Deck 6: Managing Quality

Question 1

An improvement in quality must necessarily increase costs.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Which of the following is NOT one of the major categories of costs associated with quality?

A) prevention costs
B) appraisal costs
C) internal failure costs
D) external failure costs
E) None of these; they are all major categories of costs associated with quality.

Answer 2

E

Question 3

Which of the following statements regarding Arnold Palmer Hospital is FALSE?

A) The hospital uses a wide range of quality management techniques.
B) The culture of quality at the hospital includes employees at all levels.
C) The hospital scores very highly in national studies of patient satisfaction.
D) The hospital's high quality is measured by low readmission rates, not patient satisfaction.
E) Supplies are delivered to Arnold Palmer on a just-in-time (JIT) basis.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

"Making it right the first time" is:

A) an unrealistic definition of quality.
B) a user-based definition of quality.
C) a manufacturing-based definition of quality.
D) a product-based definition of quality.
E) the definition of quality proposed by the American Society for Quality

Question 5

Quality can improve profitability by reducing costs. Which of the following is NOT an aspect of reduced costs by quality improvements?

A) flexible pricing
B) increased productivity
C) lower rework and scrap costs
D) lower warranty costs
E) All of these are aspects of reduced costs by quality improvements.

Question 6

"Making it right the first time" is the focus of the user-based definition of quality.

Question 7

According to the manufacturing-based definition of quality:

A) quality is the degree of excellence at an acceptable price and the control of variability at an acceptable cost.
B) quality depends on how well the product fits patterns of consumer preferences.
C) even though quality cannot be defined, you know what it is.
D) quality is the degree to which a specific product conforms to standards.
E) quality lies in the eyes of the beholder.

Question 8

Internal failure costs are associated with testing, labs, and inspectors.

Question 9

Deming's writings on quality tend to focus on the customer and on fitness for use, unlike Juran's work that is oriented toward meeting specifications.

Question 10

Arnold Palmer Hospital uses ________ to seek new ways to reduce readmission rates.

Question 11

A successful quality strategy features which of the following elements?

A) an organizational culture that fosters quality
B) an understanding of the principles of quality
C) engaging employees in the necessary activities to implement quality
D) A and C
E) A, B, and C

Question 12

"Quality lies in the eyes of the beholder" is:

A) an unrealistic definition of quality.
B) a user-based definition of quality.
C) a manufacturing-based definition of quality.
D) a product-based definition of quality.
E) the definition of quality proposed by the American Society for Quality.

Question 13

One study found that companies with the highest levels of quality are how many times more productive than their competitors with the lowest quality levels?

A) 2
B) 3
C) 4
D) 5
E) None of the above because quality has no impact on productivity (units/labor hr.).

Question 14

Three broad categories of definitions of quality are:

A) product quality, service quality, and organizational quality.
B) user based, manufacturing based, and product based.
C) internal, external, and prevention.
D) low-cost, response, and differentiation.
E) Pareto, Shewhart, and Deming.

Question 15

Conforming to standards is the focus of the product-based definition of quality.

Question 16

The definition of quality adopted by The American Society for Quality is a manufacturing-based definition.

Question 17

Improved quality can increase profitability via allowing flexible pricing.

Question 18

Joseph M. Juran is credited with both of these quality catch-phrases: "quality is free" and "zero defects."

Question 19

Arnold Palmer Hospital uses which of the following quality management techniques?

A) Pareto charts
B) flowcharts
C) benchmarking
D) just-in-time
E) The hospital uses all of these techniques.

Question 20

Managers at Arnold Palmer Hospital take quality so seriously that the hospital typically is a national leader in several quality areas-so that continuous improvement is no longer necessary.

Question 21

Stakeholders who are affected by the production and marketing of poor quality products include:

A) stockholders and employees.
B) suppliers and creditors.
C) customers and distributors.
D) all of these
E) none of these.

Question 22

Not only customers, but stockholders, suppliers, and others, are among the ________ whose values must be protected in making ethical decisions concerning the quality of products.

Question 23

GE's recall of 3.1 million dishwashers cost the company more in repairs than the value of the actual dishwashers. This is an example of which quality principle?

A) PDCA
B) internal failure costs
C) appraisal costs
D) cost of poor quality is underestimated
E) prevention costs

Question 24

Which of the four major categories of quality costs is particularly hard to quantify?

A) prevention costs
B) appraisal costs
C) internal failure costs
D) external failure costs
E) None is hard to quantify.

Question 25

Juran varies from Deming somewhat in focusing on the ________ and defining quality as ________, not necessarily the written specifications.

Question 26

The focus of ISO 9000 is to enhance success through what eight quality management principles?

Question 27

"Quality Is Free," meaning that the costs of poor quality have been understated, is the work of:

A) W. Edwards Deming.
B) Joseph M. Juran.
C) Philip B. Crosby.
D) Crosby, Stills, and Nash.
E) Armand Feigenbaum.

