Rue, L. W., Ibrahim, N. A., & Byars, L. L. (2013). Management: Skills and application (14th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Skill-Building Exercise 20.1
Due Date: By midnight EST/EDT on the last day of Module 6.
Save the file as your lastname_sb20-1 (e.g., lindbergh_sb20-1.doc or .docx).
Out of Control?
Situation 1
The manager of a fast-food hamburger chain must ensure that the hamburger advertised as a
quarter-pounder is actually 4 ounces, more or less. The company policy states that the quarter-pounder
must come within 3/10 of an ounce of being 4 ounces in order to be used. The following chart
reflects the expected weight of the patty (4 ounces), the upper control limit (4.3 ounces), and the
lower control limit (3.7 ounces). A sample of patties has been taken each day for the last eight days,
and the average weight recorded for each day is recorded on the chart.
Questions for Situation 1
1. Should the patty preparation process be investigated?
2. Is there a problem? Why do you think so?
Situation 2
You are the owner of a car repair shop that specializes in tune-ups. On each work order, the
mechanic records the time at which he began the tune-up and the time when finished. From these
data, you can determine how long each mechanic spends on each job. You expect each job to take
about 40 minutes; however, you know that if someone were in a hurry, the job could be done in as
few as 20 minutes. Also, you believe that under no circumstances should a tune-up take over one
hour. A recently hired mechanic has recorded the times shown on the following chart for his last 11
tune-up jobs:
Rue, L. W., Ibrahim, N. A., & Byars, L. L. (2013). Management: Skills and application (14th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Questions for Situation 2
1. Should you have a talk with this mechanic?
2. Is there a problem? Why do you think so?
