FREE online courses on Group Dynamics - Quality Circle

 

Introduction

 

The concept of Quality Circle emerged from quality control. Quality circles are quite popular in Japan. Looking at their success, many organizations in USA and India have also attempted to implement quality circles. It should be noted the quality circles provide a future-oriented approach. They seek high quality products in the current production run and in the future.

 

A quality circle is a small group of employees doing similar or related work who meet regularly to identify, analyze and solve product-quality problems and to improve general operations.

 

The quality circles are relatively autonomous units (ideally about 10 workers), usually led by a supervisor or a senior worker and organized as work units. The workers, who have a shared area of responsibility, meet periodically to discuss, analyze and propose solutions to ongoing problems.

 

The technique of quality circle has been refined over the years. It is now followed to achieve the following objectives:

1.                  Overall improvement of quality of products manufactured by the enterprise.

2.                  Improvement of production methods and productivity of the enterprise.

3.                  Self-development of the employees who take part in quality circles.

4.                  Encouragement of innovative ideas among the employees.

5.                  Building high morale of employees by developing teamwork in the organization.