Questions and Answers Quality Management DeMistified

1. A best practices is
(c) the best way to do a repetitive process.
2. Synergy is
(a) the quality of people being able to do more together than we could do separately.
3. Effectiveness is
(a) our ability to achieve desired results.
4. A destruct test
(c) destroys the product, but gives us information about defects in the batch of products from which it
came.
5. In quality management, objective means
(a) the same, no matter who does the checking.
6. A process requirement is
(a) a requirement on a defined measure of a process that is happening.
7. Change Control requires all of the following except
(d) deciding what to change.
8. Forecasting
(b) means predicting expected future measures or results based on past measures or results.
9. Subjective risk is
(d) a made-up term.
10. The voice of the customer is best described as
(b) a catch phrase to remind us that we need to be certain we are addressing customer requirements.
11. Quality Assurance focuses on
(a) improvements to design and to work process that eliminate error.
12. It is possible to be too customer-focused. When we are,
(a) we deliver quality to the customer, but dont pay enough attention to the bottom line.
13. A requirements tracing matrix does all of these except
(d) link a requirement to similar requirements in other products or services.
14. In quality management, a cause-effect pair
(b) is a unique pair of events that describe a cause that results in a defect of product or service.
15. Inputs
(d) are ingredients that go into a process to be transformed into outputs.
16. Benchmarking is
(a) a defined measure of productivity based on comparison to similar processes.
17. Statistical Process Control is now generally referred to as
(c) Quality Control.

18. A Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)

(a) is a written technique describing how we do a process now.
19. Which of these techniques does not have as one of its primary purposes the reduction of subjective
decisions?
(d) Brainstorming
20. Efficiency is
(b) our ability to achieve results with less effort or cost.
21. Flow diagramming
(b) replaces flow mapping.
22. An output requirement is
(b) a requirement of an attribute of the output of any process.
23. Which of these statement is not true of Quality Assurance (QA)?
(d) It includes Quality Control.
24. Asample where each item in the population has an equal chance of being included in the sample is
called a
(b) random sample.
25. Tolerance defines the acceptable limits of technical standards as defined by the
(a) customer requirement, stakeholder requirement, standard or regulation.
26. Fiduciary risks are all of these, except
(d) entirely internal.
27. A process
(a) is the activity of changing inputs into outputs.
28. Requirements elicitation includes all of these except
(c) identifying all standards that have requirements we must meet.
29. Accuracy in measurement should be
(b) sufficient to ensure that the attribute is within tolerances.
30. In a business environment, which of these is not an element of the customer?
(c) Consumer
31. Statistical Process Control includes all of these except
(c) innovative thinking to prevent defects.
32. A convenience sample is
(a) inexpensive, but unreliable.
33. Quality Planning (QP)
(a) includes planning for QC, planning for QA, and more.
34. Which of these statements is not true about customer value?
(b) Customers always seek the highest quality, regardless of cost.

35. Which of these statements is not true about good design?

(b) Good design is only related to aesthetics and has nothing to do with function.
36. Outputs are all of these except
(c) inputs to preceding processes.
37. Statistical Quality Control does all of these except
(c) guarantees that all inferior products are thrown out.
38. Liability
(a) is a cost we will, or might, have to pay in the future.
39. We want our measurement to be all of these except
(b) biased.
40. A part of PDCA is correctly defined on each of these lines except
(d) authorize. Authorize a change to the standard to permanently solve the problem.
41. A systematic sample seems good, but it runs into trouble because
(d) it can consistently miss a systematic error.
42. Customers have different definitions of exactly what gives the mostvalue. As producers, we
effectively deal with this using all of these methods except
(a) deciding what the customer will want ourselves.
43. Tools are best defined as
(a) things which are used for a task, but not used up.
44. Quality management requires
(a) application of universal principles, uniquely adapted to particular circumstances.
45. Customer service on the team is all of these except
(b) a part of the process of definition of customer requirements.
46. Pareto optimization is primarily used to
(c) prioritize defects for the prevention effort.
47. Vulnerability to lawsuits, criminal charges, loss of reputation, or other costs is called
(c) exposure.
48. Root cause analysis finds
(d) the most basic, original source of a defect or error.
49. A permanent preventative solution is all of these except
(c) an alternative to root cause analysis.
50. All of these statements are true about resources except
(c) inputs are one type of resource.
51. Ishikawa diagrams are also called
(b) cause-and-effect diagrams.

