GENESIS OF QUALITY CIRCLES

After the Second World War Japanese economy was in the

doldrums. Seeing this disastrous effect of war, Americans decided to help
Japan in improving the quality standards of their products. General Douglas
Mac Arthur who, at that time, was the commander of the occupational forces
in Japan took up the task of imparting quality awareness among Japanese to
help them improve their products and the reliability of manufacturing
systems including men, machine and materials. Thus, by 1975, they were
topping the world in quality and productivity. This astonishing and unique
achievement in modern history became an eye – opener to the world.
Industrialists and politicians from all over the world started visiting Japan to
know how they have achieved such magical results in such a short span. The
answer to this was painstaking and persevering efforts of the Japanese
leaders and workers and the development and growth of the philosophy of
small working groups. This resulted in the Quality Circle concept being
accepted all over the world as a very effective technique to improve the total
quality of work life.

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 HISTORY

The term quality circle is derived from the concept of PDCA (Plan, Do,
Check, Act) circle developed by Dr. W. Edward Deming.

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. By the mid-1990s thousands of
manufacturing plants, banks, hospitals, and government agencies had
implemented quality circles.. Some critics view quality circles as antiunion
corporate strategies, intended to make employees feel as though they have
input while denying them real power in the workplace.
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.

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 MEANING

A quality circle is a volunteer group composed of workers (or

even students), usually under the leadership of their supervisor (but
they can elect a team leader), who are trained to identify, analyse and
solve work-related problems and present their solutions to management
in order to improve the performance of the organization, and motivate
and enrich the work of employees. The focus of the circles is on
improving both the quality of the product and the production
process.When matured, true quality circles become self-managing,
having gained the confidence of management. They are formal groups.
They meet at least once a week 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 are an alternative to the dehumanising concept of

the division of labour, where workers or individuals are treated like robots.
They bring back the concept of craftsmanship, which when operated on an
individual basis is uneconomic, but when used in group form (as is the case
with quality circles), it can be devastatingly powerful and enables the
enrichment of the lives of the workers or students and creates harmony and
high performance in the workplace. Typical topics are improving
occupational safety and health, improving product design, and improvement
in the workplace and manufacturing processes.Quality circles are not
normally paid a share of the cost benefit of any improvements but usually a
proportion of the savings made is spent on improvements to the work
environment.Quality circles have the advantage of continuity; the circle
remains intact from project to project.

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 PHILOSOPHY

Quality Circles is a people – building philosophy, providing self-motivation

and happiness in improving environment without any compulsion or
monetary benefits. It represents a philosophy of managing people specially
those at the grass root level as well as a clearly defined mechanism and
methodology for translating this philosophy into practice and a required
structure to make it a way of life. It is bound to succeed where people are
respected and are involved in decisions, concerning their work life, and in
environments where peoples’ capabilities are looked upon as assets to solve
work-area problems. The Quality Circle philosophy calls for a progressive
attitude on the part of the management and their willingness to make
adjustments, if necessary, in their style and culture. If workers are prepared
to contribute their ideas, the management must be willing to create a
congenial environment to encourage them to do so.

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 activises
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:

a. Quality Circle is a form of participation management.

b. Quality Circle is a human resource development technique.
c. Quality Circle is a problem solving technique.

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 QUALITY CIRCLE…ITS COMPOSITION

- It's a small group comprising of 6 to 12 employees doing similar work

- They meet together voluntarily on a regular basis for identifying
improvements in their respective work areas.
- Their aim to achieve and so also to sustain excellence towards mutual
upliftment of employees as well as the organization.

OBJECTIVE OF QUALITY CIRCLE:-

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 Development
-Bring out 'Hidden Potential' of people
-People get to learn additional skills.
c) Development of Team Spirit
-Individual Vs Team – "I could not do but we did it"
-Eliminate inter departmental conflicts.
d) Improved Organizational Culture
- Positive working environment.
-Total involvement of people at all levels.
-Higher motivational level.

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 PROCESS OF OPERATION

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

How to Stitch the Problems through QC:-

1. The use of various techniques must be supported with accurate

information and data.

Data and information collection or insufficient data could lead to a

situation where decisions or corrective action be implemented effectively.

Data and information should be collected for the following purposes:-

(a) To understand the actual situation and to support or reinforce an option;

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and
( b) To established the relationship between the problem and its causes..

