Ch 12: Measurement and Knowledge Management for Performance Excellence

Organizations that share quality, customer satisfaction, and financial performance results with their employees and customers often exhibit poor performance in comparison with organizations that do not share such information. a. True b. False

False

Performance reviews in an organization are usually conducted on a daily or weekly basis for long-term control decisions, and periodically throughout the year for short-term decisions and improvement. a. True b. False

False

Physical and financial assets have become more important than knowledge assets in most organizations. a. True b. False

False

Interlinking is the term that describes the quantitative modeling of cause-and-effect relationships between performance measures, such as the customer satisfaction and product quality or employee performance. a. True b. False

True

The quality of information can be improved by capturing data only once, and as close to the origin of the data as possible. a. True b. False

True

The transfer of knowledge within organizations and the identification and sharing of best practices often set high-performing organizations apart from the rest. a. True b. False

True

_____ refers to an examination of facts and data to provide a basis for effective decisions. a. Analysis b. Data warehousing c. Interlinking d. Clustering

Analysis

Which of the following first developed the concept of a balanced scorecard? a. Art Schneiderman b. W. Edwards Deming c. Joseph Juran d. Kaoru Ishikawa

Art Schneiderman

Which of the following is most likely to be used to obtain comparative data? a. Interlinking approach b. Cluster analysis c. Benchmarking approach d. Cause-and-effect approach

Benchmarking approach

_____ data refer to industry averages, competitor performance, world-class benchmarks, or performance measures of other organizations with similar product offerings. a. Cross-functional b. Comparative c. Reviewed d. Interlinked

Comparative

_____ of product and service performance and customer indicators is a critical management tool for defining and focusing on key quality and customer requirements, identifying product and service differentiators in the marketplace, and determining cause-effect relationships between product and service attributes and measures of customer satisfaction and loyalty, as well as positive referrals. a. Regression analysis b. Benchmarking c. Correlation analysis d. Quincunx experimentation

Correlation analysis

Which of the following perspectives of the balanced scorecard focuses on market share? a. Internal b. Customer c. Innovation and learning d. Learning

Customer

Which of the following perspectives of the balanced scorecard includes service levels, satisfaction ratings, and repeat business? a. Internal b. Financial c. Customer d. Innovation and learning

Customer

_____ systems allow organizations to share databases in a networking environment and store and process key data in a unique database and distribute it to a large group of users. a. Juran's quality trilogy b. Quincunx experimental c. Balanced scorecard d. Enterprise resource planning

Enterprise resource planning

_____ systems are software packages that integrate organizational information systems and provide an infrastructure for managing information across the organization. a. Enterprise resource planning b. Balanced scorecard c. Juran's quality trilogy d. Quincunx experimental

Enterprise resource planning

_____ knowledge includes information stored in documents or other forms of media such as databases, policies and procedures, and technical drawings. a. Tacit b. Allusive c. Explicit d. Indirect

Explicit

_____ knowledge is easily captured, stored, and disseminated using computer technology. a. Explicit b. Indirect c. Tacit d. Allusive

Explicit

A balanced scorecard greatly helps in identifying the real drivers of customer satisfaction. a. True b. False

False

A good balanced scorecard contains only leading measures and indicators. a. True b. False

False

Compared to money, labor, and capital equipment, knowledge is always the easiest to manage. a. True b. False

False

Data mining is the most effective method of establishing cause-and-effect relationships among variables. a. True b. False

False

Leading indicators of a balanced scorecard represent long-term results. a. True b. False

False

Which of the following perspectives of the balanced scorecard includes profitability, revenue growth, return on investment, economic value added (EVA), and shareholder value? a. Internal b. Innovation and learning c. Customer d. Financial

Financial

Which of the following perspectives of the balanced scorecard measures the ultimate results that the business provides to its shareholders? a. Customer b. Internal c. Innovation and learning d. Financial

Financial

Which of the following measures of the Baldrige Criteria of performance measurement includes revenue, return on equity, return on investment, and operating profit? a. Workforce-focused measures b. Leadership and governance measures c. Product and process measures d. Financial and market measures

Financial and market measures

Which of the following analytical approaches or technologies is most likely to be used for data mining? a. Histogram b. Pareto diagram c. Quincunx experiment d. Fuzzy logic

Fuzzy logic

Which of the following perspectives of the balanced scorecard directs attention to the basis of a future success —the organization's people and infrastructure? a. Internal b. Customer c. Financial d. Innovation and learning

Innovation and learning

Which of the following perspectives of the balanced scorecard includes intellectual assets, employee satisfaction, market innovation, and skills development? a. Financial b. Internal c. Innovation and learning d. Customer

Innovation and learning

_____ is the term that describes the quantitative modeling of cause-and-effect relationships between performance measures, such as the customer satisfaction and product quality or employee performance. a. Programming b. Mining c. Interlinking d. Enterprise resource planning

Interlinking

Which of the following perspectives of the balanced scorecard includes such measures as quality levels, productivity, cycle time, and cost? a. Innovation and learning b. Customer c. Internal d. Financial

Internal

_____ assets refer to the accumulated intellectual resources that an organization possesses, including information, ideas, learning, understanding, memory, insights, cognitive and technical skills, and capabilities. a. Personal b. Knowledge c. Strategic d. Deployment

Knowledge

_____ involves the process of identifying, capturing, organizing, and using knowledge assets to create and sustain competitive advantage. a. Knowledge mining b. Suboptimization c. Knowledge management d. Lean production

Knowledge management

Which of the following statements regarding the practical guidelines suggested by Mark Graham Brown for designing a performance measurement system is true? a. The system should concentrate on measuring many trivial variables. b. The system should avoid changing and adjusting measures even if the environment and strategy changes. c. Measures should be based around the needs of customers, shareholders, and otherkey stakeholders. d. Measures should start at the bottom and flow up to all levels of top management in the organization.

