Quality Circles
A quality circle is a completely voluntary group of 6 to 8 workers of a shop or~ who meet regularly during company time once every fortnight or every month under die leadership of a trained foreman or section head to examine work-related problems that a affect the quality of output and to recommend to the management possible solutions to those problems. The foremen for this purpose are trained in advance in basic statistical and prob-lem-solving techniques as well as in handling groups.
The motivation to form such a group comes solely from the worker’s desire to do some-thing creative. Nobody is paid to join, nobody is forced to join, and nobody is penalised ‘for not taking part. The circle, once formed, sets its own terms of reference, selects its problems (and not individual grievances) and presents its recommendations for their solution. In other words, it functions according to its own perceived needs rather than in response to externally determined criteria. Following are the principal steps involved in its functioning:
1. Identification of problems from customer’s complaints, quality control feedback, management information, engineering department information and so on.
2. Selection of problem for examination on the basis of its relative importance in reduc-ing cost.
3. Making a list of all possible causes of the problem without examining or evaluating them.
4. Testing the validity of each cause with the active cooperation of various specialist depart-ments such as production engineering, quality control, etc. This subsequent testing of each idea (which was put forward in step 3) allows Lime for its assimilation by the circle.
5. Presenting the solution to the management for implementation.
Quality circles were first developed in Japan in the early sixties. Today, these circles have spread to many other countries including India. The Ramchandrapuram unit of BHEL at Hyderabad is perhaps the first to have pioneered the quality circle movement in India. The concept was first sold to the company’s top level executives. But it was later on thought that the movement will not gain ground unless the middle management’s support was also available. The middle management was known for using devious means to scuttle quality circles because it did not like these circles coming up with problems about which it had earlier told the top management that they simply did not exist, or with solutions, which it had always considered impossible. So, the middle managers were also exposed to the new philosophy and were made to realize that they could ‘make or mar’ the movement. Meetings were also organised to convince workers of the sincerity of purpose of the management. Procedures for functioning were outlined and remedies suggested for various pitfalls. The concept has now become very popular in all the units of BHEL. The company today has nearly 1700 quality circles involving about 17,000 workers who have tackled over 6000 problems. Some other organisations which are experimenting with quality circles are J.K. Jute, Bharat Electronics, HMT and so on. In some other organisations these circles have been started chiefly because these organisations want to look modern.
Advantages of a quality circle
1. It is a voluntary forum of workers, Hence it does not evoke their resistance which is usually found when such forums are created by the government or management.
2. It makes full use of a worker’s potential.
3. It provides the worker autonomy and sense ofachievement.
4. It ensures greater participation and involvement of a worker in the day-to-day department function.
5. It helps in finding solutions to several problems and in removing cobwebs and bottlenecks in daily functioning.
6. It helps in creating cohesive groups with improved morale.
Requisites for Success
1. There should be middle management’s support in seuing up and functioning of a quality circle. It is now recognised that quality circles fail mainly because of the dubious activities of these people who do not view favourably any problems being pointed out by the workers about which they had earlier told the top management that they simply did not exist or solutions, which they had always considered impossible.
2. The circle should not be made to function as a free-standing institution. It is now clear that being a part of the total system the circle cannot survive on ilS own. In other words the whole culture of the organization must change. A quality circle cannot function without a quality culture.
3. There should be a firm commitment of top management for implementing the circle’s recommendations. In circumstances where a recommendation cannot be implemented the management should explain the reasons therefore.
4. The foremen who lead the circle should be trained
5. Groundwork should be carefully planned and carried out.
Generally one has to over-come inertia of workers who are suspicious of management motives. A facilitator (generally from within the company) may be appointed to prepare
the ground. His tasks will include training circle leaders coordinating inter-circle activities and obtaining specialist advice from other departments where necessary.