BUSI 411 - Chapter 1

What is true about systems approach?

-A systems viewpoint is almost always beneficial in decision making -a systems approach emphasizes interrelationships among subsytems -A systems approach is essential whenever something is being redesigned or improved

A 'product package' consists of:

A combination of goods and services (Most firms are not pure service or manufacturing firms; they produce combinations of goods and services)

What is not true about systems approach?

A systems approach concentrates on efficiency within subsystems (Subsystem efficiency doesn't necessarily translate into overall system efficiency)

Which of the following is essential to consider with respect to managing a process to meet demand? -Strategy -Demand forecasts -Capacity -Random vairability -All of the above

All of the above

Which of the following is not a benefit of using models in decision making? -They provide a standardized format for analyzing a problem -They serve as a consistent tool for evaluation -They are easy to use and less expensive than dealing with the actual situation -All of the above are benefits

All of the above are benefits (Models are useful tools for making decisions without confronting the actual situation with all of its complexity)

Which of the following is not a type of operations? -goods production -storage/transportation -entertainment -communication

All of the above involve operations (All of these involve taking inputs and transforming them)

Which of the following statements about variation is FALSE? -Variation prevents a production process from being as efficient as it can be -Some variation can be prevented -Variation can be assignable or random -Any variation makes a production process less productive -Random variation generally cannot be influenced by managers

Any variation makes a production process less productive (The choice to offer customers greater variety might increase variation but increase productivity even more)

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

Assembly lines (Mass production has played a prominent role in increasing standards of living)

Knowledge skills usually don't include:

Communication skills (They are generally considered to be people skills)

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

Controlling (Controls are used to maintain performance)

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

Cost per unit (Manufacturing operations aren't necessarily more or less efficient than service operations)

What does the Pareto phenomena do?

Direct our attention to the difference between the "important few" and the "trivial many"

Which of the following is not a characteristic of service operations? -intangible output -high customer contact -high labor content -easy measurement of productivity -low uniformity of output

Easy measurement of productivity (The productivity of service operations is often hard to measure)

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

Feedback (Which is used to monitor and improve processes)

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

Finance (These are the primary tasks for the finance function)

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

Informed (Informed decisions incorporate all relevant issues)

Which of the following does not relate to system design? -altering the system capacity -location of facilities -inventory management -selection and acquisition of equipment -physical arrangement of departments

Inventory Management (^Is a system operation decision area)

Marketing depends on operations for information regarding___________.

Lead time (Marketing uses lead time information to make promises to customers)

Operations and sales are the two__________functions in businesses.

Line (Others are support functions. ex. strategic, tactical, support, value-adding)

Which of the following is NOT an ongoing trend in manufacturing? -globalization -quality improvement -flexibility and agility -mass production for greater economies of scale -technological advances

Mass production for greater economies of scale (Manufacturers are moving away from mass production for economies of scale)

Two widely used metrics of variation are the__________and the_________.

Mean; standard deviation (The mean and standard deviation summarize important facets regarding the variation in a process)

Farming is an example of:

Non-manufactured goods (Farm operations are not manufacturing operations)

Manufacturing work sent to other countries is called...

Outsourcing (Increasingly a part of ops management)

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.

Outsourcing; Supply Chain (Supply chain management takes a more systemic view of the firm, its operations, and its suppliers)

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:

Pareto Phenomenon

The responsibilities of the operations manager are...

Planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling (The scope of operations management ranges across the organization)

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

Recognition of priorities (Solutions tend to be targeted toward higher priority aspects of a situation)

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

Revenue management (^Is used to ensure that as much perishable capacity as possible is sold)

Production systems with customized outputs typically have relatively:

Skilled workers (Are necessary to accommodate the variation inherent in customized outputs)

What would not generally be classified under the heading of transformation?

Staffing (Does not involve transforming resources so much as acquiring them)

What is not a recent trend in business?

Supply chain management (Involves a broader systemic view of operations)

Business organizations consist of three major functions which, ideally:

Support one another (Finance, Marketing, and Operations)

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

Sustainability; threat of global warming (Sustainability is a relatively recent operations management consideration)

Product design and process selection are examples of __________ decisions

System design (These major decisions affect decisions made at lower levels)

Technology choices seldom affect:

Union activity (Union activity can affect a firm's technology choices, but not the other way around)