Question 1

Pam is preparing her company's annual review process.This year,she has decided to gather information from each employee's supervisor,colleagues,and even some client contacts.What type of review is Pam planning?

Accepted Answer

Pam is planning a 360-degree review process, where feedback is gathered from multiple sources, including supervisors, colleagues, and clients. This type of review allows for a more comprehensive evaluation of an employee's performance.

Question 2

Gloria has just been named CEO of a struggling athletic shoe company.Some employees are excited for the future.Others are nervous because Gloria favors a fundamental rethinking of the company's business.Gloria is clearly an advocate of ________.

Accepted Answer

Gloria favors a fundamental rethinking of the company's business, which is the primary characteristic of Business Process Reengineering (BPR). BPR is a management approach that seeks to radically redesign business processes to improve their quality, efficiency, and effectiveness. Six Sigma, kaizen, and TQM are other quality management approaches that aim to improve organizational performance but do not necessarily involve fundamental business process redesign.

Question 3

Suki's dress pattern business has grown quickly.She meets with advisors to plan the company's next phase,and tells them she's likely to use the Beyond Budgeting control system.One thing that attracted Suki to the system is that it focuses on ________.

Accepted Answer

The Beyond Budgeting control system focuses on empowering employees rather than tightly controlling them, eliminating redundancy, or centralizing decision making. Suki's interest in this system suggests she values giving her employees greater autonomy and trust in their abilities.

Question 4

Which of the following is NOT related to business process reengineering?

Accepted Answer

Business process reengineering involves radical changes to processes, a focus on customer needs, and redesigning systems to improve performance. An incremental approach involves making small changes over time, which is not consistent with the philosophy of business process reengineering. Therefore, D is the correct answer.

Question 5

Annie dreads this time of year.She has to anticipate her department's needs for the next six months and allocate financial resources to cover them.What type of financial control is Annie preparing?

Accepted Answer

Annie is preparing a budget which involves anticipating departmental needs and allocating financial resources for the next six months. A cash flow analysis, balance sheet, and profit and loss statement are important financial statements, but they do not involve the same process of allocating resources and anticipating future needs as a budget does.

Question 6

What are the primary goals of Six Sigma?

Accepted Answer

The primary goals of Six Sigma are to reduce costs and increase profits by improving process efficiency and quality.

Question 7

Juan believes that managing a business comes down to one simple thing: transforming inputs into outputs.Which term best describes Juan's philosophy?

Accepted Answer

Juan's philosophy revolves around the idea of transforming inputs (such as resources, materials, and labor) into outputs (such as products or services). This aligns with the principles of operations management, which is concerned with planning, organizing, and controlling the processes that are required to produce goods and services efficiently and effectively. Customer relations management is focused on building and maintaining relationships with customers, while scientific management and management by objectives are different approaches to achieving organizational goals.

Question 8

When Kai was laid off from her job,part of her felt relieved to be free of such a tightly controlled,top-down environment.One of her criteria for considering new employers will be organizations that promote a strong culture of empowering employees.Clearly Kai responds best to ________.

Accepted Answer

Kai's preference for organizations that promote empowering employees indicates that she responds best to normative control. Normative control is based on creating a shared understanding of an organization's values and beliefs and encouraging employees to align with and uphold them. This often involves empowering employees to make decisions and take ownership of their work, which appears to be an important factor for Kai.

Question 9

Which of the following is NOT one of the adaptability principles of the Beyond Budgeting model?

Accepted Answer

The Beyond Budgeting model focuses on adaptive and flexible management practices rather than traditional budgeting processes. It does not specifically advocate for rethinking the core business as a principle of adaptability. Instead, it emphasizes aspects like rewarding teams, inclusive strategy processes, and flexible resource use.

Question 10

Kamal has reviewed the monthly reports for his drug manufacturing facility.The group missed production targets on all but three days.Tomorrow he will gather employees to share strategies to exceed the targets next month.The meeting is which step in the control process?

Accepted Answer

The meeting that Kamal is holding with employees to share strategies to exceed production targets is a corrective action, which is the third step in the control process. The first step is creating standards and metrics, the second step is measuring performance, and the fourth step is comparing performance to standards. Since Kamal has already reviewed the monthly reports and determined that the production targets were not met, the next step is to take corrective action by brainstorming ways to improve performance in the future.

Question 11

Why does a command-and-control approach to management work well in the military but not in a traditional business?

