Question 1

Business process reengineering

Accepted Answer

A)  involves radically redesigning and streamlining the workflow (typically enabled by cutting-edge use of online technology and information systems), with the goal of achieving quantum gains in performance of the activity. 
B)  is not a useful tool for streamlining a company's work effort and moving it closer to operational excellence. 
C)  is the major tool that ambidextrous organizations deploy to drive continuous improvement efforts. 
D)  is typically cheaper and easier than using Six Sigma techniques to achieve the same cost savings. 
E)  is a company's best justification for eliminating all nonmonetary rewards and incentives for its employees. 
A)  involves radically redesigning and streamlining the workflow (typically enabled by cutting-edge use of online technology and information systems), with the goal of achieving quantum gains in performance of the activity. 
B)  is not a useful tool for streamlining a company's work effort and moving it closer to operational excellence. 
C)  is the major tool that ambidextrous organizations deploy to drive continuous improvement efforts. 
D)  is typically cheaper and easier than using Six Sigma techniques to achieve the same cost savings. 
E)  is a company's best justification for eliminating all nonmonetary rewards and incentives for its employees.

Question 2

The statistical thinking underlying Six Sigma is based on which of the following three principles?

Accepted Answer

A)  All activities can be controlled, employee empowerment is the best control tool, and 100 percent control is possible. 
B)  All work is a process, all processes have variability, and all processes create data that explains variability. 
C)  All work activities can be done accurately most of the time, empowered employees are necessary for effective control, and good statistical data is an empowered employee's best control tool. 
D)  All work is a statistically controllable process, 100 percent control is possible, and every well-controlled process is defect-free. 
E)  Most business processes are subject to control, Six Sigma can totally remove variability in how processes are performed, and most defects can be eliminated. 
A)  All activities can be controlled, employee empowerment is the best control tool, and 100 percent control is possible. 
B)  All work is a process, all processes have variability, and all processes create data that explains variability. 
C)  All work activities can be done accurately most of the time, empowered employees are necessary for effective control, and good statistical data is an empowered employee's best control tool. 
D)  All work is a statistically controllable process, 100 percent control is possible, and every well-controlled process is defect-free. 
E)  Most business processes are subject to control, Six Sigma can totally remove variability in how processes are performed, and most defects can be eliminated.

Question 3

Management's most powerful tool for winning employee commitment to good strategy execution is

Accepted Answer

A)  the establishment of strategy-supportive policies and procedures. 
B)  empowering employees and encouraging them to adopt best practices. 
C)  setting stretch objectives. 
D)  a structure of rewards and incentives tied tightly to the achievement of the organization's strategic priorities. 
E)  aggressive use of TQM and Six Sigma quality control programs. 
A)  the establishment of strategy-supportive policies and procedures. 
B)  empowering employees and encouraging them to adopt best practices. 
C)  setting stretch objectives. 
D)  a structure of rewards and incentives tied tightly to the achievement of the organization's strategic priorities. 
E)  aggressive use of TQM and Six Sigma quality control programs.

Question 4

Management's most powerful tool for mobilizing organizational commitment to competent strategy execution and operating excellence is the

Accepted Answer

A)  diligent and persistent use of benchmarking and best practices. 
B)  proper use of a reward structure with motivational incentives. 
C)  implementation of TQM and/or Six Sigma programs. 
D)  periodic giving of inspirational speeches aimed at arousing employees' emotional energy. 
E)  process of providing employees with a high degree of job security (ideally, via a no-layoff policy). 
A)  diligent and persistent use of benchmarking and best practices. 
B)  proper use of a reward structure with motivational incentives. 
C)  implementation of TQM and/or Six Sigma programs. 
D)  periodic giving of inspirational speeches aimed at arousing employees' emotional energy. 
E)  process of providing employees with a high degree of job security (ideally, via a no-layoff policy).

