Test-Bank-for-Heizer-Operations-Management-9e
.pdf55.Activity charts help analyze
a.movement of people and materials
b.utilization of an operator and machine
c.body movements
d.activities that can cause injuries
e.unnecessary micro-motions
b(Job design, moderate)
56."Schematic used to investigate movement of people or material" describes a(n)
a.flow diagram
b.activity chart
c.operations chart
d.right-hand / left-hand chart
e.none of the above
a (Job design, moderate)
57.The visual workplace includes
a.painted symbols to indicate the proper place for tools and equipment
b.labeling of parts, bins, and tools to reduce waste
c.kanbans, andons, and statistical process control (SPC) charts
d.color-coded lights and signs to indicate that there is a problem
e.all of the above
e (The visual workplace, moderate) {AACSB: Communication}
58.Shadow boards and foot printing are elements of
a.the Hawthorne studies
b.workplace noise reduction
c.project management in service firms
d.the visual workplace
e.specialization of labor
d (The visual workplace, moderate) {AACSB: Communication}
59.The visual workplace
a.uses low-cost visual devices to share information
b.is an effective means of rapid communication in a dynamic workplace
c.helps with both "big picture" and "housekeeping" issues in the workplace
d.eliminates non-value added activities by making problems and standards visual
e.all of the above
e (The visual workplace, moderate) {AACSB: Communication}
60.Ethical work environment decisions by managers may be guided by
a.state agencies
b.trade associations
c.insurers
d.employees
e.all of the above
e (Ethics and the work environment, moderate) {AACSB: Ethical Reasoning}
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61.Which of the following is an ergonomics issue with ethical implications?
a.job enrichment
b.equal opportunity
c.equal pay for equal work
d.a noisy workplace
e.foot printing
d (Ethics and the work environment, moderate) {AACSB: Ethical Reasoning}
62.Which of the following is not a work environment issue with ethical implications?
a.hazardous materials in the workplace
b.equal opportunity
c.equal pay for equal work
d.danger on the job
e.All of the above have ethical implications.
e (Ethics and the work environment, moderate) {AACSB: Ethical Reasoning}
63.Labor standards are defined as the
a.preset activities required to perform a job
b.amount of space required by a specific crew to perform the job
c.standard set of procedures to perform the job
d.standard labor agreements
e.amount of time required to perform a job or part of a job
e (Labor standards, moderate)
FILL-IN-THE-BLANK
64._______________ means a job that is not only reasonably safe and for which the pay is equitable, but which also achieves an appropriate level of both physical and psychological requirements.
Quality of work life (Human resource strategy for competitive advantage, moderate)
65.___________ is a means of determining staffing policies dealing with employment stability and work schedules.
Labor planning (Labor planning, moderate)
66.___________ refers to a work schedule that deviates from the normal or standard five 8-hour days.
Flexible workweek (Labor planning, moderate)
67.__________ is an approach that specifies the tasks that constitute a job for an individual or a group.
Job design (Job design, easy)
68.___________ is the grouping of a variety of tasks using the same approximate skill level.
Job enlargement (Job design, moderate)
69.___________ is a method of giving an employee more responsibility that includes some of the planning and control necessary for job accomplishment.
Job enrichment (Job design, moderate)
70._______________ showed that there is a dynamic social system in the workplace.
The Hawthorne studies (Job design, moderate)
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71._______________ involves enlarging employee jobs so that the added responsibility and authority is moved to the lowest possible level in the organization.
Employee empowerment (Job design, moderate)
72.A(n) _____________ is a group of empowered individuals working together to reach a common goal.
self-directed team (Job design, moderate)
73.___________ is a system providing some portion of any profit for distribution to employees.
Profit sharing (Job design, moderate)
74.The study of work, often called human factors, is called __________. ergonomics (Job design, moderate)
75.__________ are drawings used to analyze movement of people or material.
Flow diagrams (Job design, moderate)
76.Painted symbols that indicate the proper place for tools and machinery are called __________ and
_________.
shadow boards and foot prints (The visual workplace, moderate) {AACSB: Communication}
77.Keyboard design, noisy work environment, and dangerous materials or operations in the workplace are all __________ issues with ethical implications.
ergonomic (Ethics and the work environment, moderate) {AACSB: Ethical Reasoning}
SHORT ANSWER
78.Provide examples of non-monetary incentives.
Awards, recognitions, certain preferences such as a preferred work schedule, promotion and achievement. (Job design, moderate)
79.What is quality of work life? What is its relation to a firm's human resource strategy?
Quality of work life means a reasonably safe job with equitable pay that adheres to an appropriate level of both physical and psychological requirements. Quality of work life is one of the two primary goals of a human resource strategy, the other of which is efficient utilization of people. (Human resource strategy for competitive advantage, moderate)
80.Describe some impacts of noise in the workplace.