52. The father of Scientific Management is

(a) Fredrick Winslow Taylor.
53. The development of Scientific Management included the development of all of these except
(a) statistics.
54. Testing is
(b) the process of actually doing something with a product, service, or component and seeing what
happens.
55. Corrective action is
(b) what we do after a defect is found.
56. All of these are true of architecture except
(b) architecture applies only to the building and construction industry.
57. All of these are true of techniques except
(d) techniques can be used to replace processes.
58. We can use all of these as inputs for creation of a best practice, except
(c) PDCA.
59. Input requirement are all of these except
(c) less important than output requirements.
60. A quota sample
(a) is a type of convenience sample.
61. The inventor of statistical quality control is
(b) Walter Shewhart.
62. The work environment
(a) is an important, but often overlooked, factor in quality management because variations in the work
environment can reduce quality.
63. Internal auditors have which attitude towards leaving tools behind for management?
(b) Measurement tools left behind are a good way for auditors to add value by making it easier and
less expensive for management to improve future work results.
64. The measured or assessed level of performance of how things are or were done is called
(b) a condition.
65. The consequence of an error is all of these except
(c) always measurable.
66. Criteria is best defined as
(b) what should or could befor example, the relevant standard or best practice.
67. The key figure in Total Quality Management is
(c) W. Edwards Deming.
68. The inventor of the Cost of Quality approach is
(d) Philip B. Crosby.

69. Quality Control (QC), in its broader sense

(a) is almost a synonym for checking.
70. Quality management addresses all of these standards except
(d) the Standard & Poors index.

1. Quality control has these two meanings:

(a) Broadall checking, and narrowstatistical quality control.
2. An executive of a Six Sigma company wants to ensure business value, and also encourage
innovation. The best tool to use is
(b) setting a base goal plus a stretch goal for the project.
3. All of these are true of unhealthy resistance except it
(c) can be totally eliminated by creating a hassle-free environment.
4. All of these are true about kaizen, except
(d) it is part of Six Sigma.
5. Which of these is not one of Demings 14 points?
(d) Eliminate barriers to vertical communication.
6. An independent company that, for a fee, audits you to see if you meet the ISO 9000 standard is
called a
(b) registrar.
7. Software Inspection
(a) applied Total Quality Management to the process of software development.
8. In statistics, estimation means
(d) making statements about the population based on statistics from the sample.
9. Scientific Management
(a) is the name for the predecessor of quality management.
10. In auditing, an effect is
(a) the gap between condition and criteria, and its consequences.
11. Which of the following factors is not involved in Total Quality Management?
(c) DMAIC
12. Scientific Management is
(d) the predecessor of all quality management.
13. Which of these is not a major barrier to quality improvement programs?
(d) Total Quality Management is only proven to work in Japan.

14. Quality management uses these elements from the field of science except
(c) the search for understanding how the world works.
15. In auditing, the reason for the good or poor performance is called a
(a) cause.
16. Zero defects
(c) was first achieved by a company building missiles for the U.S. government in the 1960s.
17. All of these are true of quality planning except
(c) quality planning increases the total cost of quality.
18. The five Ss are
(b) Sort, Straighten, Scrub, Systematize, and Standardize.
19. These are all legitimate reasons to resist a new initiative, except
(d) All of these answers, a, b, and c, are legitimate reasons to resist a new initiative.
20. The Deming curve
(d) is a made-up term.
21. Which of these is not true of Demings 14 points?
(a) They apply only to Total Quality Management.
22. Which of these terms is not used in ISO 9000?
(c) Certification
23. Philip B. Crosby is associated with all of these except
(a) Total Quality Management.
24. Work Breakdown Structuring is all of these except
(d) a tool often used in continuous improvement.
25. All of the following are true about the 1.5 sigma shift except
(c) GE published a validation of Motorolas discovery.
26. A comprehensive sample is
(a) as much of the total population as we can get.
27. A unique contribution of Gemba Kaizen to quality management is
(a) the suggestion system.
28. In experimentation, a process that is not changed, and compared to a process that is intentionally
changed, is called an (d) experimental control.
29. Process improvement includes all of these except
(b) consistently replacing inspection with quality control.
30. In quality management, we should work to improve the quality of all of these except
(d) our competitors product.
31. Quality assurance includes all of these except
(d) statistical process control.