Question 28

In a sentence or two, summarize the contribution of Philip Crosby to quality management.

Question 29

Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A) Self-promotion is not a substitute for quality products.
B) Inferior products harm a firm's profitability and a nation's balance of payments.
C) Product liability transfers from the manufacturer to the retailer once the retailer accepts delivery of the product.
D) Quality-be it good or bad-will show up in perceptions about a firm's new products, employment practices, and supplier relations.
E) Legislation such as the Consumer Product Safety Act sets and enforces product standards by banning products that do not reach those standards.

Question 30

To become ISO 9000 certified, organizations must:

A) document quality procedures.
B) have an onsite assessment.
C) have an ongoing series of audits of their products or service.
D) all of these
E) none of these

Question 31

State the American Society for Quality's definition of quality. Of the three "flavors" or categories of quality definitions, which type is it? Explain.

Question 32

The work by ________ regarding how people learn from each other's successes led to the field of cross-functional teamwork.

Question 33

________ costs result from production of defective parts or services before delivery to the customer.

Question 34

Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A) Juran coined the term zero defects.
B) Feigenbaum's work in how people learn from each other's successes led to the field of cross-functional teamwork.
C) Crosby defined quality as fitness for use.
D) Juran wrote the 14 points for implementing quality improvement.
E) Deming laid out 40 steps to quality improvement process in his 1961 book.

Question 35

What is a set of quality standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization?

A) Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
B) Deming Prize
C) Six Sigma
D) IOS 2009
E) ISO 9000

Question 36

"The employee cannot produce products that on average exceed the quality of what the process is capable of producing" expresses a basic philosophy in the writings of:

A) Vilfredo Pareto.
B) Armand Feigenbaum.
C) Joseph M. Juran.
D) W. Edwards Deming.
E) Philip B. Crosby.

Question 37

All of the following costs are likely to decrease as a result of better quality EXCEPT:

A) customer dissatisfaction costs.
B) inspection costs.
C) scrap costs.
D) warranty and service costs.
E) maintenance costs.

Question 38

Quality has at least three categories of definitions; identify them. Provide a brief explanation of each.

Question 39

Regarding the quality of design, production, and distribution of products, an ethical requirement for management is to:

A) determine whether any of the organization's stakeholders are being wronged by poor quality products.
B) gain ISO 9000 certification for the organization.
C) obtain a product safety certificate from the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
D) have the organization's legal staff write disclaimers in the product instruction booklets.
E) compare the cost of product liability to the external failure cost.

Question 40

Identify the four costs of quality. Which one is hardest to evaluate? Explain.

Question 41

PDCA, developed by Shewhart, stands for which of the following?

A) Plan-Do-Check-Act
B) Plan-Develop-Check-Accept
C) Problem-Develop Solution-Check-Act
D) Problem-Do-Continue-Act
E) Prepare-Develop-Create-Assess

Question 42

Kaizen is similar to TQM in that both are focused on continuous improvement.

Question 43

Line employees need the knowledge of TQM tools.

Question 44

Continuous improvement is based on the philosophy that not every aspect of an operation can be improved.

Question 45

One of the ways that just-in-time (or JIT) influences quality is that by reducing inventory, bad quality is exposed.

Question 46

The quality loss function indicates that costs related to poor quality are low as long as the product is within acceptable specification limits.

Question 47

Quality is mostly the business of the quality control staff, not ordinary employees.

Question 48

Benchmarking requires the comparison of your firm to other organizations; it is not appropriate to benchmark by comparing one of your divisions to another of your divisions.

Question 49

Quality circles empower employees to improve productivity by finding solutions to work-related problems in their work area.

Question 50

Benchmarking requires the comparison of your firm to other similar organizations in your industry; it is not appropriate to look outside your industry.

Question 51

Describe how ISO 9000 has evolved in the past several years.

Question 52

A Three Sigma program has how many defects per thousand?

A) 34
B) 2.7
C) 3 times the standard deviation
D) 2700
E) 1500

Question 53

A Six Sigma program has how many defects per million?

A) 3.4
B) 34
C) 1000
D) 6 times the standard deviation
E) 2700

Question 54

One of Britain's largest children's hospitals working with a Ferrari racing team is an example of:

A) internal benchmarking.
B) external benchmarking.
C) Taguchi concepts.
D) employee empowerment.
E) corporate responsibility.

Question 55

A hospital benchmarked against a Ferrari racing team in an effort to:

A) improve patient handoff quality.
B) increase surgery prep time.
C) lengthen surgery duration.
D) reduce the number of doctors.
E) all of these

Question 56

The phrase Six Sigma has two meanings. One is statistical, referring to an extremely high process, product, or service capability; the other is a comprehensive system for achieving and sustaining business success.

Question 57

The philosophy of zero defects is:

A) the result of Deming's research.
B) unrealistic.
C) prohibitively costly.
D) an ultimate goal; in practice, 1 to 2% defects is acceptable.
E) consistent with the commitment to continuous improvement.