Specific answers will vary, but should include some of the following. High levels of sound will damage hearing. Extended periods of exposure to decibel levels above 85 dB are permanently damaging. (Private business offices average about 50 dB.) OSHA requires ear protection if exposure to 85dB equals or exceeds 8 hours. Even at low levels, noise and vibration can be distracting and can raise a person’s blood pressure, so most managers make substantial effort to reduce noise and vibration through good machine design, enclosures, or insulation. Finally, recent research shows that noise in the work environment can increase the risk of heart attack by 50% or more. (Ergonomics and the work environment, moderate)
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81.What is mutual trust? What is its link to a firm's human resource strategy?
Mutual trust is intended to mean reasonable, documented employment policies that are honestly and equitably implemented to the satisfaction of both management and employee. This is the atmosphere that nurtures reasonable quality of life. (Human resource strategy for competitive advantage, moderate)
82.What are the advantages and the disadvantages of the employment-stability policy "holding employment constant?"
Holding employment levels constant maintains a trained workforce and keeps hiring, termination, and unemployment costs to a minimum. But when demand is low, people may be underutilized, and when demand is high, the firm may be unable to respond. (Labor planning, moderate)
83.How does labor specialization assist in reducing labor costs (list three ways)?
Labor specialization assists in reducing labor costs by development of dexterity and faster learning by the employee because of repetition; less loss of time because the employee will not be changing jobs so frequently; development of specialized tools and a reduction in investment because each employee will require only a few tools for a particular task. (Job design, moderate)
84.Identify the limitations to job expansion.
Limitations of job expansion include higher capital cost; many individuals prefer simpler jobs; higher wage rates are required; smaller labor pools exist; and higher training costs. (Job design, moderate)
85.Explain how job expansion can lead to higher pay rates.
As expansion leads to workers having greater skills, they tend to be paid according to their highest skill. (Job design, moderate)
86.It is said that job expansion has both a vertical component and a horizontal component. Explain, with reference to such terms as job enrichment, job rotation, job enlargement, and employee empowerment.
Vertical expansion gives employees more planning and/or control over their work, which is job enrichment. Horizontal expansion adds tasks, through job rotation or job enlargement. Job enrichment relates primarily to increasing the cognitive or intellectual requirements for the job. Job enlargement relates primarily to an increase in the number of tasks to be performed. Job rotation implies a formal arrangement for job switching among a particular group of workers within a specific set of jobs. Employee empowerment is the practice of enriching jobs so that employees accept responsibility for a variety of decisions normally associated with staff specialists. (Job design, moderate)
87.What impact did the Hawthorne studies have on human resource strategy?
The Hawthorne studies introduced psychology into the workplace. They proved that there is a dynamic social system in the workplace, and that this social system can be more important than physical working conditions. (Job design, easy)
88.Identify the five components of job design.
The five components of job design include job specialization, job expansion, psychological components, self-directed teams, and motivation & incentive systems. (Job design, moderate)
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89.List Hackman and Oldham's five desirable characteristics of job design.
According to Hackman and Oldham, the desirable characteristics of job design include skill variety, job identity, job significance, autonomy, and feedback. (Job design, moderate)
90.To maximize team effectiveness, managers need to do more then just form teams. What should managers do to maximize team effectiveness?
They should ensure that those who have a legitimate contribution are on the team, provide management support, ensure the necessary training, and endorse clear objectives. (Job design, moderate)
91.Describe how supervisors might need to change their roles after organizing self-directed teams.
Supervisors must release some control and learn to accept different job responsibilities. Selfdirected teams may mean having no supervisors on the factory floor. (Job design, moderate)
92.Identify three forms of monetary rewards.
Pick three of the following: bonuses, profit sharing, gain sharing, incentive systems, and knowledge-based pay systems. (Job design, moderate)
93.What is methods analysis?
Methods analysis focuses on how a task is accomplished. It involves developing work procedures that are safe and produce quality products efficiently. (Job design, easy)
94.What are operations charts used for?
Operations charts are used to analyze body movement. They are designed to show economy of motion by pointing out wasted motion and idle time. (Job design, moderate)
95.How might ergonomics be used to help design an employee workstation?
Ergonomics deals with the human factors of work. Ergonomic studies take into account the height, weight, range of motion, and other physical attributes typical of employees, along with variations from those norms. Ergonomic influences should result in workstations that are the proper height for employees, comfortable for the range of motions of that job, and free from unnecessary danger, noise, or other environmental detriments to work. (Job design, moderate) {AACSB: Reflective Thinking}
96.Describe how the "visual workplace" can increase information flow, improve efficiency, and eliminate non-value-adding activities. Support your argument with a few examples.
