MBA (T840) Final Exam Prep Flashcards

Question

Process Word (Discuss)

Answer 1

explain, then give two sides of the issue and any implications.

Answer 2

Deming has a 14 point programme: 1. Management should concentrate on long term rather than short term 2. Poor workmanship and products is unacceptable 3. Quality must be built in, not inspected in 4. Do not purchase from suppliers on price alone 5. Continually improve the process 6. Re-define training targets and measure successful training 7. Institute modern supervision methods 8. Drive out fear 9. Break down barriers between departments 10. Eliminate numerical goals for the work force 11. Eliminate work standards and numerical quotas 12. Remove barriers that hinder hourly workers 13. Institute a programmer of education and training 14. Create a top management structure to emphasize the above 13 points

Answer 3

make clear and explicit, and give carefully chosen examples.

Answer 4

The product cycle might be reversed. 1. Technology introduced to improve an existing service (improved efficiency) 2. Improvements in service are observerd (improved quality) 3. New services are developed i.e. innovation (new products)

Answer 5

Block 1, 8 Global Aptitude Categories PPT AB Personal Desire People Skills Technical Knowledge Admiistrative Skills Business Acumen

Answer 6

Resolve into its component parts, examine critically or minutely.

Answer 7

Give the exact meaning of a word or phrase, perhaps examine different possible or often used definitions.

Answer 8

fitness for use

Answer 9

(B1, p.29) * Identification and evaluation of technological options * Management of R&D * Integration of technology into a company's product/processes * Implementation of technology into a company's product/processes * Obsolescence and the replacement of technology

Answer 10

Learning by doing. based on all factors i.e. labour, process, product and organization. Experience curve is based on the evidence that unit costs fall as cumulative production volume increases Significant first-mover advantages are gained by a strong experience curve effect.

Answer 11

* Operational - applicable to 1st line staff * Improvement - applicable to middle management * Innovation - applicable to senior management Applicability is not exclusive. All 3 layers need to work smoothly together, each ontributing to and drawing from the others.

Answer 12

(The Open Innovation journey, Chiaroni et al)

Answer 13

* Socialization * Commitment * Reward allocation * Feedback/redesign * Diffusion i.e. extending technology throughout organisation

Answer 14

* substancial technology base to develop improved versions of the original, in terms of lower cost, different design, additional features, etc * agility in manufacturing, design and development and marketing: respond quickly to those companies that are first into the market * If no in-house R&D, response would have been much slower: substantially more learning and understanding of technology

Answer 15

Block 1 Technology as Knowledge Technology as Artefact Technology as Process of Enquiry and Action

Answer 16

– Good internal and external communications – Treating innovation as a corporate wide task – Good control of projects – Efficient development and production – Strong market orientation – Provision of good technical service to customers – Presence of key individuals – High quality management

Answer 17

A definition of a project – a group of connected activities with a defined starting point, a defined finish and a need for a central intelligence to direct it. The ‘central intelligence’ referred to above is the project manager. He is seen as the chief executive of a temporary organization and has two key roles: Objective setting Motivation Projects often take place against a backdrop of competition and, consequently, there is continual change regarding the standards that must be met. The strategic purpose of a project is one of the most important factors to consider. Below this, there will need to be specific, quantifiable, lower level objectives to enable the project’s progress to be monitored. Projects increasingly prevail since a steady state organization is the exception nowadays. Typically, project management is based upon some kind of matrix approach. The project manager’s role is similar to that of a product champion except the champion assumes the role himself whereas the PM is appointed to a position that already has management support.

