QUALITY CIRCLES

QUALITY CIRCLES is a term used in human resources management that refers to the technique of motivating workers by allowing them input into decisions concerning the production process, thereby increasing productivity and profits. The underlying premise is that productivity will increase for two reasons: because the person best able to decide the most efficient way to do a job is the person who does it for a living and because employees who have greater control over the product will be more committed and effective workers.

Originating in Japan in 1962, quality circles were introduced in the United States in the early 1970s. By the mid-1990s thousands of manufacturing plants, banks, hospitals, and government agencies had implemented quality circles. A circle typically consists of three to twelve employees from a given department and a representative of management. The circle meets on a regular basis on company time to examine a limited range of issues related to the department, identify and analyze problems, and propose solutions. The focus of the circles is on improving both the quality of the product and the production process. Some critics view quality circles as antiunion corporate strategies, intended to make employees feel as though they have input while denying them real power in the workplace.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cole, Robert E. Managing Quality Fads: How American Business Learned to Play the Quality Game. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Cotton, John L. Employee Involvement: Methods for Improving Performance and Work Attitudes. Newbury Park, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1993.

Giordano, Lorraine. Beyond Taylorism: Computerization and the New Industrial Relations. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992.

Grenier, Guillermo J. Inhuman Relations: Quality Circles and Anti-Unionism in American Industry. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1988.

Jack Handler/D. B.

See also Corporations; Industrial Management; Industrial Relations; Labor.