Deck 24: Methods Improvement: Making Work-And Life-Easier

Question 1

It is well known among productivity improvement experts that there exists one best way to perform every task and that our job is to find it.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Methods improvement is not often seen as a high priority task by a great many supervisors.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

When methods improvement is approached with a spirit of participative management, often there are positive returns in employee attitude.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Work simplification is the present-day term for what was called team-oriented process improvement in the past.

Question 5

The first step in the methods improvement process is to gather all of the facts that could prove pertinent.

Question 6

The employees may see much that remains hidden to the supervisor because nobody knows the inner details of a task better than the person who does it every day.

Question 7

Left to themselves for prolonged periods, work activities will experience creeping changes that are usually unplanned improvements.

Question 8

In every department are numerous ways in which a conscientious supervisor and a few positively motivated employees can improve work methods and contain costs.

Question 9

Every employee at every level should be encouraged to retain the basic message that cost containment must be a way of life in the organization.

Question 10

Every last task in the department should be subjected to detailed analysis for possible improvement.

Question 11

The amount of effort put into the analysis of a task in search of an improved method will depend mostly on:

A) The presence of the appropriate knowledge and ability in the department.
B) Whether the involved employees can be motivated to undertake improvement.
C) Whether the frequency of task performance makes the method improvement undertaking worth the effort economically.
D) Sufficient motivation on the part of the supervisor to improve the involved process.

Question 12

The flow process chart is a methods analysis tool that:

A) Captures a sequence of all operations, transportations, delays, inspections, and storages during a process or activity.
B) Examines only operations where the work is advanced and inspections where the work is checked.
C) Illustrates the movement of personnel or material throughout a given physical area.
D) Shows how a worker and a piece of equipment work relative to each other.

Question 13

The human problems encountered in the implementation of new work procedures are most likely owing to:

A) A lack of specific skills among the department's employees.
B) The classic problems of resistance to change.
C) Employee protectiveness of their own areas of involvement.
D) Lack of individual motivation among employees.

Question 14

Arguably, the potentially most important part of any methods improvement project is:

A) First ensuring that the effort to be expended will be worth it in terms of improvement. .
B) Making certain that all pertinent data is available to those who are involved.
C) Developing multiple alternatives.
D) Conscientious follow-up on implementation.

Question 15

The significant signs that often suggest a particular task deserves analysis and improvement include:

A) There are chronic backlogs of incomplete work; work "piles up."
B) Poor morale is prevalent among those who perform the task.
C) The activity is costing more than you know it should cost.
D) All of the above.

Question 16

In methods improvement terms, an ___________ is any activity that advances the completion of the task under consideration.

Question 17

An institution-wide methods improvement program should ordinarily consist of three phases: philosophy, ____________, and application.

Question 18

The _______________ attitude has its foundation in each employee's belief that improvement is always possible

Question 19

For a methods improvement program succeed in the long run, ____________ support should be active and visible.

Question 20

An important indicator of the proper use of the ______________ is embodied in the need for the user to note whether the chart follows a person or the movement of material.