D073_Unit 3

What is a variable cost for an electronic-watch maker?

Time of a technician to assemble the watch

A manufacturer of baseball bats must determine the level of inventory necessary to make the bats. The bats require raw material of wood blocks. The manager wishes to have a certain number of blocks available in addition to just-in-time inventory. What is an advantage of using this strategy?

Ready for demand spikes

The frontline employees of a manufacturing company have developed a list of environmentally friendly practices they would like to see the company adopt. They have presented this list to executive leadership during a board meeting. Which approach to change is being used by this company?

Bottom-up

The chief information officer (CIO) for a credit union is planning to make sweeping changes to the network infrastructure and the software used to manage banking. The CIO wants the new technology to be accepted as widely as possible throughout the organization by reducing employee resistance to change. Which result is this CIO attempting to achieve?

Buy-in

A company has hired an organization development (OD) consultant to work with the internal managers to effect a significant change in organizational culture. Which technique increases the chance of success?

Communicating the change so that employees are fully informed of the plan prior to implementation

An organization has decided to use economies of scale to gain a competitive advantage. Which competitive strategy is this organization using?

Cost leadership

An organization merges with another, forming a new organization. Members of a team composed of executives and managers from both organizations agree that the strategic goal of the new organization is to expand market share to 50% of its niche in five years. Which operational strategy should be used to achieve this target?

Create a specific set of actions and metrics for implementation

A change professional has been asked to help prepare an organization to implement a new electronic production system to replace the current, inefficient system. The organization has finished the preparation for the project and is beginning the actual change process. Which strategy should be used to reduce potential resistance and barriers at this stage of this process?

Creating a history of success that demonstrates how the change effort is expected to progress

An incoming chief executive officer (CEO) has a plan to move the company toward products that are certified as manufactured from 100% sustainable sources and suggests an employee training program to educate the workforce on environmental sustainability. Which aspect of change does this plan impact?

Culture

Which inherent costs do managers need to consider when choosing one course of action over another?

Opportunity

An organization is considering a broad new initiative to change its existing culture into one that delivers high performance. The leader of the change process would like to assess the need for change and determine factors that would help reduce potential resistance. Which process should this leader use to meet this objective?

Determining the scope, level, and intentionality of the change

A manager discusses with employees the company's long-term strategic-planning goal of reducing employee injuries by 50% over the next five years.Which operational strategy will management use to start monitoring goal achievement?

Establishing baseline performance measures

An organization has developed plans to expand its reach by taking advantage of opportunities in foreign countries. The plan includes manufacturing its primary product in a specific country. Which operational strategy must be completed as part of this project?

Finding a location for the production facility

A company established a long-term strategic-planning goal to expand operations to international markets. The managers are now tasked with developing the strategic objectives to meet this goal. Which customer-driven operational strategy will support this task?

Identifying the market position with the expansion

A company's operational strategy targets a 10% improvement in customer service satisfaction ratings. Companies in this market usually see a 3% improvement in customer service satisfaction ratings. Which aspect of SMART goal planning does this represent?

Measurable

A store changed its production approach to one that is more time-consuming. The manager tells its employees that the change will drive up the cost of production, resulting in a price increase and a loss of customers.Which process barrier to change is the manager exhibiting?

Negative attitude and fear that the organization may change for the worse

A company is making a major change to the manufacturing process of glassware and is adding custom engraving to several of the products. Workers are concerned that productivity will drop when the new step is added and that error rates during the engraving process will be high. The owner understands the issues associated with making a top-down change and is committed to helping the employees understand the reasoning behind the decision. Which employee issue is associated with this change direction?

Reluctance to move away from an established routine

A technology company trains businesses to use web-based solutions to track customer product decisions. Which aspect of operations will this technology improve?

Sales forecasting accuracy

An organization is in the process of implementing a strategic management process to accomplish long-term goals and sustain competitive advantage. What is the first step this organization should take in this process?

Strategic objectives and analysis

A nursing home manager has been given a goal of reducing patient falls by 20% over the next three years by implementing a falls prevention protocol and reporting results annually. What is this manager's role now that the method to meet this objective has been established?

Supervising implementation of the plan