Deck 9: Using Planning and Decision Aids

Question 1

OMR Architects provides full architectural services and is organized into three specialty groups.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

OMR Architects selected a knowledge management software that was easy to use, provided 24/7 online access, and improved teamwork and accountability.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Knowledge management (KM) involves recognizing, generating, documenting, distributing, and transferring between persons useful information to improve organizational effectiveness.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Knowledge management is generally viewed as consisting of two main components: tactical knowledge and tacit knowledge.

Question 5

Enabling technologies include such things as intranets, the Internet, search engines, and work-flow software.

Question 6

Knowledge is becoming less valuable than physical or financial assets, or even natural resources.

Question 7

The application of knowledge management has three natural targets: an organization's teams, customers, and workforce.

Question 8

Retailers today routinely link bar codes on items shoppers buy with personally identifiable information from their credit, debit, or store-loyalty cards.

Question 9

Expert systems have problem-solving capabilities within a specific area of knowledge.

Question 10

Organizations consistently identify technology issues as the greatest barriers to the successful implementation of knowledge management.

Question 11

Lafarge, headquartered in Paris, France, strives to advance what it calls a multilocal culture.

Question 12

The Lafarge vision for knowledge management is to become the undisputed world leader in off-shore machinery.

Question 13

The balanced scorecard model provides a process for an organization to gain deeper knowledge and understanding of its strategic decisions.

Question 14

The balanced scorecard attempts to present four different, but related, knowledge perspectives on financial reporting for shareholders.

Question 15

At Southwest Airlines, one of the advantages of the balanced scorecard approach is that it retains the hundreds of detailed measures for front-line supervisors but gives top management a "dashboard" displaying a few key measures.

Question 16

Profitability, lower costs, and increased revenues are sample goals and measures of Southwest Airlines internal perspective.

Question 17

Forecasting is primarily concerned with external events or conditions beyond the organization's control that are important to its survival and growth.

Question 18

Extrapolation is the projection of some tendency from the future into the present.

Question 19

In the third phase of the Delphi technique, in-depth interviews are conducted with a group of experts.

Question 20

In the Delphi study related to the forecast of globalization, the second round of the Delphi technique focused on those statements for which there was agreement between the panelists.

Question 21

In the Forecast of Globalization: A Delphi Study, one of the results suggested that there is likely to be a swinging back of the pendulum from a global strategy with the development of a major regional or even local focus in firm strategy.

Question 22

A simulation is a representation of how a forecasted system performs.

Question 23

Spreadsheet simulations may be used to create proforma income statements and balance sheets.

Question 24

Scenarios are descriptive narratives that help people recognize and adapt to plausible changing and uncertain alternative futures.

Question 25

Scenarios often involve considering multiple "so what" questions.

Question 26

A competitor scenario presents various actions that might be taken in response to competitive forces.

Question 27

Shell's Global Scenarios to 2025 book presents and discusses one of the possible futures as high trust globalization.

Question 28

The creative process includes five interconnected stages: problem definition, goal setting, alternative selection, illumination, and choice.

Question 29

The Osborn creativity model is intended to stimulate free-wheeling thinking, novel ideas, curiosity, and cooperation that in turn lead to innovative decisions.

Question 30

Michael is the leader of a team that is using Osborn's creativity model to generate ways their firm can gain a competitive advantage in the industry. Currently the team is brainstorming for ideas. Thus, they are in the idea-finding phase of the model.

Question 31

The Osborn creativity model has three phases.

Question 32

Quantity without a concern for quality is not welcome in a brainstorming session.

Question 33

At IDEO, clients are usually invited to brainstorming sessions because their knowledge is needed to complete a project.

Question 34

The creative process at IDEO is fostered through the extensive use of empowered design teams.

Question 35

The Osborn creativity model is based on the assumption that most people have the potential for greater creativity and innovation in decision making than they use.

Question 36

Benchmarking is the continuous process of comparing an organization's goods, services, and practices against direct competitors.

Question 37

Benchmarking includes seven stages.

Question 38

The Deming cycle is also known as the CAAP cycle.

Question 39

The Deming cycle is comprised of four stages: plan, do, study, and act.

Question 40

The Baldrige quality program provides a systems perspective for managing an organization and its key processes to achieve the result of performance excellence.