Question 58

Based on his 14 Points, Deming is a strong proponent of:

A) inspection at the end of the production process.
B) an increase in numerical quotas to boost productivity.
C) looking for the cheapest supplier.
D) training and knowledge.
E) all of these.

Question 59

TQM is important because each of the ten decisions made by operations managers deals with some aspect of identifying and meeting customer expectations.

Question 60

PDCA is most often applied with regard to which aspect of TQM?

A) Six Sigma
B) employee empowerment
C) continuous improvement
D) benchmarking
E) JIT

Question 61

What shape does the quality loss function exhibit?

A) quadratic
B) linear
C) S-shaped
D) concave
E) bell-curve

Question 62

________ selects a demonstrated standard of performance that represents the very best performance for a process or an activity.

Question 63

The process of identifying other organizations that are best at some facet of your operations and then modeling your organization after them is known as:

A) continuous improvement.
B) employee empowerment.
C) benchmarking.
D) copycatting.
E) patent infringement.

Question 64

Which of the following statements regarding "Six Sigma" is TRUE?

A) The term has two distinct meanings-one is statistical; the other is a comprehensive quality system.
B) Six Sigma means that about 94 percent of a firm's output is free of defects.
C) The Six Sigma program was developed by Toyota in the 1970s.
D) The Six Sigma program is for manufacturing firms and is not applicable to services.
E) Six Sigma certification is granted by the International Standards Organization (ISO).

Question 65

Which of the following is TRUE regarding Taguchi concepts?

A) Taguchi emphasizes spec limit-oriented quality.
B) His idea is to remove the causes of adverse conditions instead of removing the effects.
C) Small variations in materials and process do not destroy product quality.
D) Conformance-oriented systems are better than target-oriented ones.
E) As the item output moves away from its target value, the quality cost will increase linearly.

Question 66

Identify the five steps of DMAIC.

Question 67

Members of quality circles are:

A) paid according to their contribution to quality.
B) external consultants designed to provide training in the use of quality tools.
C) always machine operators.
D) all trained to be facilitators.
E) None of these; all of the statements are false.

Question 68

Six Sigma was developed by ________ in the 1980s.

Question 69

________ is the Japanese word for the ongoing process of unending improvement.

Question 70

Suppose that a firm has historically been achieving "Three Sigma" quality. If the firm later changes its quality management practices such that it begins to achieve "Six Sigma" quality, which of the following phenomena will result?

A) The average number of defects will be cut in half.
B) The specification limits will be moved twice as far from the mean.
C) The average number of defects will be cut by 99.9997%.
D) The average number of defects will be cut by 99.87%.
E) The average number of defects will be cut by 99.73%.

Question 71

A group of employees that meet on a regular basis with a facilitator to solve work-related problems in their work area is a(n) ________.

Question 72

Kaizen is a Japanese term meaning:

A) a foolproof mechanism.
B) just-in-time (JIT).
C) a fishbone diagram.
D) setting standards.
E) continuous improvement.

Question 73

A manager tells her production employees, "It's no longer good enough that your work falls anywhere within the specification limits. I need your work to be as close to the target value as possible." Her thinking is reflective of:

A) internal benchmarking.
B) Six Sigma.
C) ISO 9000.
D) Taguchi concepts.
E) process control charts.

Question 74

Costs of dissatisfaction, repair costs, and decreased future demand are elements of cost in the:

A) quality loss function.
B) Pareto chart.
C) ISO 9000 quality cost calculator.
D) process chart.
E) Ishikawa diagram.

Question 75

Building high-morale organizations and building communication networks that include employees are both elements of:

A) ISO 9000 certification.
B) Six Sigma certification.
C) employee empowerment.
D) Taguchi methods.
E) the tools of TQM.

Question 76

Techniques for building employee empowerment include:

A) building communication networks that include employees.
B) developing open, supportive supervisors.
C) moving responsibility from both managers and staff to production employees.
D) building high-morale organizations.
E) All of these are techniques for employee empowerment.

Question 77

Total quality management emphasizes:

A) the responsibility of the quality control staff to identify and solve all quality-related problems.
B) a commitment to quality that goes beyond internal company issues to suppliers and customers.
C) a system where strong managers are the only decision makers.
D) a process where mostly statisticians get involved.
E) ISO 14000 certification.

Question 78

A successful TQM program incorporates all EXCEPT which of the following?

A) continuous improvement
B) employee involvement
C) benchmarking
D) centralized decision-making authority
E) JIT

Question 79

Enlarging employee jobs so that the added responsibility and authority is moved to the lowest level possible in the organization is called ________.

Question 80

If 10 million passengers pass through the St. Louis Airport with checked baggage each month, a successful Six Sigma program for baggage handling would result in how many passengers with misplaced luggage?

A) 3.4
B) 6.0
C) 34
D) 2700
E) 6 times the monthly standard deviation of passengers