Question 5

Prescribing policies and operating procedures aids the task of implementing strategy by

Accepted Answer

A)  helping ensure that worker eligibility for incentive bonuses is measured consistently and awarded fairly. 
B)  fostering the use of best practices, TQM, Six Sigma, and continuous improvement efforts. 
C)  acting as a powerful lever for changing employee attitudes about the need for a different incentive and reward system. 
D)  helping build employee commitment to strengthening the company's core competencies and competitive capabilities. 
E)  placing limits on ineffective independent action and channeling efforts of individuals along a path more conducive to good strategy execution and operating excellence. 
A)  helping ensure that worker eligibility for incentive bonuses is measured consistently and awarded fairly. 
B)  fostering the use of best practices, TQM, Six Sigma, and continuous improvement efforts. 
C)  acting as a powerful lever for changing employee attitudes about the need for a different incentive and reward system. 
D)  helping build employee commitment to strengthening the company's core competencies and competitive capabilities. 
E)  placing limits on ineffective independent action and channeling efforts of individuals along a path more conducive to good strategy execution and operating excellence.

Question 6

What is the difference between Six Sigma DMAIC programs and Six Sigma DMADV programs?

Accepted Answer

The Six Sigma process of define, measure

Question 7

Discuss control mechanisms that managers can use to monitor the performance of empowered employees.

Accepted Answer

Scrutinizing daily and weekly operating

Question 8

Cavco Construction divests funds from its commercial property ventures to invest in gated community properties close to New York, signaling a change of strategy. Which of the following statements about Cavco is most likely true?

Accepted Answer

A)  Cavco is impeding the efforts to proficiently execute the strategy. 
B)  Cavco is merely fine-tuning its existing strategy to test efficiency. 
C)  Cavco is marshalling resources to support new strategic initiative. 
D)  Cavco is hampering work climate conducive for good strategy execution. 
E)  Cavco is focusing on activities that are a low priority in the strategy execution effort. 
A)  Cavco is impeding the efforts to proficiently execute the strategy. 
B)  Cavco is merely fine-tuning its existing strategy to test efficiency. 
C)  Cavco is marshalling resources to support new strategic initiative. 
D)  Cavco is hampering work climate conducive for good strategy execution. 
E)  Cavco is focusing on activities that are a low priority in the strategy execution effort.

Question 9

Which of the following is NOT a sound guideline for designing a reward and incentive system that helps promote good strategy execution?

Accepted Answer

A)  The reward system must be administered with scrupulous objectivity and fairness. 
B)  The payoff for meeting or beating performance targets must be a major, not minor, piece of the total compensation package. 
C)  Any incentive plan should extend to all managers and all employees, not just top management. 
D)  Ways must be found to reward deserving nonperformers who, for some reason, do not fare well under the incentive system. 
E)  Make sure that the performance targets each individual or team is expected to achieve involve outcomes that the individual or team can personally affect. 
A)  The reward system must be administered with scrupulous objectivity and fairness. 
B)  The payoff for meeting or beating performance targets must be a major, not minor, piece of the total compensation package. 
C)  Any incentive plan should extend to all managers and all employees, not just top management. 
D)  Ways must be found to reward deserving nonperformers who, for some reason, do not fare well under the incentive system. 
E)  Make sure that the performance targets each individual or team is expected to achieve involve outcomes that the individual or team can personally affect.

Question 10

How does TQM differ from business process reengineering? Explain the value of striving for continuous improvement in processes and activities.

Accepted Answer

An essential difference between business

Question 11

A useful guideline in designing strategy-facilitating policies and operating procedures is