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

1 Problem identification: Identify a number of problems.

2 Problem selection: 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.

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 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.

i. 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.
ii. Co-coordinator: He may be a Personnel or Administrative
officer who co-ordinates and supervises the work of the
facilitators and administers the programme.
iii. Facilitator: He may be a senior supervisory officer. He co-
ordinates the works of several quality circles through the Circle
leaders.
iv. Circle leader: Leaders may be from lowest level workers or
Supervisors. A Circle leader organizes and conducts Circle
activities.
v. Circle members: They may be staff workers. Without circle
members the porgramme 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, and take training seriously with a receptive
attitude. The roles of Steering Committee, Co-0rdinator,
Facilitator, Circle leader and Circle members are well defined.

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 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:

• Expose middle level executives to the concept.

• Explain the concept to the employees and invite them to volunteer as
members of Quality Circles.
• Nominate senior officers as facilitators.
• Form a steering committee.
• 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.
• A meeting should be fixed preferably one hour a week for the Quality
Circle to meet.
• Formally inaugurate the Quality Circle.
• 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:

• Brief orientation programme for top management.

• Programme for middle level executives.
• Training of facilitators.
• Training for Circle leaders and members.

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 BASIC PROBLEM SOLVING TECHNIQUES

The following techniques are most commonly used to analyze and solve
work related problems.

1 Brain storming
2 Pareto Diagrams
3 Cause & Effect Analysis
4 Data Collection
5 Data Analysis
6 Ishikawa (Fish bone diagram)

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

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 BENEFITS AND LIMITATIONS OF QUALITY CIRCLES

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.
•
Problems quality circles often suffer from unrealistic expectations for fast
results are :
• lack of management commitment and support,
• resistance by middle management,
• resentment by non participants
• inadequate training,
• lack of clear objectives
• and failure to get solutions implemented.

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.

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 APPLICABILITY IN GOVERNMENT ORGANISATIONS

The Public Works Department of Government of Maharashtra is responsible

for the construction and maintenance of about 2.00 lakhs km. of road net
work in the state and a large number of Government-owned buildings spread
all over the state. The road net work caters for national level traffic to the
rural area traffic. The climatic and geographical features also vary from
place to place in the state. The ultimate customer of the Department is the
common man and it is not generally easy to satisfy the ultimate needs of this
user to the fullest extent merely by taking decision at the top management
level. The sub-ordinate officers and staff working in the field and who are
well-acquainted with the day-to –day problems in their work areas are the
best judges to decide upon the line of action. The top management in
Maharashtra P.W.D. realized this need of the time and introduced the
concept of Quality Circle as employee participation method in the
organization. The concept of Quality Circle was launched in the Public
Works Department of Govt. of Maharashtra on 18-11-1997. In a span of
about a year 17 Quality Circles have been formed in Mumbai Region
wherein 22 problems have been solved so far. 48 Quality Circles have been
formed in Pune Region wherein, 8 problems have been solved. Nashik
Region of the P.W.D. has formed 9 Quality Circles and solutions to 3
problems have been found out. Aurangabad Region has formed 21 Quality
Circles and solved 7 problems. Nagpur Regions have formed 47 Quality
Circles and have found out solution to 57 problems, so far.
The results of a short period of one year are found to be very encouraging so
far and many of these Circles have already come up with solutions to the
various work related problems as evidenced from the last two state level
conventions held at Mumbai and Aurangabad respectively. The
presentations by the various Quality Circles at these conventions bear
testimony to the fact that the concept of Quality Circle has been received
with much enthusiasm at the grass root level. These presentations also
provide concrete evidence fulfilling the expected benefits of the Quality
Circle. Taking inspirations from these conventions, more staff of the
Department has come forward to form Quality Circles, emphasizing the fact
that Quality Circles have come to stay in the Department.
Some of the problems solved by the Quality Circles 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.

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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 Upkeeping 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 Solapur.

Some of the problems and the solutions thereof are explained briefly below:

1 Delay in issue of observation memos:

The Public Works Department (PWD) of Maharashtra is divided into six

regions each headed by a Chief Engineer. Each regional Chief Engineer is
assisted by a Superintending Engineer, Vigilance & Quality Circle who with
the help of two Executive Engineers and about 6 Deputy Engineers carries
out inspection of the ongoing projects. The samples of the construction
material being used on project are collected and independently tested in the
Regional Testing Laboratories to ascertain the level of acceptance. The
findings of the inspections are communicated to the field engineers in the
form of ‘observation memo’. It is contemplated that the Execution Engineer
in charge of the project ensures immediate compliance of the remarks raised
in the observation memo and carries out corrective measures in the ongoing
project as well as preventive measures for the future works.

However, very often the observation memos are issued after much delay
defeating the very purpose of the observation memo. This problem was
identified by the ‘OMKAR’ Quality Circle formed in the office of
Superintending Engineer, Vigilance & Quality Control Circle, Navi
Mumbai. The members used various tools and methodology, identified the
various root causes that led to this problem and finally solved the problem
with requisite fool proofing.

