COM Performance Measurement & Management 3

Question 1

Which statistical tool plots data points over time to detect trends, shifts, or unusual variation in a process?

Accepted Answer

Control chart

Answer

Control charts display process measurements over time with upper and lower control limits, allowing managers to distinguish between common cause and special cause variation.

Question 2

A service center's average handle time improves by 15%, but first-call resolution drops by 10%. What does this scenario illustrate?

Accepted Answer

A suboptimization trade-off between speed and quality

Answer

Suboptimization occurs when improving one metric causes deterioration in another, highlighting the need to manage a balanced set of performance measures simultaneously.

Question 3

In a Balanced Scorecard, strategy maps are used primarily to:

Accepted Answer

Visualize cause-and-effect relationships between strategic objectives

Answer

Strategy maps graphically depict how objectives across the four Balanced Scorecard perspectives link together through cause-and-effect chains to achieve the financial vision.

Question 4

A plant manager wants to determine whether a new scheduling system actually improved throughput. Which approach provides the strongest evidence?

Accepted Answer

Comparing throughput data from before and after implementation using control charts

Answer

Quantitative before-and-after comparison using statistical tools provides objective evidence of whether a process change produced a measurable improvement.

Question 5

What is the primary purpose of setting performance stretch goals?

Accepted Answer

To motivate innovation and breakthrough thinking beyond incremental improvement

Answer

Stretch goals are deliberately ambitious targets set beyond normal reach to push teams to rethink processes and achieve non-linear performance gains.

(COM) Certified Operations Manager Practice Test

(COM) Certified Operations Manager Practice Test

COM Performance Measurement & Management 3