QUALITY CIRCLES

“Quality begins on the inside... and then works its way out in a circular

manner”

PRESENTED BY :-

• Manmeet Singh (6)• Divya Duddu (19)• Piyush Khandelwal (28)• Sonam S. Pandit (37)• Gurpreet Singh (44)• Navjyot Kaur (55)

WHAT IS QUALITY CIRCLES?

• Voluntary groups of employees who work on similar tasks or share an area of responsibility

• They agree to meet on a regular basis to discuss & solve problems related to work.

• They operate on the principle that employee participation in decision-making and problem-solving improves the quality of work.

HISTORY OF QUALITY CIRCLES

• Quality circles were first established in JAPAN in 1962; Kaoru Ishikawa has been credited with their creation.

• The movement in Japan was coordinated by the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE).

• The first circles were established at the Nippon Wireless and Telegraph Company but then spread to more than 35 other companies in the first year.

• By 1978 it was claimed that there were more than one million Quality Circles involving some 10 million Japanese workers.

• There are now Quality Circles in most East Asian countries; it was recently claimed that there were more than 20 million Quality Circles in China.

• Quality circles have been implemented even in educational sectors in India, and QCFI (Quality Circle Forum of India) is promoting such activities. However this was not successful in the United States, as it (was not properly understood and) turned out to be a fault-finding exercise although some circles do still exist. Ref Don Dewar who together with Wayne Ryker and Jeff Beardsley first established them in 1972 at the Lockheed Space Missile Factory in California.

THE CONCEPT

• The concept of Quality Circle is primarily based upon recognition of the value of the worker as a human being, as someone who willingly activates on his job, his wisdom, intelligence, experience, attitude and feelings. It is based upon the human resource management considered as one of the key factors in the improvement of product quality & productivity. Quality Circle concept has three major attributes:

Quality Circle is a form of participation management. Quality Circle is a human resource development technique. Quality Circle is a problem solving technique.

THE OBJECTIVES

• The objectives of Quality Circles are multi-faced.A) Change in Attitude.From "I don’t care" to "I do care" Continuous improvement in quality of work life through humanization of work.

B) Self DevelopmentBring out ‘Hidden Potential’ of peoplePeople get to learn additional skills.

C) Development of Team SpiritIndividual Vs Team – "I could not do but we did it"Eliminate inter departmental conflicts.

D) Improved Organizational CulturePositive working environment.Total involvement of people at all levels.Higher motivational level.Participate Management process.

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

• A Quality Circle has an appropriate organizational structure for its effective and efficient performance. It varies from industry to industry, organization to organization. But it is useful to have a basic framework as a model. The structure of a Quality Circle consists of the following elements.– A steering committee: This is at the top of the structure. It is headed by a

senior executive and includes representatives from the top management personnel and human resources development people. It establishes policy, plans and directs the program and meets usually once in a month.

– Co-coordinator: He may be a Personnel or Administrative officer who co-ordinates and supervises the work of the facilitators and administers the program me.

– Facilitator: He may be a senior supervisory officer. He co-ordinates the works of several quality circles through the Circle leaders.

– Circle leader: Leaders may be from lowest level workers or Supervisors. A Circle leader organizes and conducts Circle activities.

– Circle members: They may be staff workers. Without circle members the programme cannot exist. They are the lifeblood of quality circles. They should attend all meetings as far as possible, offer suggestions and ideas, participate actively in group process, take training seriously with a receptive attitude. The roles of Steering Committee, Co-0rdinator, Facilitator, Circle leader and Circle members are well defined.

TYPES OF QUALITY CIRCLES

• There are different quality circle tools, namely:• The Ishikawa or fishbone diagram - which

shows hierarchies of causes contributing to a problem

• The Pareto Chart - which analyses different causes by frequency to illustrate the vital cause,Process Mapping, Data gathering tools such as Check Sheets and graphical tools such as histograms, frequency diagrams, spot charts and pie charts

PROCESS OF OPERATION USED IN QUALITY CIRCLE

• The operation of quality circles involves a set of sequential steps as under:

1 . Problem identification: Identify a number of problems.

2 . Problem selections: Decide the priority and select the problem to be taken up first.3 . Problem Analysis: Problem is clarified and analyzed by basic problem solving methods.4 . Generate alternative solutions: Identify and evaluate causes and generate number of possible

alternative solutions.5 . Select the most appropriate solution: Discuss and evaluate the alternative solutions by comparison in terms of investment and return

from the investment. This enables to select the most appropriate solution.

6. Prepare plan of action: Prepare plan of action for converting the solution into reality which Includes the considerations "who, what, when, where, why and how" of solving problems.7. Present solution to management circle members present solution to management fore approval.8. Implementation of solution: The management

evaluates the recommended solution. Then it is tested and if successful, implemented on a full scale.

How Can They be used in an Organization?