Accepted Answer

Command-and-control management style is effective in the military because it is highly structured and hierarchical. In life-threatening situations, decisions need to be made quickly, and there is a clear chain of command that helps to ensure swift execution of orders. Soldiers are highly trained and follow orders, which work well in the military environment. However, in a traditional business, the focus is on creativity, innovation, and collaboration, which requires employees to be empowered, engaged, and motivated to contribute ideas and take ownership of their work. A command-and-control approach may stifle creativity and discourage employees from taking ownership, leading to low morale and high turnover.

Question 12

As an internal consultant in her company,Marianne employs a specific sequence of quality management methods to help departments reduce their costs.What is Marianne implementing?

Accepted Answer

The answer of As an internal consultant in her company,Marianne...

Question 13

Pham is a stickler for accountability,so he truly enjoys his job.He travels around the country doing formal reviews of companies to ensure that they have accurately managed and reported processes according to established guidelines.What does Pham do for work?

Accepted Answer

Pham's job involves conducting formal reviews of companies, which is essentially auditing their processes and ensuring they have followed guidelines accurately.

Question 14

Mike is planning to expand his business and invest in several new Taco Giant trucks.To qualify for a loan,the bank wants to know the net income of Mike's business.What kind of document should Mike provide?

Accepted Answer

A profit and loss statement, also known as an income statement, shows the revenue, expenses, and net income of a business over a specific time period. This will provide the bank with the information they need to assess the financial health of Mike's business and determine if he is eligible for a loan. A cash flow analysis, balance sheet, and budget would also provide useful information, but they may not specifically address the bank's request for net income.

Question 15

Vito believes his pizzeria can gain competitive advantage by offering the fastest delivery in town.After researching delivery-time benchmarks,he has asked his drivers to track the amount of time between receiving an order and delivering it for the next month.What step of the control process is Vito currently implementing?

Accepted Answer

Vito is measuring performance by tracking the amount of time between receiving an order and delivering it. This is the second step of the control process, where actual performance is measured against the established standards and metrics (which Vito has already created by researching delivery-time benchmarks). The next steps would be comparing performance to standards and taking corrective action if necessary.

Question 16

Which of the following is NOT key to Total Quality Management?

Accepted Answer

Large-scale redesign is not key to Total Quality Management as it goes against the principle of incremental improvement. Total Quality Management focuses on continuous and small changes, rather than large-scale redesigns. The other three options, customer focus, employee involvement, and incremental improvement, are key principles of Total Quality Management.

Question 17

Which of the following is focused on environmental concerns?

Accepted Answer

ISO 14000 is a series of international standards focused specifically on environmental management. It covers a range of topics such as minimizing waste, reducing energy consumption, and ensuring compliance with environmental regulations.

Question 18

As a highly-paid business consultant,Carlos tells his clients that they should strive for improvement measured in multiples not fractions.What approach does Carlos likely recommend to his clients?

Accepted Answer

Business Process Reengineering (BPR) focuses on redesigning business processes from the ground up to achieve dramatic improvements in productivity, cycle times, and quality, often seeking improvements in multiples rather than incremental or fractional improvements. This approach aligns with Carlos's advice to strive for improvement measured in multiples.

Question 19

Which of the following encourages employees to set their own performance goals?

Accepted Answer

MBO (Management by Objectives) encourages employees to set their own performance goals in collaboration with their managers, as part of the process. TQM (Total Quality Management) focuses on continuous improvement of processes and products/services, but does not necessarily involve employees setting their own goals. CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is a strategy for managing customer interactions and does not relate to employee goal setting. Lean management emphasizes reducing waste and improving efficiency, but also does not directly encourage employee goal setting.

Question 20

This week Tomas is conducting a series of quality circles at work.He will lead employees in discussions to explore process-based solutions for quality problems.What control approach is Tomas using?

Accepted Answer

Tomas is using quality circles to engage employees in discussions and explore process-based solutions for quality problems. This is a key component of Total Quality Management (TQM), which emphasizes continuous improvement and involving everyone in the organization in the pursuit of quality. Business Process Reengineering focuses on radical redesign of processes, Six Sigma is a data-driven approach to reducing errors and variability, and Lean Management aims to eliminate waste and increase efficiency. While these approaches may also involve employee engagement and process improvement, the focus and methods differ from TQM.

Quiz 12: Organizational Controls: People, processes, quality, and Results