CIPS Operations Management Sample Questions:

1. The DMAIC Methodology includes five phases, what are these?

A) define, manufacture, apply, increase, conclude
B) design, measure, apply, improve, consult
C) design, manufacture, analyse, implement, control
D) define, measure, analyse, improve, control

2. Operations Management is concerned with the management of resources in the production of tangible goods. Is this TRUE?

A) yes- operations management ensures there are sufficient goods produced to meet customer demand
B) no - operations management can also be concerned with the creation of intangible goods
C) no- operations management is concerned with ensuring the organisation is profitable
D) yes- operations management is ensuring a company has the correct resources to create goods

3. Little Joy Ltd is a large company with several functional departments. Below are details of four departments. For each, you must decide which functional area of the business the department is, as well as the SERVQUAL Gap that each Department Lead is concerned with.
Department 1: This department is concerned with the creation of products. The products are created in line with BS EN 716-1 and undergo vigorous tests before they leave the factory. Many customers are unaware of the additional costs of testing to BS EN 716-1 and complain about the price of this product line.
Department 2: Other departments of the business are internal customers of this functional area and approach the Department Lead when they require something to be bought. Often the internal customers have unrealistic expectations of the timescales involved in the process and the Department Lead spends a lot of time explaining lead times and logistics.
Department 3: This functional area creates the budgets for the company and emails these to the Department Leads at the beginning of every quarter. Due to the complexity of the documents, other functional areas of the business often don't understand the information provided.
Department 4: This area of the business is concerned with revenue, which has recently slumped. The Department Lead is conducting market surveys to find out the reason for this.
Complete the table below by listing the Functional Area of the business, and the corresponding SERVQUAL Gap. Each response should only be used once: procurement, finance, sales, production, satisfaction gap, delivery gap, standards gap, communication gap.

Which of the following will you put into box 8?

A) delivery gap
B) communication gap
C) satisfaction gap
D) standards gap

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

5. Total Productive Maintenance and Just in Time are examples of Total Quality Management (TQM). Is this correct?

A) yes- other examples include business process re-engineering
B) yes- other examples include statistical process control
C) no- TQM includes quality circles and quality function deployment
D) no- TQM includes Kansai engineering

Solutions: