Q&A Hero

Q: As long as we match a competitor on quality and price we will gain market share.

Q: Improving efficiency will guarantee a similar improvement in productivity.

Q: Mission statements should be as specific as possible regarding exactly how they will be accomplished.

Q: Organizational strategy should be determined without considering the realities of functional area strengths and weaknesses since they can be changed to meet our strategy.

Q: Strategy includes both organizational and functional strategies.

Q: The hierarchy and sequence of planning and decision making is: mission, organizational strategy, tactics, and operational decisions.

Q: A mission statement should provide a guide for the formulation of strategies for the organization.

Q: Services often don't fit simple yield measurements.

Q: A business that is rated highly by its customers for service quality will tend to be more profitable than a business that is rated poorly.

Q: Global competition really only applies to multinational organizations.

Q: Wage and salary increases that are not accompanied by productivity increases tend to exert inflationary pressures on a nation's economy. TRUE

Q: National productivity is determined by averaging the productivity measures of various companies or industries.

Q: An organization that is twice as productive as its competitor will be twice as profitable.

Q: Productivity tends to be only a very minor factor in an organization's ability to compete.

Q: Outsourcing tends to improve quality but at the cost of lowered productivity.

Q: A characteristic that was once an order winner may become an order qualifier, and vice versa.

Q: Productivity is directly related to the ability of an organization to compete.

Q: Tracking productivity measures over time enables managers to judge organizational performance and decide where improvements are needed.

Q: If people would only work harder, productivity would increase.

Q: Competitiveness relates to the profitability of an organization in the marketplace.

Q: Productivity is defined as the ratio of input to output.

Q: Productivity is defined as the ratio of output to input.

Q: An example of a tactical operations management decision is determining employment levels.

Q: Government statistics are a good source of data about productivity trends in the service sector.

Q: An example of an operational operations management decision is inventory level management.

Q: An example of a strategic operations management decision is the choice of where to locate.

Q: Supplying operations with parts and materials, performing work on products, and/or performing services are part of the firm's: A. division of labor. B. market development. C. outsourcing. D. external process orientation. E. internal supply chain.

Q: If one organization is better able than most to respond to changes in demands or opportunities, we say that organization exhibits higher: A. sustainability. B. efficiency. C. productivity. D. agility. E. marketability.

Q: Which of the following principles emphasizes that actions should make the community as a whole better off? A. The Rights Principle B. The Fairness Principle C. The Virtue Principle D. The Common Good Principle E. The Utilitarian Principle

Q: Which of the following refers to service and production processes that use resources in ways that do not harm ecological systems? A. sustainability B. supportability C. marketability D. perishability E. transportability

Q: Which of the following is essential to consider with respect to managing a process to meet demand? A. advertising B. trends in fashion C. global economic trends D. financial reporting standards E. capacity

Q: Which of the following statements about variation is false? A. Variation prevents a production process from being as efficient as it can be. B. Some variation can be prevented. C. Variation can either be assignable or random. D. Any variation makes a production process less productive. E. Random variation generally cannot be influenced by managers.

Q: Two widely used metrics of variation are the __________ and the _________. A. mean; standard deviation B. productivity ratio; correlation C. standardized mean; assignable deviation D. randomized mean; standardized deviation E. normal distribution; random variation

Q: Marketing depends on operations for information regarding: A. productivity. B. lead time. C. cash flow. D. budgeting. E. corporate intelligence.

Q: Operations and sales are the two ________ functions in businesses. A. strategic B. tactical C. support D. value-adding E. line

Q: Modern firms increasingly rely on other firms to supply goods and services instead of doing these tasks themselves. This increased level of _____________ is leading to increased emphasis on ____________ management. A. outsourcing; supply chain B. offshoring; lean C. downsizing; total quality D. optimizing; inventory E. internationalization; intercultural

Q: Which of the following is not a benefit of using models in decision making? A. They provide a standardized format for analyzing a problem. B. They serve as a consistent tool for evaluation. C. They are easy to use and less expensive than dealing with the actual situation. D. They force the decision maker to take into account qualitative issues such as personalities and emotions. E. They offer insights into fundamental issues at play in a decision-making setting.

Q: Which of the following is not an ongoing trend in manufacturing? A. globalization B. quality improvement C. flexibility and agility D. mass production for greater economies of scale E. technological advances

Q: Some companies attempt to maximize the revenue they receive from fixed operating capacity by influencing demands through price manipulation. This is an example of: A. illegal price discrimination. B. collusion. C. volume analysis. D. revenue management. E. outsourcing.

Q: Taking a systems viewpoint with regard to operations in today's environment increasingly leads decision makers to consider ______________ in response to the ___________. A. flexibility; pressure to be more efficient B. offshoring; need to promote domestic production C. sustainability; threat of global warming D. technology; impact of random variation E. forecasting; stabilization of demand

Q: Which of the following does not relate to system design? A. altering the system capacity B. location of facilities C. inventory management D. selection and acquisition of equipment E. physical arrangement of departments

Q: The process of comparing outputs to previously established standards to determine if corrective action is needed is called: A. planning. B. directing. C. controlling. D. budgeting. E. disciplining.

Q: The fact that a few improvements in a few key areas of operations will have more impact than many improvements in many other areas is consistent with the: A. Irwin phenomenon. B. Pareto phenomenon. C. Stevenson phenomenon. D. Tellier phenomenon. E. Adam Smith phenomenon.

