Deck 21: Science and Systems in an Information Age

Question 1

W. Edwards Deming pioneered statistical quality control at the Western Electric Company.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Operations research techniques were applied first in the area of human resource management where there was a great need for more quantifiable decisions.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The Germans formed the first "operations research teams"
of various specialists in an effort to bring their knowledge to bear upon the problems of radar systems and civilian defense matters.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

"Just-in-time" inventory management reduces the cost of carrying inventory, that is, inventory "float.".

Question 5

W. Edwards Deming was very successful with Japanese industry before the U.S. managers became interested.

Question 6

The Gordon and Howell report (1959) praised production management courses as the most "intellectually stimulating"
in business school curricula.

Question 7

The Gantt Chart concept was extended and enriched by PERT and CPM techniques.

Question 8

"Benchmarking" insures the firm has a competitive advantage by following the best practices of its competitors.

Question 9

Cybernetics showed that all systems could be designed to control themselves through a communications loop that fed back information allowing the organism to adjust to its environment.

Question 10

Taiichi Ohno developed his "just-in-time" system of inventory management from practices at the Ford Motor Company.

Question 11

The International Organization for Standardization was established to insure each nation followed the best practices within its industry.

Question 12

Was the application of scientific knowledge and methods to the study of complex problems with the stated purpose of deriving a quantitative basis for decisions which would accomplish the organization's objective.

A) scientific research
B) behavioral research
C) operations research
D) organizational research
E) none of the above

Question 13

In the modern era, management science uses mathematics and the scientific method to help solve the problem(s) of:

A) the optimum allocation of scarce resources.
B) defining the firm's social responsibility.
C) facilitating human adjustment to environmental changes.
D) all of the above.
E) none of the above.

Question 14

Statistical quality control was pioneered at Western Electric by:

A) Elton Mayo
B) Walter Shewhart
C) Clair Turner
D) Frederick W. Taylor
E) Bing Crosby

Question 15

__________ is a modern adaptations of the Gantt Chart:

A) Statistical Quality Control
B) POSDCORB
C) Industry best practices
D) PPBS
E) PERT

Question 16

Took Shewhart's ideas on quality control to Japan.

A) Ludwig von Bertalanffy
B) P.M.S. Blackett
C) Lillian Gilbreth
D) W. Edwards Deming
E) A.V. Feigenbaum

Question 17

Is the phrase used to describe the formation of small problem-solving groups of workers, supervisors, and specialists for the purpose of developing better ways of doing a job.

A) project research groups
B) task improvement teams
C) quantity cadres
D) quality circles
E) participative planning teams

Question 18

_____________ of the Toyota Motor Company developed "just-in-time" inventory management from earlier ideas at the Ford Motor Company.

A) P.M.S. Blackett
B) Frederick W. Taylor
C) W. Edwards Deming
D) Joseph Juran
E) Taiichi Ohno

Question 19

A more modern view of production/operations management is that:

A) more quantification is needed to prescribe better models.
B) the lowest manufacturing cost is not always the most competitive cost.
C) manufacturing strategy must be incorporated in overall corporate strategy.
D) all of the above.
E) only b and b above.

Question 20

"Just-in-time" inventory management:

A) is an idea generally credited to Taiichi Ohno
B) was developed as part of the Toyota Production System
C) was practiced at the Ford Motor Company
D) all of the above.
E) only and above.

Question 21

What are the advantages and disadvantages of "just-in-time" inventory management? Apply this concept to some everyday activity, such as a trip to the supermarket.

Question 22

How did operations research begin? What was its purpose? How did it impact production management? Compare Operations Research methods with Frederick Taylor's metal-cutting experiments.

Question 23

Compare and contrast the Gantt Chart with PERT and CPM. To what kind of production system would these apply -- batch, mass, continuous processing? Explain why.