Visuals reduce the time spent sharing information, especially in signaling hazards, low-stock conditions, poor quality, etc. Time spent reading instructions or taking measurements are non-value-adding if a simple visual can replace them. Examples include graphs of stock conditions, painted warnings, markers, kanbans, andons, shadow boards, foot prints, and others. (The visual workplace, moderate) {AACSB: Communication}
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97.What is meant by the visual workplace? Provide two examples.
The visual workplace brings low-cost visual systems to the workplace so information that is vital in the workplace can be shared. Good visual systems are designed to increase the possibility that what is supposed to happen does happen. One example is the timing clock that is increasingly found in fast-food restaurants, which indicates the length of time that a customer has waited. Another example is a painted shadow board which indicates the proper place for tools to be stored when not in use. Other examples include andon lights which signal a problem, containers of the optimum size or with indentations for each part or type of part, color coding and symbols for parts containers. (The visual workplace, moderate) {AACSB: Communication}
98.The visual workplace improves communications at three levels: big picture, performance, and housekeeping. Cite an example of each type; explain your examples in a sentence each.
Big picture is illustrated by a posting of a company's stock price, reminding employees of their role in company efficiency and profitability. Performance is illustrated by kanbans— visuals that signal the need for additional production (SPC charts and production quotas are other examples). Housekeeping is illustrated by foot prints and shadow boards, which indicate the proper place for tools and equipment (other examples include andons and labels). (The visual workplace, moderate) {AACSB: Communication}
99.List two ethical concerns that arise from work environment issues that are ergonomic in nature; list two more that are not ergonomic in nature.
Ethical concerns arise in ergonomic work environment issues such as (students may name any two of the following): danger in performing the job, exposure to dangerous ingredients on the job, unnecessary noise, vibration, heat, humidity, and incorrect lighting. Ethical issues which are not based in ergonomics arise with respect to fairness and equity. These include equal opportunity and equal pay for equal work. (Ethics and the work environment, easy) {AACSB: Ethical Reasoning}
100.A female employee in a male-dominated workplace comes to you and says "I'm having difficulty with a certain task because the workstation was designed for the men, who are generally taller and have greater arm's length than I." What are the basic ethical issues here (if any), and what are the various guidelines and sources that could help you? (You are not asked to SOLVE her problem.)
The basic ethical issue is equal opportunity, even though the problem arises because of ergonomics. There may be OSHA or state law to assist your deliberations; you may also consult with your firm's legal or human resource department. (Ethics and the work environment, moderate) {AACSB: Ethical Reasoning}
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SUPPLEMENT 10: WORK MEASUREMENT
TRUE/FALSE
1.Two uses of labor standards are to determine the labor content of items produced and to determine staffing needs.
True (Labor standards and work measurement, easy)
2.One use of labor standards is to determine what makes a fair day's work.
True (Labor standards and work measurement, easy)
3.Labor standards based on historical experience are relatively inexpensive to obtain.
True (Historical experience, easy)
4.Labor standards based on historical experience are the preferred method of choice.
False (Historical experience, easy)
5.Standard time may be less than average observed time.
True (Time studies, moderate)
6.The classical stopwatch study, or time study, was originally proposed by Western Electric's Hawthorne Commission in the 1920s.
False (Time studies, moderate)
7.A time-study procedure involves timing a sample of worker's performance and using it to set a standard.
True (Time studies, moderate)
8.The allowance factor that increases normal time to standard time compensates for inadequate worker training and lack of worker dexterity.
False (Time studies, moderate)
9.Normal time is always less than the average observed time.
False (Time studies, moderate)
10.Standard time is always greater than normal time, due to the inclusion of allowances for personal time, delay, and fatigue.
True (Time studies, moderate)
11.Rest allowances can include amounts for the effects of lighting, heat and humidity, and noise.
True (Time studies, moderate)
12.The rest allowances that convert normal time to standard time have three components: personal time allowances, delay allowances, and fatigue allowances.
True (Time studies, moderate)
13.In constructing the standard time for a task, the elements that make up the task must use the same performance ratings factor.
False (Time studies, moderate)
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14.If a manager conducting a time study needed an accuracy of ± 0.1 minutes, rather than ± 0.2 minutes, the adequate sample size would have to be twice as large.
False (Time studies, moderate)
15.UPS may run the "tightest ship in the shipping business," but they got that high level of efficiency without time standards, because their contract with the Teamsters Union forbids them.
False (Time studies, moderate)
16.A modern "stopwatch" study can be conducted using a special-purpose PDA, one which can digitally capture events, times, and other variables for later analysis on a spreadsheet.
