Quality Circles

By:
Nisarg Karnik (04)
Sunakshi Pathak (09)
Chandan Singh (15)
Overview
• What are Quality Circles?
• How Do Quality Circles Works?

• How Can They be Used in an Organizations?

• Structure of a Quality Circle

•Techniques and Tools

• The Evolution

• Problems with Quality Circles

What is a Quality Circle?
 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 and solve problems related to work.
 They operate on the principle that employee
participation in decision making and problem
solving which finally helps in improving the
quality of work.
How do Quality Circles Work?

 Characteristics
- Volunteers
- Set rules and priorities
- Decision made by consensus
- Use of organized approaches for problem
solving
…Continued

 All member in the circle need to receive

training.
 Member needs to be empowered.
 Members need to have support of senior
management.
How Can They be Used in an
Organization?
 Increase Productivity
 Improve Quality
 Boost Employee Morale
Structure of a Quality Circle
The following basic elements constitute the structure of the quality circle :
i) Top Management
ii) Steering committee
iii) Coordinator
iv) Facilitator
v) Leader
vi) Members
vii) Non-members

 Top management plays an important role to ensure the

success of implementation of quality circles in the organization.

 Steering committee called middle management consists of heads of

different divisions plays a positive role in quality circles activities for the
success of the efforts.
…Continued
 Coordinator acts as facilitators is an individual responsible for
coordinating and directing the quality circles activities.

 Facilitator acts as a catalyst, innovator, promoter and teacher.

 Leader of the quality circles is chosen by the members among

themselves and they may decide to have a leader by rotation.

 Members of the quality circles are the small group of people from
the same work area or doing similar type of work.

 Non-members are those who are not members of the quality

circle but may be involved in the circle recommendation.
The Evolution
During the post second world war era, the individual
units in Japan were going from bad to worst and it was
necessary for Japan to put their shattered economy back
to rail. For that they had to wipe out their poor image of
quality, with the help of some quality management
experts. At this point Dr Kaoru Ishikawa of Mushashi
Institute of Technology, Tokyo added a new dimension
to this effect by involving task performer at the grass root
level to work towards the quality improvement. He
motivated the workmen to follow the quality control
techniques in their shop floor by forming small groups
and sought their help in solving the daily problem coming
during the production of the job. After all, the person who
is actually doing the job know the job best.
…Continued
This was the basic guideline in forming the quality
circle. Hence, by introducing this modern concept
of quality control in any organization, employees
at the grassroots level have the opportunity to
perform effectively and meshing well with the
activities of other levels, i.e., total involvement of
the worker and the intellectuals and hence there
was a tremendous change in the working
environment between the management, and the
workforce.
 Techniques

 The following techniques are most commonly

used to analyse and solve work related problems.


1 Brain storming
2 Pareto Diagrams
3 Cause & Effect Analysis
4 Data Collection
5 Data Analysis
 Tools

The tools used for data analysis are :

1 Tables
2 Bar Charts
3 Histograms
4 Circle graphs
5 Line graphs
6 Scattergrams
7 Control Charts
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.
Thank You