Answer 18

* Quality of design - standard or grade of product * Quality of conformance - match between product and design * Quality of availability - reliability and maintainability * Quality of safety - risk of injury * Quality of Field Use - condition after reaching customer

Answer 19

* Knowledge * Behaviour utilisation * Attitudes * Normative consensus i.e. the value of the new technology *

Answer 20

* Not all of the smart people work for us so we must find and tap into the knowledge and expertise of bright individuals outside our company. * External R&D can create significant value; internal R&D is needed to claim some portion of that value. * We don’t have to originate the research in order to profit from it. * Building a better business model is better than getting to market first. * If we make the best use of internal and external ideas, we will win. * We should profit from others’ use of our IP, and we should buy others’ IP whenever it advances our own business model. (Chesbrough)

Answer 21

* Improved access to capital and new business * Greater technical mass * Shared risk and liability * Better relationship with strategic partners * Technological transfer benefits * Reduced R&D costs * Use of distribution skills * Access to marketing strengths * Standardisation * By-product utilisation * Management skills

Answer 22

Explain the reasons for / clarify / give reasons for.

Answer 23

Zero is a management standard Qualitity management maturity grid: uncertainty, awakening, enlightenment, widom and certainty Once positioned in the maturity grid, Crosby's 14 point programme offered opportunities for improvement: 1. management commitment - written quality policy 2. quality improvement team - department heads 3. quality measurement -measurement needed to identify problems 4. cost of quality evaluation - identify where profits can be made 5. quality awareness - among employees 6. corrective action - generated by steps 3&4 7. zero defects planning - zero defects committee 8. supervisor training - in their part of the programme 9. zero defect day - signal to employees 10. goal setting - to turn commitment into actione 11. error cause removal - free reporting of problem areas 12. recognition - public and non-financial 13. quality councils - regular meetings 14. do it all again

Answer 24

Following completion, a review of the project should be carried out. Firstly, the project documentation records can be examined. Secondly, the following aspects should be addressed: - Project brief (was it well formed, did it change, was it realistic) - Information (accurate, timely, were right sources used) - Project team (were the people right, right mix of skills) - Communication (what were the flows, what were the means) - Suppliers/subcontractors (effectively managed and integrated) - Project definition (complete, was it variable or stable) - Senior management (informed, supportive) - Users/customers (identified, consulted, involved) - Consultants (were they used, and properly briefed) - Cost/time schedules (were they used, and adhered to) - Project leader (skill and effectiveness) When a review is done, something must be done with it to ensure credibility.

Answer 25

give the main features or general principles of a subject, omitting minor details and emphasising structure and arrangement.

Answer 26

* The majority of change is incremental and rather than radical * Three types of technical change: * Improvement - modification of a product * Invention - a creative idea for a new product * Innovation - successful introduction of new product to market Revolutionary change extends the current state of the art Evolutionary changes modify the current state of the art

Answer 27

Innovation is the development and implementation of new systems and processes. The difference between innovation and improvement is hard to define Innovation can stem from: * scientific discoveries * product obsolescence * market fashions * new markets * process opportunities * altered inputs * needs to change production volumes and can affect inputs, transformation and outputs.

Answer 28

this Gregory model: * It represents a complete wheel or full cycle. * Clockwise progression around it takes us ahead to what must be done. * Anticlockwise progression around it would trace the history of a project. * One can start anywhere. * You can go back and forth locally, iterating on a small scale. * Gregory labels the framework a vehicle (see quote above) not a pathway. * It is, therefore, dynamic, and invites even its own replacement in due time! It can be used for: * performance maintenance * operational improvement * innovation

Answer 29

* common causes - systemic and wide ranging * special causes - confined to individuals or single activities it is possible to use SPC to distinguish between the two and to manage quality.

Answer 30

make an appraisal of the worth / validity / effectiveness of something (but not so that it is your personal opinion) and give evidence from course materials. See also Assess.

Answer 31

External inputs (market, technological and socio-economic) and internal ones (product, process and administrative and control system) going into the innovation process, represent a potential source of an opportunity or a problem. The latter can be thought of as the difference between an existing condition and a possible future or alternative condition. Innovation can be seen as the gap between an existing condition and an alternative condition. innovation is the process of achieving this alternative condition. Innovation can also be brought about by a change in perception. Perception aenables patterns to be seen in the existing condition and an alternative condition to be imagined. Gap analysis is not sufficient in itself to maintain organizational performance. pro-active innovative activities must also be added. Most companies aare ambivalent towards new ideias, despite management assertions to the contrary.

