as suppliers, materials, and customers rather than the test processes and methods used.

Q: Quality is the degree of excellence on which products or services can be ranked on the basis of selected features or characteristics. The ranking is totally dependent on the industry standards.

Q: Productivity is the relationship between the total amounts of goods or services being produced (output) and the organizational resources needed to produce them.

Q: Production is the transformation of organizational resources into products.

Q: A group of young entrepreneurs seek your help in analyzing the feasibility of a business plan that they have. They want to identify the level of production at which the total revenue of the organization equals its total costs. Which control tool would you use to help them?

Q: What is "management by exception"? How does it operate? Do you think management by exception is an efficient strategy? Why or why not?

Q: Explain how managers should use ratio analysis to assist in effectively controlling an organization.

Q: What are the potential pitfalls of budgets?

Q: Briefly describe JIT inventory control.

Q: Explain the concept of a layout strategy and discuss the various types of layouts.

Q: Explain and discuss the concept of operations strategies.

Q: Briefly explain the concept of strategies, systems, and processes.

Q: An organization wants to involve all company employees in quality control. Can you suggest a technique to help the organization?

Q: Compare and contrast quality assurance and quality control. Which one do you think is preferable to organizations? Explain your answer.