Question 41

The Baldrige Quality Program for Performance Excellence consists of four main building blocks.

Question 42

Sunny Fresh Foods ensures quality through leadership that continually focuses people and business processes on the company's core purpose and core values.

Question 43

Sunny Fresh Foods rate of on-time deliveries reached 92.5 percent, and customer complaint levels are maintained at equal to US-class standards.

Question 44

OMR Architects provides full architectural services and is organized into various specialty groups, including:

A) educational
B) residential
C) religious
D) all of the above

Question 45

Which of the following results were experienced with the knowledge management software adopted by OMR Architects?

A) saving time and money
B) reducing development and strategic lead times
C) improving the quality and speed of communications to enable more timely decision making
D) all of the above

Question 46

Which of the following are the uses for the eight planning and decision aids suggested in the text?

A) These aids are useful at various levels in the organization.
B) These aids are useful in virtually all functional areas.
C) These aids can be used for aiding planning and decision making with many types of organizational issues and problems.
D) All of the above

Question 47

__________ involves recognizing, generating, documenting, distributing, and transferring between persons useful information to improve organizational effectiveness.

A) Creative management
B) Information management
C) Knowledge management
D) Data management

Question 48

Which of the following is not generally viewed as one of the main components of knowledge management (KM)?

A) explicit knowledge
B) focused strategies
C) tacit knowledge
D) enabling technologies

Question 49

In part, __________ knowledge consists of books, magazines, journals, and government data and reports.

A) Common
B) Explicit
C) Enabling
D) Tacit

Question 50

James Varni is trying to teach his son Marcus how to ride a bike. James realizes that his knowledge of bike riding was developed from his own direct experiences with a bicycle and is subconsciously understood. He's having a difficult time explaining to Marcus how to ride his new bike. James' knowledge of bike riding is __________.

A) explicit
B) common
C) enabling
D) tacit

Question 51

Which of the following is(are) example(s) of an enabling technology?

A) work-flow software
B) Internet
C) search engines
D) all of the above

Question 52

Which of the following is(are) a natural target(s) for the application of knowledge management?

A) teams
B) customers
C) workforce
D) all of the above

Question 53

One of the major ethical challenges involving RFIDs is that:

A) the government will have too much ability to invade its citizens privacy
B) retailers will allow only certain consumers to carry RFIDs
C) they can be used by the government to monitor cell phone calls
D) consumers will be able to track retail prices among various stores

Question 54

__________ are computer-based programs developed from the decision-making processes of human experts that store and receive data, diagnose problems, and offer solutions.

A) Knowledge management systems
B) Decision systems
C) Expert systems
D) Computer support systems

Question 55

One of the primary characteristics of an expert system is __________.

A) searching to find the best possible solution
B) using line of reasoning processes
C) use of fuzzy logic
D) ability to solve highly generalized problems

Question 56

A Wiki is a type of web site that allows users to:

A) add content
B) remove content
C) edit content
D) all of the above

Question 57

The Lafarge vision for knowledge management is to become the undisputed world leader in building materials by:

A) generating value for key stakeholders through widespread sharing and application of expertise
B) providing its operations located in various countries with a simple way to access knowledge and know-how
C) providing tools that will analyze knowledge and turn it into actionable business intelligence
D) all of the above are part of the vision statement

Question 58

Lafarge reinforces the importance of the multicultural competency through the __________ story.

A) Langkawi
B) Mayoso
C) Keisha
D) Philbrick

Question 59

__________ is a method for gaining deeper knowledge and understanding of its strategic decisions by considering the role of finances, customers, internal processes, and learning/growth.

A) Benchmarking
B) Brainstorming
C) Balanced scorecard
D) None of the above

Question 60

The balanced scorecard looks at all of the following strategic perspectives except __________.

A) internal perspective
B) customer perspective
C) innovation perspective
D) taxation perspective

Question 61

Brian Gibbs is evaluating his motorcycle parts assembly operations in Mexico for the amount of manufacturing defects that are being caused by poor workmanship. This balanced scorecard factor is addressed in the __________.

A) learning perspective
B) internal perspective
C) financial perspective
D) quality perspective

Question 62

At Southwest Airlines, a financial measure, such as "lower costs," is related to an operations measure, such as _____________.