By solving this problem, it became possible to improve the quality of work

in the field which ultimately brightened the image of the Department. The
formation of Quality Circle also benefited employees by providing.

a) A systematic style of education that helped them grows.

b) Freedom to modify their work habits.

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c) Opportunity to use their brain for development of the Department; and
d) Opportunity to work as a team.
e) The employees were also motivated to improve work culture, self
improvement recognition and creativity in work.

ii) Preventing accidents on highways:

It was observed that the accident rate on Sion-Panvel Highway passing
through New Mumbai had gone up sharply. The Circle members collected
the data from the respective police stations and identified the important
causes of accidents by using Pareto Analysis. They segregated the causes
under Man, Machine, Material & Method. The Circle members found out
solutions to the problem such as closing of central verge at all locations
except junction, frequent lane marking, installation of Caution boards,
Providing lay-byes for buses etc. The data collection of accidents for a
period three months after implementation of solutions near Shirvane and
Turbhe revealed that the cause of accident had been eliminated and no more
accidents occurred at those locations had been eliminated and no more
accidents occurred at those locations again. This way the Circle members
ensured the effectiveness of the solution implemented. They made
presentation to their steering committee for obtaining sanction to other
solutions involving more funds.

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 QC AND OD INTERVENTIONS

Organization development (OD) is a planned, organization-wide effort to

increase an organization's effectiveness and viability. Warren Bennis has
referred to OD as a response to change, a complex educational strategy
intended to change the beliefs, attitudes, values, and structure of
organization so that they can better adapt to new technologies, marketing
and challenges, and the dizzying rate of change itself. OD is neither
"anything done to better an organization" nor is it "the training function of
the organization"; it is a particular kind of change process designed to bring
about a particular kind of end result. OD can involve interventions in the
organization's "processes," using behavioural science knowledge as well as
organizational reflection, system improvement, planning, and self-analysis.

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 TYPES OF INTERVENTIONS IN QUALITY CIRCLES

1. TECHNO-STRUCTURAL INTERVENTION
Bring about the changes in the task, structure & technological
processes. It consists of:
 Structural Design
 Downsizing
 Reengineering
 Employee Involvement
 Work Design

2. HRM INTERVENTIONS

This intervention focuses on the individuals within the organization.

 Goal Setting
 Performance Appraisal
 Reward Systems
 Career Planning & Development
 Coaching and Counseling Activities
 Managing Workforce Diversity
 Employee Wellness

3. TEAM BUILDING INTERVENTION

This intervention is probably the most important single group of

interventions in OD, the goals of which are the improvement and
increased effectiveness of various teams within the organization.

“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress,

and working together is success.”
- Henry Ford
Team building is an effort in which a team studies its own process of
working together and acts to create a climate that encourages and values the
contributions of team members. Their energies are directed toward problem
solving, task effectiveness, and maximizing the use of all members'
resources to achieve the team's purpose. Sound team building recognizes
that it is not possible to fully separate one's performance from those of
others.

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4. HUMAN PROCESS INTERVENTIONS

This intervention includes the following:

• Guiding Individuals
Coaching
Counseling
Delegating
Leading
Morale (Boosting)
Mentoring
Motivating

• Group-Based
Conflict Management
Dialoguing
Group Facilitation
Group Learning
Self-Directed Work Teams
Team Building
Virtual Teams

5. ORGANIZATIONAL MIRROR INTERVENTIONS

 A technique designed to work units feedback on how other elements

of organization view them.

 Designed to improve relations between the teams.

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 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.
Quality Circles can work very well in the correct environment.
Commitment and long-term effort are required if the Circle is to be
effective.
By organizing the workforce into Quality Circle type teams, not only can the
Quality Circles tackle and solve work related problems, there follows a
transformation in job design. Managers begin to increase their trust of their
staff, in turn the staff increases their respect for their managers and this
continues progressively until a full state of self management is reached. At
some stage in this process, the teams progress beyond solving problems and
move towards the phase of making continual process improvements. In
those countries where this has been allowed to happen, there has been no
limit to this development process.
Hence, this concept demonstrates how people can effectively become
involved in the success of an organisation through the development of self-
control in `small group' type activities. These activities can be organised in
several different ways, and can include task force operations, value analysis
teams, value engineering, project groups, action centred groups, 5S
Housekeeping activities, Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) etc. Each
plays a different but important part in participative activities. True `self-
control' can only be introduced through Quality Circle type activities.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Organizational Development by French & Bell.

WEBLIOGRAPHY

• www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10264498
• www.google.com
• www.mahapwd.com/isoandqualitycircle/qc
• www.ieindia.org/publish/id/0503/may03id3.pdf

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