Answer 32

* Changing customer needs - feedback from original product * Improvements in components - lower costs or higher performance components becoming available * New market segments - minor specification changes can target a new market Reduced cost, risk and lead time can also be added to the list above. Cumulative improvements to production processes can produce a significant reduction in costs (the learning curve). Similarly, the cumulative development of products results in significant improvements in performance. Continuous development of a product can increase the in-use part of the life cycle, hence increasing the time the product is profitable.

Answer 33

B2) 5 ovals ISA / EP I P S E A Identification Selection Acquistion Exploitation Protection

Answer 34

Block 3 Circle 4 boxes Circle Two rectangles above and below boxes IDP MMM / NS Idea Development Prototype Manufacturing Marketing/Sales Market Plan Need (Market) State of the Art Technology

Answer 35

Block 1, 8 Thamhain "Engineer to Manager" Global Aptitude Categories PPT AB Personal desire People skills Technical knowledge Administrative Skills Business Accumen

Answer 36

The term 2nd generation R&D refers to the whole organization being regarded as customers of the R&D department. This aims to break down barriers between R&D and the organization and to focus the department’s efforts. 3rd generation R&D involves moving staff in and out of the R&D department.

Answer 37

Give a detailed account of

Answer 38

Block 1 3 circles / venn diagram Traditional Science / engineering Technology Management General Management

Answer 39

(B1, p31) * Operating existing systems successfully (junior) * Improving existing systems (middle) * Innovating (senior) (Although ideas can come from any level, each management level in an organization is charged with one of the three core tasks of operation, improvement and innovation)

Answer 40

Give details about how and why something is so.

Answer 41

* internal failure costs * external failure costs * appraisal costs * prevention costs Rising cost of appraisal and prevention produce failing costs of internal and external failure. At some point the optimal figure will be reached (minimal COQ) after which diminishing returns will appy. (Juran)

Answer 42

* Relative advantage * Compatibility with adopter's life style and values * Trialability * Observability * Low degree of complexity

Answer 43

find some points of common ground between two or more items and show where or how they are different.

Answer 44

present in a brief, clear way.

Answer 45

look in detail at this line of argument.

Answer 46

* Design and Technical Hierarchies. A hierarchical structure is likely to exist for successive generations of a product. Inherent in this is the fact that various functional parameters will not be of equal significance. A movement down the design hierarchy is associated with refinement or extension of the core concept. * Design Trajectories. A design trajectory describes the evolution of a product over time as user requirements change. The design trajectory describes the movement of industry best practice as technologies develop and customer requirements change. * Architectural or systems-type innovations. Architectural innovation consists of changes in the way components are linked together, but without necessarily changing the nature of the components. * Technological Trajectories. Design configurations will be constrained by the existing ‘technological regime’ – a set of basic design parameters that represents a range of technical options. A technological regime may evolve through improvements in component technologies or through development of new design configurations (architectural innovation). A technological trajectory describes the historical development of a single discrete technology. * Crossover and Hybrid Technologies. Crossover technologies involve transferring a technology from one sector to another. Hybrid technologies consist of combinations of existing technologies or products. * Technology Fusion. Crossover and hybrid technologies do not change the essence of the technologies whereas technology fusion transforms the core technologies.

Answer 47

* Technology as **artefact** refers to made objects * Technology as **knowledge** resides only in people * Technology as **mode of enquiry and action** refers to technological method (observation, problem solving, inventing, improvising, management of change, etc)

Answer 48

An assembly of components, connected in a organised way, that does something. Each component is affected by being in the system and the behaviour of the system changes if a component leaves the system. The system has been identified as being of particular interest to someone.

Answer 49

Innovation can often be highly disordered and can sometimes be performed best by organisations that: * Have arrogant egotists in positions of power * Suppy resources, turn a blind eye and support project teams

Answer 50

Block 1 3 circles In-Scope Out-of-Scope Prior Knowledge 4 levels of circles

Answer 51

Look for differences between.

