Deck 16: Control Systems and Quality Management: Techniques for Enhancing Organizational Effectiveness

Question 1

Control systems can help managers anticipate, monitor, and react to environmental changes.

Answer 1

True
Explanation: Markets shift, consumer tastes change, new competitors appear, technologies are reborn, new materials are invented, and government regulations are altered.All organizations must deal with these kinds of environmental changes and uncertainties.Control systems can help managers anticipate, monitor, and react to these changes.

Question 2

Most economists agree that recent productivity growth is the result of an improved work ethic, primarily due to more Millennials in the workforce.

Answer 2

False
Explanation: Most economists seem to think the recent productivity growth is the result of organizations' huge investment in information technology like computers, the Internet, other telecommunications advances, and computer-guided production line improvements.

Question 3

Controlling is arranging tasks, people, and other resources to accomplish the work.

Answer 3

False
Explanation: Organizing is arranging tasks, people, and other resources to accomplish the work.

Question 4

The 1960s were characterized by very low productivity in the United States.

Question 5

Controlling is the only management function that affects productivity.

Question 6

A control standard is the average performance level for a given workplace activity.

Question 7

The purpose of controlling is to make sure that performance meets objectives.

Question 8

Productivity equals inputs divided by outputs.

Question 9

Raising productivity contributes to an increasing gross domestic product in the United States.

Question 10

If a manager increases the efficiency of labor but makes no improvements to the efficiency of capital, an increase in productivity will result.

Question 11

The control process begins with measuring performance.

Question 12

One reason why control is needed is to centralize decision making.

Question 13

Japanese-produced cars that were perceived as better built than American ones resulted from the Japanese use of controls.

Question 14

Standards are best measured when they can be made quantifiable.

Question 15

One way to improve productivity is to encourage employee involvement in improving work processes.

Question 16

Performance measures can be obtained through personal observation.

Question 17

Controlling is one of the four management functions.

Question 18

Control is making something happen the way it was planned to happen.

Question 19

Lumber mills that sell sawdust and wood chips are increasing their efficiency of labor and thereby improving productivity.

Question 20

A markdown on certain grocery-store items may result in a rush of customer demand for those products, which is an example of the control systems benefit of detecting threats.

Question 21

Strategy maps show the cause-and-effect links between environmental factors and preferred strategy.

Question 22

Strategic control is monitoring performance to ensure that day-to-day goals are being met and taking corrective action when needed.

Question 23

A maximum 2% deviation from the standard is the acceptable level prescribed for control systems.

Question 24

One of the reasons that measurement-managed firms succeed is that their organizational cultures tend to minimize risk taking.

Question 25

Measurement-managed companies are those in which senior management agrees on measureable criteria to determine strategic success.

Question 26

An equipment control that monitors the use of computers is part of the informational area of organizational control.

Question 27

Except for in rare instances, employees at McLaren Professional Painting take responsibility for their own work and how it is done, rather than being governed by a rigid set of rules.McLaren is using bureaucratic control.

Question 28

When performance exceeds the standards set in the control systems, managers should take no action.

Question 29

Social responsibility and ethics make up one of the four indicators used in the balanced scorecard.

Question 30

Financial measures like quarterly sales figures are not adequate for gauging changes in contemporary value-creating activities.

Question 31

Tactical control is monitoring performance to ensure that divisional or departmental plans are being implemented and taking corrective action as needed.

Question 32

Drug tests at hiring are an example of the human resources area of organizational control.

Question 33

The three levels of control are strategic, tactical, and operational.

Question 34

A strategy map is a visual representation of the four perspectives of the balanced scorecard that enables managers to communicate their goals.

Question 35

Computer information systems are helpful in the internal business perspective of the balanced scorecard.

Question 36

Decentralized control is most appropriate for an organization in which the tasks are explicit and certain.

Question 37

Middle-level managers are responsible for operational control.

Question 38

Bureaucratic control is characterized by the use of rules, regulations, and formal authority to guide performance.

Question 39

The balanced scorecard, also known as the triple bottom line, gives top managers a fast but comprehensive view of the organization via three indicators.

Question 40

Management by exception is a control principle that states that managers should be informed of a situation only if data show a significant deviation from standards.

Question 41

The task of external auditors is to verify that the organization, in preparing its financial statements, followed generally accepted accounting principles.

Question 42

The two core principles of TQM are people orientation and improvement orientation.

Question 43

The RATER scale enables customers to rate the quality of manufactured goods along five dimensions.

Question 44

A variable budget allows the allocation of resources to vary in proportion with various levels of activity.

Question 45

The practice of evaluating financial ratios to determine an organization's financial health is called viability analysis.

Question 46

TQM assumes that, if given empowerment, employees will focus on strategic goal setting.