Accepted Answer

A)  to prescribe enough policies to give organizational members clear direction in implementing strategy and to place reasonable boundaries on their actions. This then empowers them to act within these boundaries in pursuit of company goals. 
B)  that strictly enforced policies work better than loosely enforced policies. 
C)  that more policies/procedures work better than fewer policies/procedures, and that strict enforcement always beats lax enforcement. 
D)  to let individuals act in an empowered and self-directed way, subject only to the constraint that their actions and behavior be ethical and in step with the corporate culture. 
E)  to prescribe enough policies and procedures that little is left to chance in performing value chain activities, and employees should have no leeway to do things in a manner that deviates from the company's best-practices standard. 
A)  to prescribe enough policies to give organizational members clear direction in implementing strategy and to place reasonable boundaries on their actions. This then empowers them to act within these boundaries in pursuit of company goals. 
B)  that strictly enforced policies work better than loosely enforced policies. 
C)  that more policies/procedures work better than fewer policies/procedures, and that strict enforcement always beats lax enforcement. 
D)  to let individuals act in an empowered and self-directed way, subject only to the constraint that their actions and behavior be ethical and in step with the corporate culture. 
E)  to prescribe enough policies and procedures that little is left to chance in performing value chain activities, and employees should have no leeway to do things in a manner that deviates from the company's best-practices standard.

Question 12

What action steps can managers take to realize full value from TQM or Six Sigma initiatives and promote a culture of operating excellence?

Accepted Answer

Managers can take the following action s

Question 13

Total quality management (TQM)

Accepted Answer

A)  entails creating a total quality culture that strives for continuously improving the performance of every value chain activity and is driven by a philosophy of managing a set of business practices: 100 percent accuracy in performing tasks (zero defects), involvement and empowerment of employees at all levels, team-based work design, benchmarking, and total customer satisfaction. 
B)  is a valuable tool for helping company managers identify what the best practice is for performing a particular activity at a high level of quality. 
C)  works best when used in conjunction with Six Sigma quality control techniques. 
D)  is an excellent tool for reengineering business processes and making quantum gains in the efficiency and effectiveness with which the processes are performed. 
E)  is a philosophy of doing things that aims at mistake-free management of a company's entire business. 
A)  entails creating a total quality culture that strives for continuously improving the performance of every value chain activity and is driven by a philosophy of managing a set of business practices: 100 percent accuracy in performing tasks (zero defects), involvement and empowerment of employees at all levels, team-based work design, benchmarking, and total customer satisfaction. 
B)  is a valuable tool for helping company managers identify what the best practice is for performing a particular activity at a high level of quality. 
C)  works best when used in conjunction with Six Sigma quality control techniques. 
D)  is an excellent tool for reengineering business processes and making quantum gains in the efficiency and effectiveness with which the processes are performed. 
E)  is a philosophy of doing things that aims at mistake-free management of a company's entire business.

Question 14

Reengineering how a firm performs a business process

Accepted Answer

A)  is a tool for pulling the pieces of strategy-critical processes out of different departments and unifying their performance in a single department or cross-functional work group. 
B)  is the most frequently used tool of total quality management (TQM). 
C)  requires that a company have many strategic partnerships and alliances with outsiders. 
D)  is typically cheaper and easier-to-do than using Six Sigma techniques to achieve the same cost savings. 
E)  is usually a company's most important "best practice" for achieving operating excellence. 
A)  is a tool for pulling the pieces of strategy-critical processes out of different departments and unifying their performance in a single department or cross-functional work group. 
B)  is the most frequently used tool of total quality management (TQM). 
C)  requires that a company have many strategic partnerships and alliances with outsiders. 
D)  is typically cheaper and easier-to-do than using Six Sigma techniques to achieve the same cost savings. 
E)  is usually a company's most important "best practice" for achieving operating excellence.

Question 15

Reward and incentive systems serve as a(n)

Accepted Answer

A)  direct stimulus for satisfying the basic expectations of the standard job and mechanisms. 
B)  indirect motivational tool designed to convert employee commitment into high-powered incentives. 
C)  indirect type of control mechanism that conserves on more costly control mechanisms of supervisory oversight. 
D)  direct base-pay financial compensation mechanism that competes with rival companies' salary bands for similar work efforts. 
E)  negative motivational element. 
A)  direct stimulus for satisfying the basic expectations of the standard job and mechanisms. 
B)  indirect motivational tool designed to convert employee commitment into high-powered incentives. 
C)  indirect type of control mechanism that conserves on more costly control mechanisms of supervisory oversight. 
D)  direct base-pay financial compensation mechanism that competes with rival companies' salary bands for similar work efforts. 
E)  negative motivational element.

