Quality circle
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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. When matured, true quality circles become self-managing, having gained the confidence of management.
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.
The term quality circles derives from the concept of PDCA(Plan, Do, check, Act) circles developed by Dr. W.Edward Deming.
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.[citation needed]
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.[1] 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).[2][3]
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.[4]
History
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.[5] By 1978 it was claimed that there were more than one million Quality Circles involving some 10 million Japanese workers.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
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.
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
Student quality circles
Student quality circles work on the philosophy of Total Quality Management. The idea of SQCs was presented by City Montessori School (CIshikawa_diagramMS) Lucknow India in 1993 at a conference in Hong Kong in October 1994. It was developed and mentored by duo engineers of Indian Railways PC Bihari and Swami Das in association with Principal Dr Kamran of CMS Lucknow India. They were inspired and facilitated by Jagdish Gandhi the founder of CMS after J. Gandhi's visit to Japan where he learnt about Kaizen. The world's first student QC was made in CMS Lucknow in India with then 13 year old student Ms. Sucheta Bihari as its leader. CMS conducts international convention on student quality circles at its location in Lucknow since 1997 which it has repeated every 2 years to the present day. After seeing its utility, the visionary educationalists from many countries started these circles. The World Council for Total Quality & Excellence in Education was established in 1999 with its Corporate Office In Lucknow and Head Office at Singapore. It monitors and facilitates student quality circle activities to its member countries which is more than a dozen.This is considered to be a co-curricular activity. Students Quality Circles have been established in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Mauratius, Iran, UK (Kingston University), USA, etc.In Nepal Prof. Dinesh P. Chapagain is promoting this innovative approach through QUEST-Nepal since 1999. Prof. Chapagain has written a book entitled "A Guide Book on Students' Quality Circle: An Approach to prepare Total Quality People" which is considered as standard guide book to promote Students' Quality Circles in academia for student's personality development.[citation needed]
References
- ^ Montana, Patrick J. (2008). Management (4th ed.). Barron's. ISBN 9780764139314.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Hutchins, David C. (1985). The Quality Circles Handbook. New York: Pitman Press. ISBN 9780893972141.
- ^ Hutchins, David C. (2008). Hoshin Kanri : the strategic approach to continuous improvement. Burlington, Vermont: Gower. ISBN 9780566087400.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ Juran, Joseph M. (1992). Juran on quality by design : the new steps for planning quality into goods and services. New York: Free Press. ISBN 9780029166833.
- ^ Hutchins, David C. (1999). Just In Time. Farnham, Surrey: Gower Publishing. p. 148. ISBN 9780566077982.