32. A systems breakdown diagram

(d) is a made-up term.
33. You are a new senior executive for a company. You call your quality assurance team together and
ask what your predecessor did wrong. They tell you that he never allowed them to really change
processes, they could only try to patch things up after the fact. Which of these approaches addresses
that issue most directly?
(b) Hassle-free management
34. The quality of people being able to do more together than we could do separately is called
(c) synergy.
35. The two best kind of samples to use are
(a) comprehensive and random.
36. Checking includes all of these except
(d) designing in quality.
37. Flow production is all of these except
(d) a technique often applied in Six Sigma.
38. Which of these most accurately describes the development of TQM?
(c) TQM was the result of a nationwide effort in Japan with major contributions by Japanese industrial
leaders, Japanese management, Japanese workers, and others as well.
39. Impact Finding is a term from
(b) auditing.
40. Constraints on a new initiative include all of these except
(d) the limitations of innovation.
41. Egoless programming
(a) is supported by the idea that everyone makes mistakes, and wed rather have our team find them
than have the customer find them.
42. Which is the best way to finish the following sentence: To the extent that a business does not do
quality management,
(d) the company and its customers will have to deal with the consequences of the errors the company
did not resolve.
43. Six Sigma short-term projects have all of these advantages except
(c) they are an effective approach to continuous improvement.
44. You have embarked on a quality program for the past three years. By all measures except one, it
appears to be working. The only change is that your companys share of the market isnt growing. All of
these could be factors, except
(c) the industrys whole market is shrinking.
46. All of the following are true of the cost of quality except
(a) You can be certified as a cost-of-quality auditor or engineer.

47. Inherent conservatism

(a) is a result of a lasting systems tendency towards homeostasis.
48. Another term for an ISO 9000 document is
(b) a standard operating procedure (SOP).
49. Which tool is best for prioritizing cause-effect pairs?
(b) The Pareto chart
50. Which of these statements is most true with regard to the idea of zero defects?
(c) Zero defects is most important when human life is on the line, but can be applied elsewhere as well.
51. SOP stands for
(a) Standard Operating Procedure.
52. The internal auditors attitude towards a management response in value-added auditing is
(c) the auditor should focus on findings, but help management develop its response, and include the
management response in the audit report.
53. Total Quality Management clearly demonstrated that
(a) process improvement results in both improved product quality and increased productivity.
54. Overall, quality management
(a) is aimed at the customer, and also improves the bottom line,
55. The relationship between ISO 9000 documents and records is
(a) documents tell you what to do, records show that you did it.
56. In setting an acceptable level of error, all of these is true except
(d) the customers preference automatically determines the acceptable level of error.
57. Quality management
(b) can be implemented incrementally, or though an intensive program, but a good plan is essential.
58. Review
(a) is for documents, not products.
59. ISO 9000 requires all of these except
(d) a method of statistical quality control.
60. Just-in-Time (lean) manufacturing insures all of these except
(d) best practices from the industry are in place.
61. Buddy programming is all of these except
(d) incompatible with software inspection.
62. Which of these is a problem with Six Sigma?
(a) There is a high cost of training Six Sigma black belts.
63. Which tool is best for finding multiple causes of a single defect?
(a) The Ishikawa diagram