True (Time studies, moderate) {AACSB: Use of IT}
17.Work sampling and time studies are similar in that the analyst in both cases records the time taken by the worker to accomplish each step of the task.
False (Time studies, and Work sampling, moderate)
18.A Therblig is a very small amount of time, one hundred-thousandth of an hour.
False (Time studies, moderate)
19.Because service jobs are so much more variable than manufacturing jobs, time measurement standards similar to MTM do not exist for most services.
False (Predetermined time standards, moderate)
20.An advantage of predetermined time standards is that the standard can be set before a task is actually performed.
True (Predetermined time standards, moderate)
21.Most unions do not accept the use of predetermined time standards.
False (Predetermined time standards, moderate)
22.Work sampling estimates the percent of time that a worker spends on various tasks.
True (Work sampling, easy)
23.An advantage of work sampling is that it completely breaks down work elements.
False (Work sampling, moderate)
24.Normal time equals the average observed time multiplied by the allowance factor.
False (Time studies, moderate)
MULTIPLE CHOICE
25.Which of the following is not a use of labor standards?
a.labor content of items produced
b.cost and time estimates prior to production
c.crew size and work balance
d.basis of wage-incentive plans
e.All of the above are uses of labor standards.
e (Labor standards and work measurement, moderate)
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26.Labor standards can help a firm determine expected production, which in turn enables
a.crew sizes to be determined
b.managers and workers to know what constitutes a fair day's work.
c.labor cost to be calculated
d.work cells and assembly lines to be balanced
e.work sampling to take place
b (Labor standards and work measurement, moderate)
27.Which of the following techniques may not provide reliable and accurate time standards?
a.historical experience
b.method time measurement (MTM)
c.time studies
d.work sampling
e.predetermined time standards
a (Historical experience, moderate)
28.Timing a sample of a worker's performance and using it to set a standard is the work measurement technique of
a.predetermined time standards
b.time studies
c.work sampling
d.methods time measurement
e.left-hand, right-hand charting
b (Time studies, moderate)
29.For a time study, the three factors that determine how large a sample size to take are
a.the level of confidence, the z-value, and normal time
b.needed accuracy, desired confidence, and absolute amount of error
c.the level of confidence, the z-value, and the work sampling idle percent
d.actual time, normal time, and standard time
e.actual time, standard time, and mean time
b (Time studies, moderate)
30.A manager who is conducting a time study now needs an accuracy of ±0.1 minutes, rather than ±0.2 minutes as in the past. Because of this change in accuracy, the adequate sample size becomes
a.one-fourth as large
b.one-half as large
c.twice as large
d.four times as large
e.none of the above
e (Time studies, moderate)
31.In time studies, average observed time for an element is
a.the ratio of normal time to standard time
b.the difference between normal time and the allowance factors
c.for all observations, the sum of all times recorded divided by the number of observations
d.the percent of a worker's time spent performing that element
e.how many observations must be taken in order to achieve a specified level of accuracy
c(Time studies, moderate)
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32.A time study is being conducted to determine the standard time for a job that is made up of several elements. This standard time requires as input(s)
a.the average observed time for each element
b.one average observed time for all elements
c.one performance rating factor to be used by all elements
d.a separate allowance factor for each element
e.all of the above
a (Time studies, moderate)
33.In time studies, normal time is
a.average observed time multiplied by a performance rating factor
b.larger than standard time
c.determined by historical experience
d.converted to standard time by the performance rating factor
e.one hour later during the summer months
a (Time studies, moderate)
34.Standard time
a.needs to be adjusted for worker performance ratings
b.needs to be adjusted for worker fatigue
c.is average observed time divided by the allowance factor
d.accounts for performance rating factors and for allowances
e.is normal time divided by the performance rating factor
d(Time studies, moderate)
35.The smaller the percentage established for allowances
a.the closer is normal time to standard time
b.the closer is average observed time to normal time
c.the larger is the performance rating factor
d.the larger is the adequate sample size
e.the larger is the number of observations in the work sampling
a(Time studies, moderate)
36.In a stopwatch time study, the average time it takes a given worker to perform a task a certain number of times, without correction for performance rating or allowances, is the
a.average observed time
b.standard time
c.performance rating time
d.normal time
e.allowance time
a (Time studies, moderate)
37.Which of the following are true regarding allowances in time studies?
a.They have a "constant" and a "variable" component.
b.They are adjusted for work conditions such as heating, lighting, and noise.
c.They include allowances for personal time, delay, and fatigue.
d.They represent the adjustment between normal time and standard time.
e.All of the above are true.
e (Time studies, moderate)
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