Operations Management Exam 1 Multiple Chice

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

A) Finance

27.Which of the following is true? A) Functional strategies are shaped by corporate strategy. B) Corporate mission is shaped by corporate strategy. C) External conditions are shaped by corporate mission. D) Corporate mission is shaped by functional strategies. E) Corporate strategy is shaped by functional strategies.

A) Functional strategies are shaped by corporate strategy.

31.A popular visual tool for planning and scheduling simple projects, and for monitoring progress, is the: A) Gantt chart. B) program evaluation and review technique. C) activity-on-arrows network. D) critical path method. E) activity-on-nodes network.

A) Gantt chart.

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

A) They force the decision maker to take into account qualitative issues such as personalities and emotions.

34.In "crashing" a project, a manager will generally focus on activities which: A) are on the critical path and are the least costly to crash. B) are the easiest to crash. C) are the least costly to crash. D) are not on the critical path. E) are costly to crash and are on the critical path.

A) are on the critical path and are the least costly to crash.

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

A) controlling.

35.In a project network, the critical path is the sequence of activities which has the: A) longest duration. B) most nodes. C) greatest variance. D) most activities. E) most events.

A) longest duration.

5.Marketing personnel and product designers must work closely with operations to successfully develop and produce new products because operations personnel can best judge how ________ new product designs will be. A) manufacturable B) nameable C) marketable D) segmentable E) profitable

A) manufacturable

21.Increasing the service offered to the customer makes it more difficult to compete on the basis of: A) price. B) flexibility. C) customization. D) quality. E) order qualifiers.

A) price.

33.At which point does crashing of a project cease? A) when the cost to crash equals or exceeds the benefit of crashing B) when the project is one-half completed C) when no additional crashing is possible D) when the project is completed E) when the team has been disbanded

A) when the cost to crash equals or exceeds the benefit of crashing

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

B) A systems approach concentrates on efficiency within subsystems.

45.Which of the following is not one of the six key decisions in project management? I.Selecting the project team II.Deciding on the project manager's title III.Managing and controlling project resources IV.Deciding which projects to implement V.Selecting the project manager A) I B) II C) III D) IV E) V

B) II

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

B) agility.

29.Which of the following is not among the chief reasons organizations fail? A) overemphasis on product (or service) design B) emphasizing labor productivity in labor-intensive environments C) not investing in capital and human resources D) overemphasis on short-term financial performance E) poor internal communications

B) emphasizing labor productivity in labor-intensive environments

26.Which of the following factors would tend to reduce productivity? A) reductions in the scrap rate B) more inexperienced workers C) reductions in labor turnover D) less variety in the product mix E) improvements in workplace safety

B) more inexperienced workers

38.In the probabilistic approach to project network analysis, the time estimate annotated tm for any activity is the: A) median time. B) most likely time. C) mean time. D) mode time. E) marginal time.

B) most likely time.

37.In the execution phase of a project's life cycle, activities are guided by decisions that were made in the ________ phase. A) assessment B) planning C) closing D) monitoring/controlling E) initiating

B) planning

22.Product design and choice of location are examples of ________ decisions. A) design B) strategic C) operational D) tactical E) customer-focused

B) strategic

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

B) support one another.

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

B) sustainability

25.Unique attributes of firms that give them a competitive edge are called: A) functional strategies. B) supply chains. C) core competencies. D) sustainable initiatives. E) Balanced Scorecards.

C) core competencies.

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

C) feedback.

46.Which of the following stages is that one in which the project's expected costs, benefits, and risks are assessed? A) assessment B) monitoring/controlling C) initiating D) executing E) planning

C) initiating

42.The basis for use of the beta distribution in PERT is: A) It can easily be converted to a normal distribution. B) its symmetry. C) its features that make it attractive in practice. D) It is bimodal. E) essentially theoretical.

C) its features that make it attractive in practice.