Q: Dealing with the fact that certain aspects of any management situation are more important than others is called: A. analysis of trade-offs. B. sensitivity analysis. C. recognition of priorities. D. analysis of variance. E. decision table analysis.

Q: Farming is an example of: A. an obsolete activity. B. a virtual organization. C. nonmanufactured goods. D. a growth industry. E. customized manufacturing.

Q: Which of the following most involves coordinating the activities among all the elements of the business? A. pollution control B. quality management C. supply chain management D. competition from foreign manufacturers E. technological change

Q: Which of the following is not a characteristic of service operations? A. intangible output B. high customer contact C. high labor content D. easy measurement of productivity E. low uniformity of output

Q: Which is not an area of significant difference between manufacturing and service operations? A. cost per unit B. uniformity of output C. labor content of jobs D. customer contact E. measurement of productivity

Q: Production systems with customized outputs typically have relatively: A. high volumes of output. B. low unit costs. C. high amount of specialized equipment. D. fast work movement. E. skilled workers.

Q: What is credited with gains in industrial productivity, increased standards of living, and affordable products? A. personal computers B. the Internet C. mass transportation D. mass production E. multilevel marketing

Q: Which of the following is not true about the systems approach? A. A systems viewpoint is almost always beneficial in decision making. B. A systems approach emphasizes interrelationships among subsystems. C. A systems approach concentrates on efficiency within subsystems. D. A systems approach is essential whenever something is being redesigned or improved. E. All of the choices are true.

Q: Knowledge skills usually don't include: A. process knowledge. B. accounting skills. C. communication skills. D. global knowledge. E. financial skills.

Q: The responsibilities of the operations manager are: A. planning, organizing, staffing, procuring, and reviewing. B. planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling. C. forecasting, designing, planning, organizing, and controlling. D. forecasting, designing, operating, procuring, and reviewing. E. designing and operating.

Q: Product design and process selection are examples of _______ decisions. A. financial B. tactical C. system design D. system operation E. forecasting

Q: Manufacturing work sent to other countries is called: A. downsizing. B. outsourcing. C. internationalization. D. vertical integration. E. entrepreneurship.

Q: Which one of the following would not generally be classified under the heading of transformation? A. assembling B. teaching C. staffing D. farming E. consulting

Q: Budgeting, analysis of investment proposals, and provision of funds are activities associated with the _______ function. A. operation B. marketing C. purchasing D. finance E. internal audit

Q: Measurements taken at various points in the transformation process for control purposes are called: A. plans. B. directions. C. controls. D. feedback. E. budgets.

Q: Technology choices seldom affect: A. costs. B. productivity. C. union activity. D. quality. E. flexibility.

Q: Which of the following is not a type of operations? A. goods production B. storage/transportation C. entertainment D. communication E. advertising

Q: Business organizations consist of three major functions which, ideally: A. support one another. B. are mutually exclusive. C. exist independently of each other. D. function independently of each other. E. do not interface with each other.

Q: A "product package" consists of: A. the exterior wrapping. B. the shipping container. C. a combination of goods and services. D. goods if a manufacturing organization. E. customer relations if a service organization.

Q: Operations management involves continuous decision making; hopefully most decisions made will be: A. redundant. B. minor in nature. C. informed. D. quantitative. E. qualitative.

Q: Which of the following would tend to increase the importance of supply chain management? A. increased supply chain stability B. lower levels of outsourcing C. reduced competitive pressures D. increased globalization E. greater emphasis on local markets

Q: Managing the supply chain has become more important as a result of firms increasing their levels of: A. overtime. B. outsourcing. C. marketing. D. promotions. E. shipping.

Q: Knowledge about challenges specific to the operations function can help marketing personnel to judge how _____________ new product designs will be. A. marketable B. segmentable C. manufacturable D. measurable E. nameable

Q: In addition to operations, which of the following is considered a "line" function? A. accounting B. finance C. IT D. procurement E. sales

Q: As an abstraction of reality, a model is a simplified version of a real phenomenon.

Q: Lean production systems incorporate the advantages of both mass production and craft production.

Q: Operations management and marketing are the two functional areas that exist to support activities in other functions such as accounting, finance, IT, and human resources.

Q: Among Ford's many contributions was the introduction of mass production, using the concepts of interchangeable parts and division of labor.

Q: Elton Mayo's Hawthorne experiments were the focal point of the human relations movement, which emphasized the importance of the human element in job design.

Q: Prior to the Industrial Revolution, goods were produced primarily by craftsmen or their apprentices using custom-made parts.

Q: A systems approach means that we concentrate on efficiency within a subsystem and thereby assure overall efficiency.

Q: Many operations management decisions can be described as trade-offs.

Q: Managers should most often rely on quantitative techniques for important decisions since quantitative approaches result in more accurate decisions.

Q: The optimal solutions produced by quantitative techniques should always be evaluated in terms of the larger framework.

Q: Operations managers, who usually use quantitative approaches, are not really concerned with ethical decision making.

Q: The Pareto phenomenon is one of the most important and pervasive concepts that can be applied at all levels of management.

Q: A systems approach emphasizes interrelationships among subsystems, but its main theme is that the whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts.