Quality circles were first developed in the 1960s by a man named Kaoru Ishikawa in Japan. The Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) were the ones who paid for the research that put the theories about behavior science and quality control together. A quality circle is a participatory management technique that enlists the help of employees in solving problems related to their own jobs. Circles are formed of employees working together in an operation who meet at intervals to discuss problems of quality and to devise solutions for improvements. A quality circle is a small voluntary group of employees and their supervisor(s), comprising a team of about 8 to 10 members from the same work area or department”. Quality circles are useful because the members of the team are from the same workplace and face similar problems. This concept is a management tool that has many benefits for their own work environment. Some examples of those benefits are control and improvement of quality, more effective company communication, using employee problem solving capabilities, and more job involvement.
Ron Basu and J. Nevan Wright, in their book Quality Beyond Six Sigma (another quality management technique) specified seven conditions for successful implementation of quality circles. These are summarized below: 1. Quality circles must be staffed entirely by volunteers. 2. Each participant should be representative of a different functional activity. 3. The problem to be addressed by the QC should be chosen by the circle, not by management, and the choice honored even if it does not visibly lead to a management goal. . Management must be supportive of the circle and fund it appropriately even when requests are trivial and the expenditure is difficult to envision as helping toward real solutions. 5. Circle members must receive appropriate training in problem solving. 6. The circle must choose its own leader from within its own members. 7. Management should appoint a manager as the mentor of the team, charged with helping members of the circle achieve their objectives; but this person must not manage the QC.
The Term Paper on Total Quality Management 3
In the early 1980s, a new concept entered managerial discourse: Total Quality Management (TQM). TQM was heralded by governments, major corporations and the business media as the most effective and elegant way out of the economic crisis and into the global market. TQM claimed not to be a set of techniques but a philosophy of management (Sashkin and Kiser, 1993). Some commentators have argued that ...
Example where the concept is used Quality circles can be used by large business and small groups. One example of a large firm using this concept is Xerox. Xerox has an annual teamwork day and because of a past teamwork day they were able to prevent 6500 tons of waste from going to a landfill. Their solution at the time of seeing the problem with the about of waste they were producing was a recycling program which worked. Conclusion Bibliography and electronic sources http://www. inc. com/encyclopedia/quality-circles. html
