Quality Circle (QC)

Dewar, President of the International Association of QCs, defines QCs as "a way of capturing the creative and innovative power that lies within the work force".

A quality circle is a small group of volunteers (usually 3 to 12 employees) doing similar work. They meet regularly under the leadership of their immediate supervisor, or someone chosen among the circle to identify problems, set priorities, discover causes and propose solutions. These may concern quality, productivity, safety, job structure, process flow, control mechanism, aesthetics of the work area etc.

According to Maurice Alston,

"Quality Circles are small groups of people doing similar work who, together with their supervisors volunteer to meet for an hour a week to study and solve work related problems which affect them. Circle leaders and members are trained in simple problem solving techniques which identify causes and develop solutions. At an appropriate time, presentations are made by the quality circles to the management who decide whether to accept, modify or decline the proposals".

Quality Circle is a participative management system in which workers make suggestions and improvements for the betterment of organization.

Concept of Quality Circle

The Quality Circle concept has three major attributes; these are:

• QC is a form of participative management.
• QC is a human resource development technique.
• QC is a problem solving technique.

Objectives of Quality Circles

Objectives which contribute to the improvement and development of the enterprise and indirectly the interest of the employees are:

• To improve the quality and productivity and thus contribute to the improvements and development of the enterprise.
• To reduce the cost of products or services by waste reduction, safety, effective utilization of resources, avoiding unnecessary errors and defects.
• To identify and solve work related problems that interferes with production.
• To tap the creative intelligence of the persons working in the organization and to make full use of its human resources.
• To permit employees to develop and use greater amount of knowledge and skill and motivate them to apply to a wide range of challenging tasks.
• To improve communication within the organization.
• To increase employees' loyalty and commitment to the organization and its goals.
• To respect humanity and build a happy bright work place environment which is meaningful to work in.
• To enrich human capability, confidence, moral, attitude and relationship.
• To satisfy the human needs of recognition, achievement and self-development.

Advantages of Quality Circles

The organization can accomplish one or more of the following advantages by establishing quality circles:

• Promote high level of productivity and quality-mindedness.
• Self and mutual development of employees.
• Creating team spirit and unity of action.
• Increased motivation, job satisfaction and pride in their work.
• Reduced absenteeism and labor turnover.
• Developing sense of belongingness towards a particular organization.
• Waste Reduction.
• Cost reduction.
• Improved communication.
• Safety improvement.
• Increased utilization of human resource potential.
• Enhancement in consciousness and moral of employees through recognition of their activities.
• Leadership development.
• Trained staff.