Answer 52

Look at evidence / arguments for and against and weight them up in terms of their value.

Answer 53

* Intangibility - e.g. a consultant may provide an advice service which has no tangible value in itself * Simultaneity - e.g. any service produced on demand * Heterogeneity - e.g. where unexpected demands might come along * Perishability - e.g. services that do not last (transport, painting, insurance) (de Brentani)

Answer 54

* Four factors of Lichtenthaler * Licensing * Patent pools * Open Source

Answer 55

Helps identify new market channels for product extensions (could be upmarket or downmarket) Initial product is the core product. Extensions can be: * enhanced - additional features for a market segment * customised - additional features for a specific customer * cost-reduced - stripped down version for a price sensitive market * hybrid - combination of two core designs (Table 4, p.73)

Answer 56

* low-cost producer: achieving economies of scale in manufacture * exceptional skills and capabilities in production and process engineering: involves following another company, except that the technology base is not usually as well developed as for the *Leader/Offensive* and *Fast Follower/Defensive* strategies

Answer 57

Benchmarking is also assuming more importance i.e. comparing performance of a product or process with a contemporary company or world leader. Benchmarking between companies is usually done on a quid pro quo basis. Benchmarking is externally focused and can identify external gaps. Consequently, an internal review must also be conducted to identify internal gaps. A typical review process would take the following form: * Create a team * Choose a technique * Undertake the analysis * Consolidate the analysis * Prioritise the problems

Answer 58

• Business Process Engineering – promoted as a fundamental, innovative approach to organizational renewal, as opposed to continuous improvement. Instead, it is discontinuous in nature and intended to make major improvements to the 4 major competitive factors. These competitive priorities are quality, cost, flexibility and speed. • CI delivers incremental improvement on a single priority. BPR provides radical improvement across several priorities. Many companies show a pattern of gradual improvement followed by radical innovation. • BPR is applied to processes, not departments, processes being where transformations take place. • There can be a tendency to use BPR to improve efficiency i.e. as a cost cutting tool. However, it should also be used to generate new growth.

Answer 59

Block 2 Triangle Top - Revolutionary Changes Bottom - Evolutionary Changes

Answer 60

Used to identify opportunities for product improvement. Requires much technical and market research. it is used to identify the product characteristics which are most important to customers, and translate these into technical requirements. Taguchi methods can than optimize the technical parameters. Taguchi methods - means of identifying design parameters which have the greatest impact on product performance (Bossert) (Block 2, QFD Box 7, p76-83)

Answer 61

* Meeting the precise requirement of a particular market segment or niche * large-scale manufacture is not usually required and the products need few changes * traditional products, e.g. Scottish whisky manufacturers

Answer 62

Management techniques to monitor, review and improve activities. A programme of continuous improvement can support a strategy of price leadership (process improvement) or product differentiation (product improvement). (block 8,paper by Bessant et al)

Answer 63

* The smart people in our field work for us. * To profit from R&D, we must discover, develop, produce and ship it ourselves. * If we discover it ourselves, we will get it to market first. * If we are the first to commercialize an innovation, we will win. * If we create the most and best ideas in the industry, we will win. * We should control our intellectual property(IP) so that our competitors do not profit from our ideas. (Chesbrough)

Answer 64

1. What is the precise nature of the technology? 2. Compared with the past situation, what are the advantages of the change? 3. When did the change take place? 4. Has the change now become accepted as part of working practice? 5. What are the ‘people’ aspects of the change? 6. How do you ensure understanding?

Answer 65

1 Watch the effects of technological change on management or supervisory structures. New technology and IT may lead to a need for fewer levels of management and may affect information flows. 2 Get enthusiasts to lead, maybe manage, technological changes. 3 Try to take the new technology to the existing workplace, and get the new technology on people’s desks or benches. Don’t expect staff to go to new places to operate new equipment. 4 Always ‘sell’ new systems, methods and IT. People need to be persuaded to change by having the benefits explained. 5 Carefully identify staff whose jobs are affected by a change, i.e. the stakeholders (including supervisors and trade unions). 6 Carefully identify the resources required for the change. Never try to fit innovation costs to a fixed limit until the change has been fully and carefully evaluated.