A) "best in class"
B) "facilitate process improvement"
C) "fast ground turnaround"
D) "reduce customer wait-time"

Question 63

Southwest Airlines took an innovative approach to using the balanced scorecard in linking operational goals, such as baggage delivery, to __________.

A) financial perspectives of profitability
B) learning perspectives of employee training
C) customer perspectives of satisfaction
D) internal perspectives of safety

Question 64

Customer perspectives of Southwest Airlines' balanced scorecard include all of the following except __________.

A) lowest prices
B) seat revenue
C) on-time flights
D) Number 1 ranking

Question 65

The balanced scorecard is criticized because __________.

A) it does not link the perspectives to each other
B) the balanced scorecard model is too technical for most managers
C) managers are not given autonomy to pursue perspective goals
D) innovation is internal, but it is not included in the internal perspective

Question 66

Forecasting is concerned primarily with __________.

A) external events or conditions that the organization can control
B) internal events or conditions that the organization can control
C) internal events or conditions that the organization cannot control
D) external events or conditions that the organization cannot control

Question 67

Much forecasting is based on __________.

A) simulation
B) extrapolation
C) scenarios
D) the Delphi technique

Question 68

The simplest, and at times most misleading, form of extrapolation is a __________.

A) linear projection of a present trend into the future
B) linear projection of a past trend into the future
C) curvilinear projection of a present trend into the future
D) curvilinear projection of a past trend into the future

Question 69

Curtis Youngblood works for Buppy's Bar B Q and is attempting to make a sales forecast for fiscal year 2007. Youngblood knows that sales increased 4% in 2005 and 5% in 2006. He also knows that consumer preferences seem to be shifting away from pork in favor of chicken. Youngblood forecasts 2007 sales to increase 2% on the basis of __________.

A) scenarios
B) extrapolation
C) the Delphi technique
D) simulations

Question 70

Ainsley Vannaman needs to make a decision on whether to expand her business to a second location. She assembles a panel of experts including ten members from her chamber of commerce, her accountant, and three professors of strategic management at a local university. The group refined their opinions through a series of questionnaires, step by step, until they reached a consensus that Vannaman should expand to the second location. This decision is an example of __________.

A) scenarios
B) groupthink
C) extrapolation
D) the Delphi technique

Question 71

__________ is(are) a forecasting aid based on a consensus of a panel of experts.

A) Extrapolation
B) Scenarios
C) The Delphi technique
D) Decision forecasts

Question 72

The number of experts who participate in the Delphi technique may range from only a few to more than 100, depending on the scope of the study. A range of __________ is recommended for a very focused issue.

A) 10 to 15
B) 15 to 30
C) 20 to 35
D) 40 to 60

Question 73

The heart of the Delphi technique is __________.

A) the interviews of the experts
B) the number of rounds
C) the series of questionnaires
D) the number of experts

Question 74

The Delphi technique involves __________ basic phases.

A) two
B) three
C) four
D) five

Question 75

According to the Forecast of Globalization: A Delphi Study, the selection criteria for participation as an expert were:

A) active career in international business for at least 10 years
B) accessibility and willingness to engage in intellectual dialogue
C) a leadership role within the participant's organization
D) all of the above

Question 76

According to the Forecast of Globalization: A Delphi Study, in the ______________round of the Delphi, the respondents were requested to rate the impact such a change would have on corporations and policy makers.

A) first
B) second
C) third
D) fourth

Question 77

General Motors developed a system that shows how changes in external variables (e.g., inflation, price changes, unemployment) may affect GM's sales, profits and employment levels. This is an example of __________.

A) the Delphi technique
B) virtual reality
C) a strategic plan
D) a simulation

Question 78

Which of the following statements about simulations is(are) true?

A) A simulation is a representation of a real system.
B) Simulation is often used to forecast the effects of environmental changes and internal management decisions on an organization.
C) Most simulations are intended to let management ask numerous "what-if" questions.
D) All of the above

Question 79

__________ is a story that helps people recognize and adapt to changing features of their environments.

A) A scenario
B) A simulation
C) The Delphi technique
D) An extrapolation

Question 80

__________ provides a way to identify alternative paths that may exist for an organization in the future and the actions that likely are involved in going down each of those paths.

A) The Delphi technique
B) A simulation
C) A scenario
D) An extrapolation