Question 47

An internal audit is a verification of an organization's financial accounts and statements by the organization's own professional staff.

Question 48

Incremental budgeting requires setting up many budgets based on short periods, which together make up the full resource requirement.

Question 49

In Deming's PDCA cycle, "A" stands for "act," which means to implement the change or make a small scale test.

Question 50

A fixed budget does not allow for adjustment over time except when there are pertinent changes in the environment.

Question 51

An expense budget anticipates investment in major assets such as land, buildings, and major equipment.

Question 52

A balance sheet summarizes an organization's overall financial worth at a specific point in time.

Question 53

A cash flow statement summarizes an organization's financial results over a specified period of time.

Question 54

A principle of Deming management is that quality should be aimed at the needs of the worker.

Question 55

A formal financial projection is known as a budget.

Question 56

The most popular form of budgeting is known as zero-based budgeting.

Question 57

On her first visit to a new doctor's office, Melanie noted the fine furniture in the lobby and the crisp white coats that each of the staff wore.She was judging the tangibles dimension of the RATER scale.

Question 58

TQM assumes that it's better to make small improvement all the time.

Question 59

One difficulty with incremental budgets is that they tend to lock departments into stable spending arrangements.

Question 60

Informal feedback systems interfere with effective measurement.

Question 61

Productivity equals

A)labor, capital, energy, and materials, divided by goods and services produced.
B)goods and services and energy and materials, divided by labor and capital produced.
C)labor, energy, and capital, divided by goods, services, and materials.
D)goods and services produced, divided by labor, capital, energy, and materials.
E)energy and materials, divided by labor and capital.

Question 62

Which of the following is a primary function of management?

A)Communicating
B)Organizing
C)Cooperating
D)Globalizing
E)Influencing

Question 63

Managers should develop control standards when they are developing strategic plans.

Question 64

Twice daily, factory workers at Teller Copperworks select random samples from the production runs and test them for quality, rejecting runs if too many samples fall outside a standard range of acceptability.These workers are engaged in benchmarking.

Question 65

______ is defined as monitoring performance, comparing it with goals, and taking corrective action as needed.

A)Measuring
B)Controlling
C)Organizing
D)Leading
E)Planning

Question 66

Employees frustrated by too much control in the workplace may turn to sabotage of the control process.

Question 67

Control systems are significantly improved by focusing them on reporting.

Question 68

Managers can increase overall productivity by

A)decreasing efficiency of capital.
B)increasing energy.
C)increasing the efficiency of materials.
D)decreasing the efficiency of labor.
E)decreasing outputs.

Question 69

Which of the following is a challenge a manager will deal with in the 21^st century?

A)Sustainability
B)Employee revolts
C)Economic stagnation
D)Leadership vacuums
E)Religious issues

Question 70

Reduced cycle time means a reduction in steps in a work process.

Question 71

Reema was recently promoted to facilities director at Harvest Processing.Which of the following should she do immediately as she tries to improve productivity?

A)Use the established technology with which her employees are most familiar.
B)Rotate all personnel so that each has an opportunity to try something new.
C)Hire new employees such that they are similar to those already on the team.
D)Immediately cut costs.
E)Establish a system of measurement.

Question 72

Which of the following has been a primary source of productivity gains in the years 1995 to 2001?

A)Reduced standards of living.
B)Recessionary spending.
C)Reemphasis on ethical business behaviors.
D)Enterprise resource planning software systems.
E)Reduced costs of raw materials through globalization.

Question 73

Corrine, a customer service manager, tracks monthly complaints and has been trying over the past six months to reduce them to fewer than 0.2% with additional training for her staff.She is engaged in

A)controlling.
B)organizing.
C)measuring.
D)leading.
E)planning.

Question 74

Which of the following best describes ERP systems?

A)Information systems that integrate all aspects of business.
B)Comprehensive systems for identifying and measuring changes in productivity.
C)Popular recruiting systems that help to maximize diversity in the workplace.
D)Training systems for employees that allow self-discovery and correction of weaknesses.
E)Control systems in which managers are made aware of all deviations from standards.

Question 75

Which of the following is not one of the reasons that control is needed in an organization?

A)To adapt to change and uncertainty.
B)To eliminate the need for teamwork.
C)To detect opportunities.
D)To deal with complexity.
E)To decentralize decision making.

Question 76

Gulf Satellite has restructured its procedures for service calls, reducing the number of steps involved so that employees can finish each call faster.Gulf has engaged in reduced cycle time.

Question 77

Lean Six Sigma focuses on problem solving and performance improvement.

Question 78

Though ISO 9000 can help a company improve its processes, unfortunately this quality designation is only accepted currently by the United States.

Question 79

According to Six Sigma, 99% perfect is the threshold for accepting defects in manufacturing and service-related products.

Question 80

Control systems should leave no room for individual judgment.