Answer 66

1 Assuming others will see the advantages just because you can; staff will need to be persuaded to accept change. 2 Changing methods of work and the work environment together; whenever possible, let the environment change later and gradually. 3 Being secretive about potential technological change (except, of course, from competitors). People like to know, to contribute and to participate. 4 Political battling over technology (e.g. should there be change in this area or that area first, or arguments over the best bit of kit). This gets the change off to a bad start and creates difficulties later. 5 Letting staff get stressed by the new technology. 6 Agreeing resources for change until sure what is needed.

Answer 67

* Expectations have cultural biases, reflecting current beliefs, hopes, fears. * Focus on current technological trajectories * Potential of new technology is phrased in terms of substitution of old technology. * Pool of existing social practices is assumed to remain constant in spite of the introduction of a new technology. * Functional thinking. * Overestimation of speed of societal embedding of new technology. * Initial promises in future expectations are too high and have to be scaled down in later periods

Answer 68

* Example: New product development | New process introduction * Aim: Reduce uncertainties | Deliverables * Objectives: Strategic options/reduce risks | Tactical advantage * Cycles: Iterative | Waterfall * Approach: Transformative | Transactional - controlled * Communication: Informal, semi-structured | Formal, structured * Focus: People oriented- adaptive | Task oriented * Boundaries: Permeable/loose |Definite/tight * Environment: Dynamic moving | Solid state

Answer 69

* SSM - Soft Systems Methodology * HSA - Hard Systems Approach

Answer 70

* System Maps (diagraming) * Influence diagrams (diagraming) * Brainstorming * Affinity Diagrams * Multiple-cause Diagrams * Sign graph Diagrams

Answer 71

* SPC - Statistical Process Controls * Hierarchical objectives network

Answer 72

* Experience curves * Pareto analysis * Control diagrams * Failure modes and effects analysis

Answer 73

* Taguchi method * QFD - Quality Function Deployment

Answer 74

* Benchmarking * Performance drivers and measures of performance

Answer 75

Implementation: * Potential problem analysis Project Planning (time and resources): * Precedence network * Activity network * Network analysis * The Gantt chart

Answer 76

Are used yo provide a static, holistic overview of the situation at one moment in time. They provides help in identifying what systems can affect the situation. A system map consists of: * system boundary lines (blobs) * short names that describe the structural elements within each blob System maps can be used for: * sort out complex situation by assembling it in terms of systems * progressively identify structural elements in the situation and place them inside appropriate system boundaries

Answer 77

Allow to add a dynamic element to system maps. It shows how and where strong influences can exist.

Answer 78

Allow to organise a large number of ideas, opinions, issues, etc., into groupings based on natural relationships between each item. the creation of the items and their organisation is done by a creative process rather than a logic one. this allows old patterns of logical thinking to be broken, which is necessary if innovation and improvement are to take place. Construction is done in three parts: 1. preparation 2. gathering the information 3. organising the information

Answer 79

Are used at a lower level than systems maps. Multiple-cause diagrams are used when it is necessary to investigate in detail the cause and effect relationships between components of a system and its environment. Rules to follow: * components only appear once * keep each component as simple as possible * arrows show the direction of flow from cause to effect * the diagram should be read sequencially (arrow means 'causes') * ensure minimum number of lines cross * paths are easy to follow

Answer 80

Is one of the 'quality' tools used in TQM (Total Quality Management) and JIT (Just-In-Time). The aim of the analysis is to help identify key problem areas that need tackling to get the maximum benefit from minimum effort, cost, or other factors. Pareto found that the 80% of problems can be attributed to 20% of causes. In order to do a Pareto analysis is necessary to: 1. Identify what factor is being used for comparison 2. identify what components make up for this factor 3. Collect data relating to the components and find the comparison factor relating to each grouping. (re-tabulate in descending order with regards to the comparison factor) 4. Create a bar char of the comparison factors 5. Draw a line below the row where the cumulative total is 80% or draw a similar line on the bar chart.

