Barry is a Hotel Manager and is keen to understand where his business is failing. He has asked his staff to conduct a number of different techniques to uncover failures within the service. Of those listed below, which of the following would provide Barry with answers the quickest? Select TWO

• A. phone surveys
• B. in-process checks
• C. point-of-departure interviews
• D. machine diagnostic checks

Below are details of five companies who operate a Total Quality Management System (TQM). For each company, select the system used and identify which area of the Balanced Scorecard this relates to.
Company 1: The focus of this company is to gather real-time data to assess the quality of products created during the manufacturing process. There are tight budgets and reworking any defects will affect the bottom line.
Company 2: This company is concerned about how their products are received. They have recently completed market research focused on their client's feelings. The objective is now to improve the product's look and performance to meet these expectations.
Company 3: The focus of this company is defining the customer requirements and translating this into a high-quality specification and effective operational process.
Company 4: Within this company there is a group of 6 employees who meet regularly with the objective of reducing issues that arise in the manufacturing of products.
Complete the table below by listing the TQM System used and the relevant Balanced Scorecard criteria for each company. Each response should only be used once: Quality Circle, Statistical Process Control, Kansei Engineering, Quality Function Deployment, Finance Criteria, Business Process Criteria, Learning and Growth Criteria, Customer Criteria.

Which of the following will you put into box 8?

• A. customer criteria
• B. finance criteria
• C. business process criteria
• D. learning and growth criteria

An 'Order Qualifying' Objective contributes to the success of a business in that it is a criteria that will guarantee a customer will purchase an item. Is this sentence TRUE?

• A. yes- this means the product is superior to that of competitors
• B. no- this means a customer will buy from the organisation, but not this particular product
• C. yes- these objectives always guarantee a sale
• D. no- order qualifying is the process of accepting an order from a client, which may be rejected by the organisation

Terrance is an Operations Director at a pharmaceutical company which produces vaccines. He has been made aware of a malfunctioning piece of equipment with a Mean Time between Failures rating of 2 days. What characteristic of the machinery is being measured?

• A. durability
• B. reliability
• C. availability
• D. cost

Which of the following situations would use a fixed-position layout?

• A. ship construction
• B. supermarket
• C. vehicle assembly
• D. buffet style restaurant