Question 16

Which of the following does NOT exemplify business process reengineering?

Accepted Answer

A)  Blue Mountain creates teams of mixed-occupation freelancers to design Christmas cards. 
B)  Speedmore integrates three distribution units to form a consolidated zonal distribution center. 
C)  Bank of America automates global transaction services in a quest for operational efficiencies. 
D)  PayPal segregates payment notification operations from mobile transfer operations to expand its customer base. 
E)  Florida Power eliminates work depots, entrusting the task of repair to crew members in a mobile van. 
A)  Blue Mountain creates teams of mixed-occupation freelancers to design Christmas cards. 
B)  Speedmore integrates three distribution units to form a consolidated zonal distribution center. 
C)  Bank of America automates global transaction services in a quest for operational efficiencies. 
D)  PayPal segregates payment notification operations from mobile transfer operations to expand its customer base. 
E)  Florida Power eliminates work depots, entrusting the task of repair to crew members in a mobile van.

Question 17

Identify and describe ways that policies and procedures facilitate strategy execution.

Accepted Answer

Well-conceived policies and operating pr

Question 18

Explain what Six Sigma quality control programs are and the two types of programs that they include.

Accepted Answer

Six Sigma programs offer a way to drive

Question 19

Well-conceived policies and operating procedures facilitate good strategy execution by

Accepted Answer

A)  leaving it up to employees regarding how things are to be done. 
B)  removing roadblocks to creativity and innovation. 
C)  fostering a work climate that preserves the status quo whenever possible. 
D)  enforcing consistency in how strategy-critical activities are performed. 
E)  channeling individual and group efforts along a strategy-supportive path. 
A)  leaving it up to employees regarding how things are to be done. 
B)  removing roadblocks to creativity and innovation. 
C)  fostering a work climate that preserves the status quo whenever possible. 
D)  enforcing consistency in how strategy-critical activities are performed. 
E)  channeling individual and group efforts along a strategy-supportive path.

Question 20

A company's ability to marshal adequate resources in support of new strategic initiatives and steer them to the appropriate organizational units is important to the strategy execution process because

Accepted Answer

A)  changes in strategy often require resource reallocation, and organizational units need the proper funding to carry out their part of the strategic plan effectively and efficiently. 
B)  accurate budgets are the key to exercising tight financial controls over what organization units can and cannot do in carrying out management's directives to execute the chosen strategy proficiently. 
C)  tight budget control is management's most powerful tool for first-rate strategy execution. 
D)  lean, carefully managed budgets protect the company's financial condition and eliminate the wasteful use of cash. 
E)  lean, strictly enforced budgets are management's best and most used means of getting organizational units to exercise the fiscal discipline needed to execute the chosen strategy in a cost-efficient manner. 
A)  changes in strategy often require resource reallocation, and organizational units need the proper funding to carry out their part of the strategic plan effectively and efficiently. 
B)  accurate budgets are the key to exercising tight financial controls over what organization units can and cannot do in carrying out management's directives to execute the chosen strategy proficiently. 
C)  tight budget control is management's most powerful tool for first-rate strategy execution. 
D)  lean, carefully managed budgets protect the company's financial condition and eliminate the wasteful use of cash. 
E)  lean, strictly enforced budgets are management's best and most used means of getting organizational units to exercise the fiscal discipline needed to execute the chosen strategy in a cost-efficient manner.

Business process reengineering

The statistical thinking underlying Six Sigma is based on which of the following three principles?

Management's most powerful tool for winning employee commitment to good strategy execution is

Management's most powerful tool for mobilizing organizational commitment to competent strategy execution and operating excellence is the

Prescribing policies and operating procedures aids the task of implementing strategy by

What is the difference between Six Sigma DMAIC programs and Six Sigma DMADV programs?