36.In project network analysis, "slack" refers to the difference between: A) mean and modal times. B) optimistic and pessimistic times. C) latest and earliest times. D) observed and predicted times. E) finish and start times.

C) latest and earliest times.

20.Core competencies in organizations generally do not relate to: A) time. B) quality. C) sales price. D) flexibility. E) cost.

C) sales price.

10.The responsibilities of the operations manager include: A) assessing consumer wants and needs. B) promoting the organization's goods or services. C) the creation of goods or provision of services. D) allocating financial resources throughout the organization. E) analyzing investment proposals.

C) the creation of goods or provision of services.

17.A productivity increase in one operation that does not improve overall productivity of the business is not A) competence-destroying. B) an order qualifier. C) worthwhile. D) trivial. E) an order winner.

C) worthwhile.

39.Project management differs from management of more traditional activities mainly because of: I.its limited time frame. II.its unique, defined set of activities. III.the requirement for use of the appropriate resources. IV.the need for planning and execution. A) I B) II C) I and III D) I and II E) I, II, and IV

D) I and II

43.Which of the following are advantages of PERT and CPM? I.It is visual. II.It is automatically updated. III.Activities that need to be watched closely can be identified. A) III only B) II and III C) I and II D) I and III E) I, II, and III

D) I and III

8.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) Tellier phenomenon. B) Stevenson phenomenon. C) Irwin phenomenon. D) Pareto phenomenon. E) Adam Smith phenomenon.

D) Pareto phenomenon.

40.Shortening activity durations is called: A) vendor management. B) null nodes. C) expediting. D) crashing. E) trade-off analysis.

D) crashing.

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

D) easy measurement of productivity

11.Which is not an area of significant difference between manufacturing and service operations? A) measurement of productivity B) customer contact C) labor content of jobs D) forecasting demand E) uniformity of input

D) forecasting demand

18.An organization's mission statement serves as the basis for: A) operating procedures. B) distinctiveness. C) core competencies. D) organizational goals. E) environmental scanning.

D) organizational goals.

23.The ratio of good output to quantity of raw material input is called A) quantity/quality ratio. B) total quality productivity. C) non-defective productivity. D) process yield. E) worker quality measurement.

D) process yield.

28.Which of the following is not a key factor of competitiveness? A) after-sale service B) product differentiation C) flexibility D) size of organization E) price

D) size of organization

15.Which of the following most involves coordinating the activities among all the elements of the business including its suppliers and distributors? A) competition from foreign manufacturers B) quality management C) technological change D) supply chain management E) pollution control

D) supply chain management

7.Technology choices can have a major impact on: A) productivity. B) customer satisfaction. C) quality. D) costs. E) all of the above.

E) all of the above.

44.Which of the following is determined as a direct result of computing the earliest starting and finishing times for the activities of a project network? A) activity slack time B) which activities are on the critical path C) variance in project duration D) maximum project duration E) expected project duration

E) expected project duration

24.Time-based approaches of business organizations focus on reducing the time to accomplish certain necessary activities. Time reductions seldom apply to: A) product/service design time. B) delivery time. C) response time for complaints. D) processing time. E) internal audits.

E) internal audits.

41.The advantage a precedence diagram has over a Gantt chart is: A) its complexity. B) its simplicity. C) its difficulty in depicting networks. D) its lack of riskiness. E) its ability to reveal relationships among activities.

E) its ability to reveal relationships among activities.

32.A sequence of activities that leads from the starting node to the finishing node is called a: A) critical sequence. B) trail. C) time line. D) sequel. E) path.

E) path.

19.Competitiveness doesn't include: A) effectiveness. B) productivity. C) operations management. D) operations strategy. E) profitability.

E) profitability.

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

E) recognition of priorities.

30.A hierarchical listing of what must be done in a project is called a: A) crashing plan. B) planning matrix. C) critical path. D) PERT. E) work breakdown structure (WBS).

E) work breakdown structure (WBS).