Quality circle

A quality circle or quality control circle is a group of workers who do the same or similar work, who meet regularly to identify, analyze and solve work-related problems. It consists of minimum three and maximum twelve members in number. Normally small in size, the group is usually led by a supervisor or manager and presents its solutions to management; where possible, workers implement the solutions themselves in order to improve the performance of the organization and motivate employees. Quality circles were at their most popular during the 1980s, but continue to exist in the form of Kaizen groups and similar worker participation schemes. Typical topics for the attention of quality circles are improving occupational safety and health, improving product design, and improvement in the workplace and manufacturing processes. The term quality circles was most accessibly defined by Professor Kaoru Ishikawa in his 1985 handbook, "What is Total Quality Control? The Japanese Way" and circulated throughout Japanese industry by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers in 1960. The first company in Japan to introduce Quality Circles was the Nippon Wireless and Telegraph Company in 1962. By the end of that year there were 36 companies registered with JUSE by 1978 the movement had grown to an estimated 1 million Circles involving some 10 million Japanese workers.…

A quality circle or quality control circle is a group of workers who do the same or similar work, who meet regularly to identify, analyze and solve work-related problems. It consists of minimum three and maximum twelve members in number. Normally small in size, the group is usually led by a supervisor or manager and presents its solutions to management; where possible, workers implement the solutions themselves in order to improve the performance of the organization and motivate employees. Quality circles were at their most popular during the 1980s, but continue to exist in the form of Kaizen groups and similar worker participation schemes. Typical topics for the attention of quality circles are improving occupational safety and health, improving product design, and improvement in the workplace and manufacturing processes. The term quality circles was most accessibly defined by Professor Kaoru Ishikawa in his 1985 handbook, "What is Total Quality Control? The Japanese Way" and circulated throughout Japanese industry by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers in 1960. The first company in Japan to introduce Quality Circles was the Nippon Wireless and Telegraph Company in 1962. By the end of that year there were 36 companies registered with JUSE by 1978 the movement had grown to an estimated 1 million Circles involving some 10 million Japanese workers. The movement built on work by Dr. W. Edwards Deming during the Allied Occupation of Japan, for which the Deming Prize was established in 1950¹, as well as work by Joseph M. Juran in 1954. Quality circles are typically more formal groups. They meet regularly on company time and are trained by competent persons (usually designated as facilitators) who may be personnel and industrial relations specialists trained in human factors and the basic skills of problem identification, information gathering and analysis, basic statistics, and solution generation. Quality circles are generally free to select any topic they wish (other than those related to salary and terms and conditions of work, as there are other channels through which these issues are usually considered). Quality circles have the advantage of continuity; the circle remains intact from project to project. (For a comparison to Quality Improvement Teams, see Juran's Quality by Design. ). Handbook of Quality Circle: Quality circle is a people-development concept based on the premise that an employee doing a certain task is the most informed person in that topic and, as a result, is in a better position to identify, analyse, and handle work-related challenges through their innovative and unique ideas. It is, in fact, a practical application of McGregor's Theory Y, which argues that if employees are given the right atmosphere and decision-making authority, they will enjoy and take pride in their work, resulting in a more fulfilling work life. A quality circle is a small group of workers that work in the same area or do similar sorts of work and meet once a week for an hour to identify, analyse, and resolve work-related issues. The objective is to improve the quality, productivity, and overall performance of the company, as well as the workers' quality of life at work. TQM World Institution of Quality Excellence publication division published a book, "Handbook of Quality Circle" by Prasanta Kumar Barik which tried to bring all the theoretical concepts with detailed implementation steps for Quality Circle. This will be useful in Quality Circle implementation in all types of organizations.

Empirical studies

In a structures-fabrication and assembly plant in the south-eastern US, some quality circles (QCs) were established by the management (management-initiated); whereas others were formed based on requests of employees (self-initiated). Based on 47 QCs over a three-year period, research showed that management-initiated QCs have fewer members, solve more work-related QC problems, and solve their problems much faster than self-initiated QCS. However, the effect of QC initiation (management- vs. self-initiated) on problem-solving performance disappears after controlling QC size. A high attendance of QC meetings is related to lower number of projects completed and slow speed of performance in management-initiated QCS QCs with high upper-management support (high attendance of QC meetings) solve significantly more problems than those without. Active QCs had lower rate of problem-solving failure, higher attendance rate at QC meetings, and higher net savings of QC projects than inactive QCs. QC membership tends to decrease over the three-year period. Larger QCs have a better chance of survival than smaller QCs. A significant drop in QC membership is a precursor of QC failure. The sudden decline in QC membership represents the final and irreversible stage of the QC's demise. Attributions of quality circles' problem-solving failure vary across participants of QCs: Management, supporting staff, and QC members. There are seven basic quality improvement tools that circles use: Cause-and-effect diagrams (sometimes called Ishikawa or "fishbone" diagrams) Pareto charts Process mapping, data gathering tools such as check sheets Graphical tools such as histograms, frequency diagrams, spot charts and pie charts Run charts and control charts Scatter plots and correlation analysis Flowcharts

See also

Kaizen Participatory management

References

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