Discuss control mechanisms that managers can use to monitor the performance of empowered employees.

Cavco Construction divests funds from its commercial property ventures to invest in gated community properties close to New York, signaling a change of strategy. Which of the following statements about Cavco is most likely true?

Which of the following is NOT a sound guideline for designing a reward and incentive system that helps promote good strategy execution?

How does TQM differ from business process reengineering? Explain the value of striving for continuous improvement in processes and activities.

A useful guideline in designing strategy-facilitating policies and operating procedures is

What action steps can managers take to realize full value from TQM or Six Sigma initiatives and promote a culture of operating excellence?

Total quality management (TQM)

Reengineering how a firm performs a business process

Reward and incentive systems serve as a(n)

Which of the following does NOT exemplify business process reengineering?

Identify and describe ways that policies and procedures facilitate strategy execution.

Explain what Six Sigma quality control programs are and the two types of programs that they include.

Well-conceived policies and operating procedures facilitate good strategy execution by

A company's ability to marshal adequate resources in support of new strategic initiatives and steer them to the appropriate organizational units is important to the strategy execution process because

What Is Strategy and Why Is It Important

Leading the Process of Crafting and Executing Strategy

Evaluating a Companys External Environment

Evaluating a Companys Resources and Competitive Position

The Five Generic Competitive Strategies: Which One to Employ

Supplementing the Chosen Competitive Strategy: Other Important Business Strategy Choices

Strategies for Competing in Foreign Markets

Diversification: Strategies for Managing a Group of Businesses

Ethical Business Strategies, Social Responsibility, and Environmental Sustainabil ITY

Building an Organization Capable of Good Strategy Execution

Corporate Culture and Leadership: Keys to Good Strategy Execution

Filters

Exam 11: Managing Internal Operations: Actions That Promote Good Strategy Execution

Business process reengineering

The statistical thinking underlying Six Sigma is based on which of the following three principles?

Management's most powerful tool for winning employee commitment to good strategy execution is

Management's most powerful tool for mobilizing organizational commitment to competent strategy execution and operating excellence is the

Prescribing policies and operating procedures aids the task of implementing strategy by

What is the difference between Six Sigma DMAIC programs and Six Sigma DMADV programs?

Discuss control mechanisms that managers can use to monitor the performance of empowered employees.

Cavco Construction divests funds from its commercial property ventures to invest in gated community properties close to New York, signaling a change of strategy. Which of the following statements about Cavco is most likely true?

Which of the following is NOT a sound guideline for designing a reward and incentive system that helps promote good strategy execution?

How does TQM differ from business process reengineering? Explain the value of striving for continuous improvement in processes and activities.

A useful guideline in designing strategy-facilitating policies and operating procedures is

What action steps can managers take to realize full value from TQM or Six Sigma initiatives and promote a culture of operating excellence?

Total quality management (TQM)

Reengineering how a firm performs a business process

Reward and incentive systems serve as a(n)

Which of the following does NOT exemplify business process reengineering?

Identify and describe ways that policies and procedures facilitate strategy execution.

Explain what Six Sigma quality control programs are and the two types of programs that they include.

Well-conceived policies and operating procedures facilitate good strategy execution by

A company's ability to marshal adequate resources in support of new strategic initiatives and steer them to the appropriate organizational units is important to the strategy execution process because

What Is Strategy and Why Is It Important

Leading the Process of Crafting and Executing Strategy

Evaluating a Companys External Environment

Evaluating a Companys Resources and Competitive Position

The Five Generic Competitive Strategies: Which One to Employ

Supplementing the Chosen Competitive Strategy: Other Important Business Strategy Choices

Strategies for Competing in Foreign Markets

Diversification: Strategies for Managing a Group of Businesses

Ethical Business Strategies, Social Responsibility, and Environmental Sustainabil ITY

Building an Organization Capable of Good Strategy Execution

Corporate Culture and Leadership: Keys to Good Strategy Execution

Filters