• Increase Productivity• Improve Quality• Boost Employee Morale

BASIC PROBLEM SOLVING TECHNIQUES

• The following techniques are most commonly used to analyze and solve work related problems.1. Brain storming2 . Pareto Diagrams3 . Cause & Effect Analysis4. Data Collection5 . Data Analysis

The tools used for data analysis are :

1 Tables 2 Bar Charts 3 Histograms 4 Circle graphs 5 Line graphs 6 Scatter grams 7 Control Charts

• The Quality Circles also are expected to develop internal leadership, reinforce worker morale and motivation, and encourage a strong sense of teamwork in an organization.

• A variety of benefits have been attributed to Quality Circles, including higher quality, improved productivity, greater upward flow of information, broader improved worker attitudes, job enrichment, and greater teamwork.

BENEFITS AND LIMITATIONS OF QUALITY CIRCLES

• It took more than two decades for the quality control concept to get acceptance in India, after its introduction in Japan.

• This may be due to the differences in the industrial context in the two countries. Japan needed it for its survival in a competitive market.

• India had a reasonably protected, sellers market, with consequent lethargy towards efforts to improve quality and productivity.

• However, with the policy of liberalization of economy and privatization of infrastructure development, contexts changed. The concept now needs to be looked upon as a necessity.

LAUNCHING QUALITY CIRCLES

The major prerequisite for initiating Quality Circles in any organization is the total understanding of, as well as complete conviction and faith in the participative philosophy, on the part of the top and senior management. In the absence of a commitment from the Chief Executive to support the Quality Circle movement totally, it would be inadvisable to seriously attempt the starting of Quality Circles. The launching of Quality Circles involves the following steps:

1. Expose middle level executives to the concept.2. Explain the concept to the employees and invite them to volunteer as members of Quality Circles.3. Nominate senior officers as facilitators.4. Form a steering committee.5. Arrange training of co-coordinators, facilitators in basics of Quality Circle approach, implementation, techniques and operation. Later facilitator may provide training to Circle leaders and Circle members.6. A meeting should be fixed preferably one hour a week for the Quality Circle to meet.

Formally inaugurate the Quality Circle.7. Arrange the necessary facilities for the Quality Circle meeting and its operation.

TRAINING

• Appropriate training for different sections of employees needs to be imparted.

• Without a proper understanding of the real concept of Quality Circles, both the workers and management might look at this philosophy with suspicion.

• Each group should know beforehand the commitments and implications involved as well as the benefit that can be obtained from Quality Circles.

• Such training comprises of:

1. Brief orientation program me for top management.2. Program me for middle level executives.3. Training of facilitators.4. Training for Circle leaders and members.

Problems with Quality Circles

• Inadequate Training• Unsure of Purpose• Not truly Voluntary• Lack of Management Interest• Quality Circles are not really

empowered to make decisions.

Problems solved by the QC in P.W.D. of Maharashtra are as follows:

1. Eliminating delay in issuing observation memos after inspection of site. 2. Preventing accidents on highways.3. Reducing electricity bill in office.4. Avoiding duplication of work.5. Removal of encroachment from Govt. land.6. Speeding up pot-hole filling on roads during monsoon.7. Up keeping of service records of employees.8. Maintaining Govt. offices clean. 9. Stream-lining reservation system of Govt. rest houses.10. Improvement in maintenance of Govt. Hospital at

Sholapur

Real World Example

• At Penn State University in 1983, a Quality Circle was formed by Professor Hirsh field, a Professor of East Asia History.

Selected 8 Students from a large lecture class.Resulted in increased involvement from the class.

Team Exercise

• Break down into teams of 6-8 people• Establish a leader and rules for your

Circle• Have a brainstorming and problem-

solving session to resolve the issue on the next slide

• A Collegiate class on Statistical Analysis has a total enrollment of 45 people.

• Average attendance is 18 students• The class consists mainly of lectures • How can the professor of this class

improve the quality of this course and increase student involvement?

CONCLUSION

Quality Circles are not limited to manufacturing firms only. They are applicable for variety of organizations where there is scope for group based solution of work related problems. Quality Circles are relevant for factories, firms, schools, hospitals, universities, research institutes, banks, government offices etc. The P.W.D. of Maharashtra has set an example for the Government organizations marching on the path of Quality Improvement.

Bibliography

• Cole, Robert E. 1999. Managing Quality Fads: How American Business Learned to Play the Quality Game. New York, NY: Oxford Press.

• Aubrey, Charles A. 1988. Teamwork: Involving People in Quality and Productivity Improvement. Milwaukee, WI: Quality Press.

• Foster, S. Thomas. 2001. Managing Quality: An Integrative Approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

• Author Unknown. 1984. Quality Circles in the Community College [online]. Available online via http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed353008.html

• Author Unknown. 1994. Kaizen and Quality Circles [online]. Available online via http://sol.brunel.ac.uk/~jarvis/bola/quality/circles.html