Managing Quality and Performance

What is the systematic process of regulating organizational activities to make them consistent with the expectations established in plans, targets, and standards of performance called?

According to the feedback control model, what is the first step managers should take when setting up a control system?

A balanced scorecard is a comprehensive management control system that balances traditional financial measures with operational measures related to which three other areas?

Which control approach is based on the use of cultural values, traditions, shared beliefs, and trust to foster employee compliance with organizational goals?

What is the stated goal of open-book management?

What is the term for an organization-wide effort to infuse quality into every activity in a company through continuous improvement?

The Six Sigma quality standard specifies a goal of no more than how many defects per million parts?

What is the term for the continuous process of measuring products, services, and practices against the toughest competitors or those companies recognized as industry leaders?

A group of 6 to 12 volunteer employees who meet regularly to discuss and solve problems affecting their work quality is known as a:

Which type of budget outlines the anticipated and actual expenses for a particular organizational unit or for the organization as a whole?

What is the defining characteristic of zero-based budgeting?

Which major financial statement is sometimes called a profit-and-loss statement and summarizes a firm's financial performance over a specific period?

Which category of financial ratios, including the current ratio and quick ratio, indicates a company's ability to meet its current debt obligations?

What is the name for the universal benchmark for quality management practices outlined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)?

What is the term for the framework of systems, rules, and practices by which an organization ensures accountability, fairness, and transparency in its relationships with all stakeholders, including investors, employees, and customers?

In the New England Compounding Center case, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspectors found that clean room surfaces were contaminated with bacteria and mold exceeding the company's own standards. What was the company's documented response to these findings?

Which of the following is NOT one of the four major perspectives included in a balanced scorecard?

In a decentralized control system, what do managers primarily use to guide employee behavior instead of extensive rules and procedures?

The Japanese term 'kaizen' is the equivalent of which TQM approach?

The budgeting process where lower-level managers anticipate their needs and pass them up the hierarchy for approval is known as:

What does the return on assets (ROA) ratio measure?

What was the primary purpose of the U.S. government enacting the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002?

What is the basic assumption about people that underlies the hierarchical control approach?

In the five-step benchmarking process, what action immediately follows the collection of data?

The activity ratio known as inventory turnover is calculated by dividing total sales by what other figure?

If a process operates at a 99 percent accuracy rate, it would result in 800,000 mishandled personal checks each day. At a Six Sigma rate, how many checks would be mishandled?

A budget that lists planned investments in major assets, often involving expenditures over more than a year, is known as a:

What is the fundamental unit of analysis for any budget control system, defined as any organizational department or unit under the supervision of a single person responsible for its activity?

Based on the 2009 Opacity Index shown in the chapter, which country is listed with an opacity score of 42, indicating a relatively secretive economy?

What is the primary risk of a traditional quality control model where quality personnel are seen as 'outsiders' to the business groups they serve?

A company's debt ratio, which is tracked by managers to assess financial risk, is calculated by dividing total debt by what?

The Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act allows eligible small firms to avoid some internal control requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for up to how many years?

What is the core principle of a top-down budgeting approach?

What financial statement shows a firm's assets, liabilities, and owners' equity at a specific point in time?

Which of the following is listed as a positive contingency factor for TQM program success?

According to Exhibit 19.6, a 99 percent accuracy rate results in 7.2 hours per month without electricity. What is the comparable figure for a Six Sigma accuracy rate?

In Shell's implementation of a zero-based budget, what did CFO Gerard Paulides call all activities that were not considered minimum required resources or 'must-haves'?

What does the quick ratio, a popular metric for gauging liquidity, typically express?

In the context of the feedback control model, what is the term for the difference between an actual performance amount and the associated standard?

At the Campbell Soup Company plant in Maxton, North Carolina, a one percent gain in plant efficiency adds how much money to operating profits?

What quality approach is based on the five-step methodology known as DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control)?

According to the comparison in Exhibit 19.3, which of the following is a characteristic action of a decentralized control system?

What specific incident involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner in January 2013 prompted the FAA to ground the entire fleet for four months?

The discipline of auto-analytics, exemplified by scientist Stephen Wolfram, involves voluntarily collecting and analyzing data about what?

When Xerox benchmarked against L. L. Bean, what specific business process did they study to find ways to reduce costs?

A budget that lists forecasted and actual revenues for an organization is called a:

In the balanced scorecard model, which perspective focuses on production and operating statistics, such as on-time arrivals for an airline?

The JOBS Act provides a temporary exemption from certain Sarbanes-Oxley requirements for eligible firms. How does the statute define an eligible firm?

According to the 2009 International Opacity Index provided, which of the listed countries had the least secretive economy, with the lowest score of 9?

Which of the following is identified as a negative factor that can undermine the success of a TQM program?