Measures should be based around the needs of customers, shareholders, and otherkey stakeholders.

Which of the following organizations is one of the most prominent vendors of ERP software? a. STMicroelectronics b. Convergys c. Oracle d. Analog Devices

Oracle

Which of the following measures of the Baldrige Criteria of performance measurement includes internal quality measurements, defect levels, service errors, and response times? a. Leadership and governance measures b. Customer-focused measures c. Product and process measures d. Financial and market measures

Product and process measures

_____ involves the discovery, learning, creation, and reuse of knowledge that eventually becomes intellectual capital—knowledge that can be converted into value and profits. a. Rapid knowledge costing b. Knowledge internationalization c. Rapid knowledge transfer d. Knowledge interlinking

Rapid knowledge transfer

Pal's Sudden Service uses an automated data collection, integration, and analysis system called _____ to generate store-level and companywide reports on sales, customer count, and product mix. a. SysDine b. Knowledge Network c. Quincunx d. eTracker

SysDine

_____ knowledge is information that is formed around intangible factors resulting from an organization's or individual's experience and is content-specific. a. Lucid b. Tacit c. Definitive d. Explicit

Tacit

A knowledge-enabled culture is created when an organization employs a system of aligned human resource policies, tactics, processes, and practices that ensure knowledge is created, captured, used, and reused to achieve superior organizational results as a sustainable advantage. a. True b. False

True

A useful approach to ensuring data reliability is for internal cross-functional teams or external auditors to conduct periodic audits of the processes used to collect the data. a. True b. False

True

An effective knowledge management system should include a common framework for managing knowledge and some ways of validating and synthesizing new knowledge as it is acquired. a. True b. False

True

An emphasis on machine utilization in an organization encourages having fewer, but larger, general-purpose machines, which results in increased inventory and throughput time. a. True b. False

True

An organization must align its performance measurement system to its vision and strategy and select meaningful measurements. a. True b. False

True

Confidentiality and security are critical in managing data, particularly with the increasing use of electronic data transfer. a. True b. False

True

Data accessibility empowers employees and encourages their participation in quality improvement efforts. a. True b. False

True

Financial measures of performance measurement in the Baldrige Criteria are generally tracked by senior leadership to gauge overall organizational performance and are often used to determine incentive compensation for senior executives. a. True b. False

True

Leading organizations continually improve their performance measurement systems, staying abreast of new techniques. a. True b. False

True

Measurement reliability in manufacturing demands careful attention to metrology, the science of measurement. a. True b. False

True

Oracle is one of the most prominent vendors for enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. a. True b. False

True

Setting targets for each performance measure provides the basis for strategy deployment. a. True b. False

True

The American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC) noted that executives have long felt frustrated by their inability to identify or transfer outstanding practices from one location or function to another. a. True b. False

True

The purpose of the balanced scorecard is "to translate strategy into measures that uniquely communicate your vision to the organization." a. True b. False

True

Workforce-focused outcomes used for performance measurement in the Baldrige Criteria show how well the organization has created and maintained a productive, engaging, and caring work environment. a. True b. False

True

To achieve a high level of performance excellence, an organization requires a much broader set of performance measures that are aligned to an organization's strategy; this became known as the a. quality trilogy. b. balanced scorecard. c. quincunx. d. Taguchi loss function.

balanced scorecard

The quality of information can be improved by all of the following methods EXCEPT a. capturing data twice. b. capturing data as close to the origin of the data as possible. c. capturing data electronically where possible. d. placing accountability on the creators of data and information.

capturing data twice.

With respect to the Baldrige Criteria performance measures, _____ performance indicators include measures of business growth and percentage of new product sales. a. product and process b. leadership and governance c. financial and market d. workforce-focused

financial and market

The ability to identify and transfer best practices within the organization is sometimes called a. enterprise resource planning. b. interlinking. c. internal benchmarking. d. data mining.

internal benchmarking.

Data _____ is the process of searching large databases to find hidden patterns in data. a. mining b. interlinking c. planning d. benchmarking

mining

In the context of managing information resources, the quality of information can be improved by a. avoiding electronic data capture. b. placing accountability on the creators of data and information. c. using multiple databases whenever feasible. d. using as many intermediaries as possible to handle data.

placing accountability on the creators of data and information.

The process in which locations, divisions, and functions in an organizational structure focus on maximizing their own accomplishments and rewards was called _____ by Deming. a. suboptimization b. return on quality c. interlinking d. lean production

suboptimization