PT204 – CQI and IRCA Practitioner Managing Change and Continual Improvement Examination [paper 1][v3][2021]

Section 1 – Governance

Question 1.1

Lean and Six Sigma are complimentary approaches for improvement. Which of the following statements is FALSE?

(select ONE answer)(1 mark)

Question 1.2

Which of the following is NOT a typical role of the Project Sponsor in an improvement team?

(select ONE answer)(1 mark)

Question 1.3

The project based improvement cycle is often referred to by the acronym DMAIC. Which of the following are DMAIC stages?

(select TWO answers)(2 marks)

Question 1.4

Name two of the eight pillars of Total Productive Maintenance.

(select TWO answers)(2 marks)

Question 1.5

As an improvement practitioner, you wish to introduce a culture of continual improvement into the workplace. Which improvement approaches would NOT necessarily be needed to enable this?

(select THREE answers)(3 marks)

Question 1.6

The leader of a team of improvement project managers carrying out breakthrough improvement projects observes that there is an ongoing issue with a failure to embed a process change resulting from completed projects. Which three of the following are the most likely causes?

(select THREE answers)(3 marks)

Section 2 – Assurance

Question 2.1

Which of the following is the most effective key measure used to track progress of a project-based improvement programme on a visual management board?

(select ONE answer)(1 mark)

Question 2.2

Which of the following would typically appear on a workplace ‘plan the day’ visual management board?

(select ONE answer)(1 mark)

Question 2.3

Which of the following are benefits of aligning improvement activities with organisational strategic objectives?

(select TWO answers)(2 marks)

Question 2.4

A process team are setting up a visual management board within a process area. What benefits can a visual management board provide?

(Select TWO answers)(2 marks)

Question 2.5

When working with a senior team it becomes apparent that some members of the team are not fully supportive of the improvement initiative. Which of the following approaches would most effectively gain their support?

(select THREE answers)(3 marks)

Question 2.6

You have an issue with the number of defects in your service delivery process. Root cause investigation points to a potential issue with quality in one of your data streams originating from a key supplier. You decide to initiate a project to investigate and improve the situation. Success will require the involvement of the supplier in the project. Which three of the following approaches are most likely to gain their willing and enthusiastic engagement?

(select THREE answers)(3 marks)

Section 3 – Improvement

Question 3.1

Which of the following statements about control charts is true?

(select ONE answer)(1 mark)

Question 3.2

As part of the chartering process an improvement specialist is asked who would be the most appropriate sponsor for a potential improvement project. Which of the following would be the most effective recommendation?

(select ONE answer)(1 mark)

Question 3.3

An organisation wide improvement process, has been adopted. It focusses on rapid kaizen events supported by PDCA cycles and, then, by standardisation. What type of organisational objectives does this type of approach reflect?

(Select TWO answers)(2 marks)

Question 3.4

A finance department consistently produces invoices late, leading to delayed payments from customers. An improvement specialist generates a flowchart of the process and then tracks the performance. Which 4 key measures would be most appropriate at this stage?

(select TWO answers)(2 marks)

Question 3.5

You are developing a visual management process cascaded to all levels of your organisation. The IT department insist that a single IT based solution should be implemented for the entire organisation. Which of the following would be effective advice to give the CEO?

(select THREE answers)(3 marks)

Question 3.6

While facilitating a root cause analysis process with a team of managers you find the group has a tendency to lose patience with the process and settle for apparent cause rather than investigating to reach the root cause. Which of the following would be effective actions to take?

(select THREE answers)(3 marks)

Section 4 – Context

Question 4.1

Which tool helps understanding of the relationships between the core process of an organisation and its suppliers and customers?

(select ONE answer)(1 mark)

Question 4.2

What two items should be high on the list of criteria to be considered when prioritising which improvement projects to attack first?

(Select TWO answers)(2 marks)

Question 4.3

As improvement leader you have adopted a risk register process as one of the principal approaches to determine areas of focus for executive attention and for improvement efforts. As the months pass you realise that the risks listed in the register tend to remain the same. Which of the following activities would be most effective in maintaining engagement with the whole risk management process?

(select THREE answers)(3 marks)

Section 5 – Leadership

Question 5.1

When developing a simple task level RACI chart, which of the following guidelines is true?

(select ONE answer)(1 mark)

Question 5.2

On the Kubler-Ross change curve model which stage immediately follows the initial “shock phase” when the change impacts the individual?

(select ONE answer)(1 mark)

Question 5.3

Following completion of a stakeholder matrix (axes power and interest) you aim to develop an action plan. Which of the following approaches would most effectively address the low power and low interest grouping?

(select ONE answer)(1 mark)

Question 5.4

An employee in an invoicing department is asked to adopt a new way of processing customer enquiries as a result of an improvement project you’ve carried out. You
interview their supervisor one month later and to your surprise they state the employee is struggling. Which two behaviours are most likely to be observed in the individual at this point?

(select TWO answers)(2 marks)

Question 5.5

The project charter is a key communication tool, bringing together in a single document a summary overview of a project. Which two of the following must be included in a robust charter?

(select TWO answers)(2 marks)

Question 5.6

Organisational transformation is not primarily achieved by the introduction of tools and processes, but by paying attention to the psychological requirements of the staff in order to ensure they are engaged in the transformational process. Identify two key steps that should be taken to ensure workforce engagement.

(select TWO answers)(2 marks)

Question 5.7

At the start of a change project you have identified three key stakeholders and you arrange to meet them, individually, to discuss the project. The three sentences, below, typify their feelings about the project.

Bill: “It’s what the CEO wants, so it’s going to happen, but I think that it’s a ridiculous waste of time.”
Mary: “I am looking forward to this, it’s something that we should have been doing for years.”
Frank: “I can see that there will be some use from the project but if we could include my team’s activities in the work, I am sure that we can get more out of it.”

Identify the three points on the change curve where the people are roughly sitting.

(Select THREE answers)(3 marks)

Question 5.8

You are leading the Strategy Deployment process within a multi-site organisation. Year 1 went well with each function and location developing their own project portfolio to address local issues. However, this has an unforeseen side effect of re-enforcing localised behaviour. Which of the following would be most effective in correcting for this in the coming year?

(select THREE answers)(3 marks)

Question 5.9

As a senior improvement leader, your logistics centre continual improvement initiative is going well. However, feedback from the process operators indicates that they feel senior management are not engaged and rarely seen. Questioning of senior management suggests that they have little understanding of what is actually happening in the logistics centre. Which three of the following processes would most likely improve this situation?

(select THREE answers)(3 marks)