Quality Circle Principles of Management: Quality Circles

Quality Circle

Principles of Management: Quality Circles

A quality circle is a small group of employees doing similar or related work who meet regularly to identify, analyze, and solve product-quality and production problems and to improve general operations. The circle is a relatively autonomous unit (ideally about ten workers), usually led by a supervisor or a senior worker and organized as a work unit (Kucera, 2012). The purpose of these groups is to solve problems by focusing on measurable indicators of quality that impact the company's costs, productivity, or other business interests. For instance, quality circles at a manufacturing company might focus on finding ways to minimize product defects, as measured in the amount of product with a particular defect per thousand or million, while, those at an insurance company might seek methods to reduce the frequency of billing errors.

Quality circles are generally associated with Japanese management and manufacturing techniques. The introduction of quality circles in Japan in the postwar years was inspired by the lectures of W. Edwards Deming (1900-1993), a statistician for the U.S. government. The newly formed Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (UJSE) was familiar with Deming's work and heard that he would be coming to Japan in 1950 to advise the Allied occupation government. Accepting UJSE's invitation, Deming addressed Japanese industry's top 50 executives.

A number of elements of Deming's philosophy depart from traditional notions of quality. The first is the role management should play in a company's quality improvement effort. Historically, poor quality was blamed on workers; on their lack of productivity, laziness, or carelessness. However, Deming pointed out that only 15% of quality problems are actually due to worker error. The remaining 85% are caused by processes and systems, including poor management.

Deming said that it is up to management to correct system problems and create an environment that promotes quality and enables workers to achieve their full potential. He believed that managers should drive out any fear employees have of identifying quality problems, and that numerical quotas should be eliminated. Proper methods should be taught and detecting and eliminating poor quality should be everyone's responsibility.

Deming outlined his philosophy on quality in his famous "14 Points." These points are principles that help guide companies in achieving quality improvement. The principles are founded on the idea that upper management must develop a commitment to quality and provide a system to support this commitment that involves all employees and suppliers. Deming stressed that quality improvements cannot happen without organizational change that comes from upper management (Institute for Manufacturing, NDI).

Quality can be defined by many criteria. One way is to measure how well a product or service conforms to specifications; that is meets the targets and tolerances determined by its designers. Another way is to focus on how well the product performs its intended function or use. Quality can also be defined in terms of value for the price paid. One can also determine quality based on support services; that is in terms the product or service as well as the people, processes, and organizational environment associated with it. Some use psychological criteria as a way of defining quality. This is a focus on judgmental evaluations of what constitutes product or service excellence. The elements of quality are useful in identifying root causes of quality problems and correcting them at the source, as opposed to inspecting the product after it has been made.