Supplemental Resources Balestracci

Required Resources

Hoerl, R., & Snee, R. (2012). Statistical thinking: Improving business performance (2nd ed.).

Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Supplemental Resources

Balestracci, D. (1988). Data “sanity”: Statistical thinking applied to everyday data. Milwaukee, WI: American Society for Quality Statistics Division. Retrieved from http://www.donaldpoland.com/documents_and_links/5-Other_Documents/Statistical_Thinking.pdf.

Paulk, M. C., & Hyder, E. B. (2007). Common pitfalls in statistical thinking. Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved from http://repository.cmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=isr.

Peck, R., Casella, G., Cobb, G. W., Hoerl, R., & Nolan, D. (2006). Statistics: A Guide to the unknown (4th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Duxbury Press.

Snee, R. D., & Hoerl, R.W. (2003). Leading six sigma: A Step-by-step guide based on experience with GE and other six sigma companies. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Financial Times / Prentice Hall.

MAT510

DISCUSSIONS

Discussion 1

“Business Processes” Please respond to the following:

• Per the textbook, to eliminate or reduce non-value-added work is a core step in improving profitability or efficiency of the business process. Give your opinion on whether or not you agree or disagree with this statement and include one (1) example of a business process which supports or criticizes the aforementioned statement to support your position.
• Determine at least two (2) challenges in identifying Opportunity for Improvements (OFIs). Suggest at least one (1) strategy that business management can use to mitigate the challenges in question. Provide a rationale to support your suggestion.

Discussion 2

“Reflection to Date” Please respond to the following:

• In one (1) paragraph, reflect on what you have learned so far in this course. Determine the most interesting, unexpected, or useful piece of knowledge that you have learned. Provide a rationale for your response.
• In the second half of the quarter, we will extend our statistical thinking concepts to practical applications. We will discuss using tools (e.g., Excel) for the execution. Watch the video titled “Descriptive Statistics using ‘Data Analysis’ tool in Excel”, located at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MFjwM6K5Sg. Next, speculate on the overall manner in which you would use tools, such as Excel, to apply a business critical thinking strategy. Include one (1) example of such application to support your response.

Discussion 3

“One-factor-at-a-time (OFAAT) and Design of Experiment (DOE)” Please respond to the following:

• Per the textbook, trying to understand factors that impact the outcomes of business process is an important aspect of improving business operations. Conventional wisdom plans experiment one-factor-at-a-time (OFAAT). Compare and contrast the main advantages and disadvantages of OFAAT and DOE and select the approach (e.g., OFAAT or DOE) that you would use in order to obtain effective business process. Provide a rationale for your response.
• Select one (1) project from your working or educational environment that you would apply the DOE technique for the work process. Next, analyze the overall manner in which you would utilize DOE to manage and improve the work process of the project in question. Provide a rationale for your response.

Discussion 4

“Confidence Interval” Please respond to the following:

• Use the Internet or Strayer Library to research articles on confidence interval and its application in business. Select one (1) company or organization which utilized confidence interval technique to measure its performance parameters (e.g., mean, variance, mean differences between two processes, etc.). Give your opinion as to whether or not the utilization of such a technique improves business process for the company or organization that you selected. Justify your response.
• Select one (1) project from your working or educational environment in which you would use the confidence interval technique for the process. Next, speculate on one to two (1-2) challenges of utilizing such a technique in the process and suggest your strategy to mitigate the challenges in question.

Discussion 5

“Top-Three Concepts or Skills” Please respond to the following:

• Determine the top-three (3) concepts or skills you learned in this course that you believe will be the most useful to you in your present or future professional career or education. Provide at least one (1) specific example to support your response.

• Provide a rationale as to why the three (3) aforementioned concepts or skills are important to someone in the field of business statistics.