Can You Pass the Continuous Improvement Test?

Benchmarking is:

1. Evaluating your performance compared to that of industry leaders
2. A way of marking defective goods in a production line
3. Your company's system for graphing increases in productivity
4. None of the above

W. Edwards Deming identified 14 points of managing for quality. Which of the following is not one of them:

1. Train the workforce
2. Drive out fear
3. Rotate management
4. Institute leadership

Quality has been defined as anything the following person or group says it is:

1. Chief executive officer
2. Customers
3. Internal auditors
4. Director of quality

Empowering employees means to:

1. Let them set their holidays and work times
2. Let them vote on who they want to run the company
3. Delegate a balance of authority and responsibility to them
4. None of the above

W. Edwards Deming believed:

1. An organization should drive out fear
2. An organization should achieve zero defects
3. The Japanese would always be world market leaders
4. None of the above

Management commitment was one of this man's steps to zero defects:

1. Philip Crosby
2. Jack Welch
3. Joseph Juran
4. Walter B. Walters
5. Walter Shewhart

Innovation and continuous improvement are two ways of improving quality:

1. True
2. False

In continuous improvement quality systems, the organization values:

1. Individual competitiveness
2. 200% product/service inspections
3. Long-term partnership with a few suppliers
4. Competitive bidding to get the best price possible

Which of the following is usually cited as a benefit of training and development:

1. It shows concern of management
2. It lowers potential for failure
3. It makes the workforce more flexible
4. All of the above
5. 1 and 2, above

In a company with a continuous improvement program, statistical process control should be the first training priority:

1. True
2. False