BUSI 411- Chapter 1

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

False

Measurement of productivity in service is more straightforward than in manufacturing since it is not necessary to take into account the cost of materials.

False

Most people encounter operations only in profit-making organizations.

False

Operations Management activities will be less important in the future because many firms are becoming service-oriented operations rather than goods producing operations.

False

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

False

Operations managers are responsible for assessing consumer wants and needs and selling and promoting the organization's goods or services.

False

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

False

Operations, marketing, and finance function independently of each other in most organizations

False

Service operations require additional inventory because of the unpredictability of consumer demand.

False

Special-purpose technology is a common way of offering increased customization in manufacturing or services without taking on additional labor costs

False

The lean production philosophy has been slow to be adopted in service industries.

False

The operations manager has primary responsibility for making operations system design decisions, such as system capacity and location of facilities.

False

The use of models will guarantee the best possible decisions.

False

The word "technology" is used only to refer to "information technology"

False

Elton Mayo's "Hawthorne Experiment" was the focal point of the Human Relations Movement, which emphasized the importance of the human element in job design.

True

Lean production systems incorporate the advantages of both mass production and craft production

True

Lean production systems use a highly skilled work force and flexible equipment

True

Many operations management decisions can be described as tradeoffs.

True

Often, the collective success or failure of companies' operations functions will impact the ability of a nation to compete with other nations.

True

One concern in the design of production systems is the degree of standardization.

True

People who work in the field of operations should have skills that include both knowledge and people skills.

True

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

True

Service involves a much higher degree of customer contact than manufacturing.

True

Service often requires greater labor content, whereas manufacturing is more capital intensive.

True

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

True

The greater the degree of customer involvement, the more challenging the design and management of operations

True

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

True

The value of outputs is measured by the prices customers are willing to pay for goods or services.

True

Which is not a significant difference between manufacturing and service operations?

A. cost per unit

Two widely used metrics of variation are the __________ and the _________.

A. mean; standard deviation

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

Business organizations consist of three major functions which, ideally:

A. support one another

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:

B. Pareto phenomenon

Marketing depends on operations for information regarding ___________.

B. lead time

Manufacturing work sent to other countries is called:

B. outsourced

The responsibilities of the operations manager are:

B. planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling

Which of the following is not true about systems approach?

C. A systems approach concentrates on efficiency within subsystems.

Operations management involves continuous decision-making; hopefully most decisions made will be: A

C. Informed

A 'product package' consists of:

C. a combination of goods and services

Knowledge skills usually don't include:

C. communication skills

The process of comparing outputs to previously established standards to determine if corrective action is needed is called:

C. controlling

Which of the following does not relate to system design?

C. inventory management

Farming is an example of:

C. non-manufactured goods

Dealing with the fact that certain aspects of any management situation are more important than others is called:

C. recognition of priorities

Which one of the following would not generally be classified under the heading of transformation? A

C. staffing

Which of the following is a recent trend in business?

C. supply chain management

Taking a systems viewpoint with regard to operations in today's environment increasingly leads decision-makers to consider ______________ in response to the ___________.

C. sustainability; threat of global warming

Product design and process selection are examples of _______ decisions.

C. system design

Technology choices seldom affect:

C. union activity.

Which of the following is not a benefit of using models in decision making?

D. All of the above are benefits.

Which of the following statements about variation is FALSE?

D. Any variation makes a production process less productive.

Some companies attempt to maximize the revenue they receive from fixed operating capacity by influencing demands through price manipulation. This is an example of __________________:

D. Revenue management

What is credited with gains in industrial productivity, increased standards of living and affordable products?

D. assembly lines

Which of the following is not a characteristic of service operations?

D. easy measurement of productivity

Measurements taken at various points in the transformation process for control purposes are called:

D. feedback

Budgeting, analysis of investment proposals, and provision of funds are activities associated with the _______ function

D. finance

Which of the following is not an ongoing trend in manufacturing?

D. mass production for greater economies of scale

Which of the following is essential to consider with respect to managing a process to meet demand?

E. all of the above ( Strategy, demand forecasts, capacity, random variability)

Which of the following is not a type of operations?

E. all the above involve operations

Operations and sales are the two ________ functions in businesses.

E. line

Production systems with customized outputs typically have relatively:

E. skilled workers

'Value added' by definition is always a positive number since 'added' implies increases.

False

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

False

Assembly lines achieved productivity but at the expense of standard of living.

False

Companies are either producing goods or delivering services. This means that only one of the two types of operations management strategies are used.

False

Goods producing organizations are not involved in service activities.

False

A modern firm has two supply chain considerations - external links with suppliers and customers, and an internal network of flows to and between the operations function itself.

True

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

True

Among Ford's many contributions was the introduction of mass production, using the concept of interchangeable parts and division of labor

True

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

True