64 You are implementing a TQM program. You can choose where to start and what to do first.
Historically, the most commonly used order was
65. Consulting expertise will help with ISO registration in all of these ways except
(d) the expert will perform the compliance audit at a lower cost than a registrar.
66. Inherent momentum
(a) is most beneficial in a kaizen environment.
67. Gembutsu are all of these except
(d) essential to process flow.
68. Systems Engineering is all of these except
(a) required in ISO 9000.
69. We can measure the value of an internal audit department by benchmarking
(a) the value of clear, factual research results we can use to improve our business.
70. You can reduce cost of quality the most by
(a) designing products that can be built with very low defect rates.
71. You run a small manufacturing company. Which of these is not a valid reason to avoid Six Sigma?
(a) Six Sigma only applies if you are making millions or billions of identical products.
72. Documentation
(d) is a cornerstone of quality management.
73. The statement that In quality management, weve solved the problem in theory but not in practice,
points out all of these facts, except
(d) we should not have to spend much time on quality management, because all of the problems have
already been solved.
74. Objectivity is crucial to improvement. This particular fact is most broadly implemented by which of
these quality management tools?
(a) Fact-based decision-making
75. Inspection
(c) requires a standard to compare to.
76. If your process uses my outputs, then you are my internal customer. This idea helps reduce all of
these problems except
(c) poor vertical communication to managers.
77. All of the following are true about a judgmental sample, except
(c) judgmental samples are worse than convenience samples.
78. Software Engineering
(a) is the CMMI module for software developmentwriting computer programs.
79. ISO 9000 registration is roughly equivalent to all of these, except
(b) a one-year Six Sigma initiative.

80. The main reason that auditors do not take responsibility for solving problems is
(c) if they work on solving the problem, it can compromise their independence.
81. A temporary countermeasure is most likely to be used
(c) to keep production running while we examine gembutsu.
82. Resistance is
(c) often, but not always healthy.
83. You are a top executive at a firm that has embraced Six Sigma. The process is failing to show
results. Which of the following choices would not be likely to help?
(d) Shorten Six Sigma project cycle time.
84. A risk footprint is a tool primarily used by
(b) internal auditors.
85. Which of these best describes the relationship between quality engineering and vendor
communications?
(d) Quality engineering should at first focus on internal improvements, then move up the supply chain
through vendor communication.
86. All of these are true of workflow optimization except
(d) it is a made-up term.
87. Forensics means
(a) related to, or of a standard acceptable to, courts of law.
88. Which is most true of stratified samples?
(a) Stratified samples are hard to build, but can be very valuable.
89. Which of these industries or areas is not heavily involved with ISO 9000?
(c) Software development
90. Which of the following would not be useful preparation for a poorly managed company that wants to
implement Six Sigma?
(d) Any of a, b, or c would be a good idea.
91. All of these are true about Integrated Product and Process Development except
(d) it is part of ISO 9000.
92. Fill in the blank. Risk management is to ______, as quality management is to error.
(a) uncertain, possible future events
93. Which of these would be a good reason to use ISO 9000 rather than TQM?
(a) Your company has a high staff turnover rate, so it is easier to audit than to provide extensive
training.
94. Supplier Sourcing
(a) addresses how to ensure that suppliers provide what is needed for
95. Mudathe Japanese word for waste, has a very wide meaning. Muda includes all of these, except
(d) failure to use innovative methods.

96. All of these are true about Theory Y, except

(d) if a Theory X manager is replaced by a Theory Y manager, immediate gains in efficiency are the
most likely result.
97. Which of the following best describes the effect of continuous improvement kaizenon our
attitude towards standards?
(a) Without continuous improvement, we often struggle to meet standards With continuous
improvement, the standard is the minimum requirement for a process, and we strive to improve on it.
98. We want to avoid getting a self-selected sample, but that is hard to do in
(b) performing customer satisfaction surveys.
99. All of these are true of the process of quality definition for our product except
(b) quality definition is a defined part of ISO 9000.
100. Six Sigma statistical processes would be most useful at
(d) CMMI levels 4 and 5, to improve the ability to deliver high quality software.