Answer 81

Is a cause and effect diagram that can be used early in the analysis of a problem to help you understand the 'skeleton' of the problem. 1. Identify the end effect and put it in the middle of the right-hand side of the paper, and draw a horizontal arrow pointing towards the end effect from the left-hand side of the paper. 2. Identify the major factor which are immediate causes of this end effect. 3. For each major cause, considerate immediate factors affecting it and place them either side of the line joining the major cause to the horizontal line, using an arrow to connect with that line. 4. Continue identifying new causes.

Answer 82

Seven Stages: 1. Entering the problem situation 2. Express the problem situation 3. Formulating root defintions of relevant systems 4. Building conceptual models of human activity systems 5. Compare models with the real world 6. Defining changes that are desirable and feasible 7. Taking action to improve the real world situation

Answer 83

* Clients * Actors * Transformation * WorldView * Owner * Environment Constrains By explicitly acknowledging these perspective, the user is forced to consider the impact of any proposed changes on the people involved.

Answer 84

FMEA is a way to identify problems and potential problems in products. It is necessary to assess the following factors and enter the results in a matrix: * Potential mode of failure * Potential effects of failure * Potential causes of failure * Current controls * Occurrence, severity and detection (rated 1 to 10) * Multiply occurrence, severity and detection and obtain the RPN (Risk Priority Number)

Answer 85

Taguchi methods seek to identify and eliminate the causes of quality problems, by way of designing a product or process insensitive to the causes. Taguchi methods use the properties orthogonal matrices to produce experimental design which require far fewer experiments. According to Taguchi, product design takes place in three stages: 1. System design 2. Parameter design 3. Tolerance design

Answer 86

A perspective on a system is a point of view which is made up of a combination of our observations, beliefs, models, assumptions, etc. A perspective is always subjective.

Answer 87

Holism is a way of thinking about the whole rather than just its component parts.

Answer 88

Where a boundary of a system is drawn depends on the perspective of the person who is looking at the system and why he or she is concerned with it.

Answer 89

There are two types of controls: * feedforward (open loop control) * feedback (closed loop control) A feedforward depends on the knowledge and past experience of the system, the current inputs and desired output. The system is controlled through an input of information as to how the system will behave once the whole process starts. A feedback is designed to respond to changes in its environment. The controller sets a standard for the output required from the transformation process. The actual output is monitored and compared to the standard in the control comparator. If the output is unacceptable, the system takes corrective action until the desired output is obtained.

Answer 90

Normally problems are refed to as being a mess or a difficulty. A difficulty is a situation which is relatively well defined in a number of respects. A mess is poorly defined.

Answer 91

* Problem/Opportunity * Decision maker -\> 7 and 8 * What is the problem/opportunity? 1. System perception? 2. identification of objectives and constraints? 3. Generation of routes to objectives 4. Formulate measures of performance (links to 2, 3 and 5) 5. Modelling 6. Evaluation 7. Choices of route(s) to objectives 8. Implementation

Answer 92

* Deming: statistical analysis, manufacturing and service industry applicability, emphasis on changing attitudes * Juran: role of senior management important, manufacturing, changing attitudes * Crosby: top management commitment, culture, zero defects

Answer 93

* Structured Product/Service Development * Quality Function Deployment * Taguchi * Experience curves * Continuous Improvement –Kaizen * Robust Design

Answer 94

* Design and Technical Hierarchies * Design Trajectories * Architectural or systems-type innovations * Technological Trajectories * Dominant Designs * Crossover and Hybrid Technologies * Technology Fusion

Answer 95

* change orientated * keen to influence peers and seniors * excellent analytical skills * uses reasoned arguments not intuition * good critical skills * good interpersonal skills

Answer 96

* Organization (teams, roles, relationships) * Plans (technical, quality, resource) * Controls (standards, monitoring, feedback) * Products (hardware, software, documentation) * Activities (management, research, development)

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MBA (T840) Final Exam Prep Flashcards

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