Chapter 1 & 2 MGT 3332

Suppose a country's productivity last year was 84. If this country's productivity growth rate of 5 percent is to be maintained, this means that this year's productivity will have to be: 82.8. 78.9. 79.8. 4.2. 88.2.

88.2

Government statistics are a good source of data about productivity trends in the service sector. True False

False

Improving efficiency will guarantee a similar improvement in productivity. True False

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. True False

False

Mission statements should be as specific as possible regarding exactly how they will be accomplished. True False

False

Most people encounter operations only in profit-making organizations. True False

False

Organizational strategy should be determined without considering the realities of functional area strengths and weaknesses since they can be changed to meet our strategy. True False

False

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

False

Services can be stored and are not provided "on demand." True False

False

Measurements taken at various points in the transformation process for control purposes are called feedback. plans. budgets. controls. directions.

Feedback

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

Internal audits.

Which of the following is a common complaint that employers have when hiring recent college graduates? not understanding the importance of customer service lack of general knowledge of how businesses operate not understanding the functions of accounting, finance, and marketing lack of knowledge of economic analysis and forecasting lack of knowledge about global dependencies of companies

Lack of general knowledge of how businesses operate

Among Ford's many contributions was the introduction of mass production, using the concepts of interchangeable parts and division of labor. True False

True

An example of an operational operations management decision is inventory level management. True False

True

Elton Mayo's Hawthorne experiments were significant contributions to the human relations movement, which emphasized the importance of the human element in job design. True False

True

Service often requires relatively greater labor content when compared to manufacturing. True False

True

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

True

Strategy includes both organizational and functional strategies. True False

True

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

True

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

True

The hierarchy and sequence of planning and decision making is: mission, organizational strategy, tactics, and operational decisions. True False

True

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

True

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

A systems approach concentrates on efficiency within subsystems.

If one organization is better able than most to respond to changes in demands or opportunities, we say that organization exhibits higher? marketability. efficiency. productivity. agility. sustainability.

Agility

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

Any variation makes a production process less productive

_____ and _____ customers are factors in quality. Efficiency; retaining Cost; improving Attracting; retaining Flexibility; attracting Capacity; improving

Attracting; retaining

Knowledge skills usually don't include global knowledge. process knowledge. financial skills. accounting skills. communication skills.

Communication skills.

Unique attributes of firms that give them a competitive edge are called: supply chains. sustainable initiatives. functional strategies. core competencies. Balanced Scorecards.

Core competencies.

Competitiveness relates to the profitability of an organization in the marketplace. True False

False

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

Emphasizing labor productivity in labor-intensive environments

For firms competing in worldwide markets, conducting __________________ is more complex, since what works in one country or region might not work in another. environmental analysis productivity analysis strategy implementation sustainability analysis growth forecasting

Environmental analysis

An organization that is twice as productive as its competitor will be twice as profitable. True False

False

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. marketable manufacturable nameable segmentable profitable

Manufacturable

In the 1970s and early 1980s in the United States, organizations concentrated on: operations strategies. environmental issues. revising mission statements. improving quality. marketing and financial strategies.

Marketing and financial strategies.

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

Mass production for greater economies of scale

Which of the following is not typically considered a cure for poor competitiveness? Remove communications barriers within organizations. Minimize attention to the operations function. Put less emphasis on short-term financial results. Recognize labor as a valuable asset and act to develop it. Improve quality.

Minimize attention to the operations function.

Farming is an example of customized manufacturing. an obsolete activity. a growth industry. nonmanufactured goods production. a virtual organization.

Nonmanufactured Goods production

An organization's mission statement serves as the basis for: operating procedures. environmental scanning. distinctiveness. core competencies. organizational goals.

Oganizational goals.

Scheduling personnel is an example of an operations management: mission implementation. functional strategy. operational decision. tactical decision. organizational strategy.

Operational decision.

The external elements of SWOT analysis are: strengths and weaknesses. strengths and threats. strengths and opportunities. weaknesses and opportunities. opportunities and threats.

Opportunities and threats.

Years ago in the overnight delivery business, providing package tracking capability gave some firms a competitive advantage. Now, all firms must offer this capability simply to be in this line of business. This is an example of ______________ becoming ____________ over time. order qualifiers; order winners strategic implications; tactical tactical implications; strategic order winners; order qualifiers profitability factors; productivity factors

Order winners; order qualifiers

Buying goods or services instead of producing or providing them in-house is called vertical integration. downsizing. entrepreneurship. internationalization. outsourcing.

Outsourcing

Which of the following is least likely to affect the cost an organization incurs in producing its products or services? price quality inventory management productivity location

Price

Core competencies in organizations generally do not relate to: time. cost. quality. flexibility. sales price.

Sales price.

Product design and choice of location are examples of _______ decisions. tactical design customer-focused operational strategic

Strategic

Which of the following refers to service and production processes that use resources in ways that do not harm ecological systems? supportability marketability perishability transportability sustainability

Sustainability

Taking a systems viewpoint with regard to operations in today's environment increasingly leads decision makers to consider ______________ in response to the ___________. flexibility; pressure to be more efficient sustainability; threat of global warming forecasting; stabilization of demand technology; impact of random variation offshoring; need to promote domestic production

Sustainability; threat of global warming

Product design and process selection are examples of _______ decisions. tactical financial system design system operation forecasting

System design

A mission statement should provide a guide for the formulation of strategies for the organization. True False

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 False

True