...Jing Li; Toni L. Doolen Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand and measure the impact of goal clarity, goal difficulty, and management support on five social and technical outcomes for quality circles (QCs) in a Chinese company. Design/methodology/approach – Survey scales were...

... is the independent variable in the present study. All employees were classified as either team members (coded 1) or non‐team members (coded 0) based on whether they reported belonging to any of the following: quality circles, work group teams, cellular manufacturing teams, cross‐functional project teams, ad...

...Mark Goh Quality circles (QCs) remain viable and continue to operate effectively. This paper traces the QC journey of the Singapore Housing Development Board, providing a historical perspective to the development of a QC for a large Asian state‐owned organisation. The inductive case study method...

...Dimitris Stavroulakis Asserts that the concept of quality circle autonomy includes the issues of members’ development, relations with middle managers and supervisors, determining time of meetings, evaluating suggestions, selecting discussion topics, applying solutions and electing leaders...

...P. Aravindan; S.R. Devadasan; E. Narasimha Reddy; V. Selladurai Examines the successful implementation of quality circle programmes in manufacturing firms. Presents work carried out during a research project undertaken to analyse the difficulties manufacturers and quality managers presently face...

... had contributed to product quality. They were also asked to indicate the importance of such factors as zero defects, concurrent engineering, managerial commitment,communications among the various departments, quality circles,statistical process control techniques, etc. Again, these factors have been...

... for quality. The research was carried out over four visits to Japan between 1989 and 1992. Emphasizes that there are still quality lessons to be learned from Japan. © MCB UP Limited 1995 Japan Kansai Electric Management structure Matsushita Quality circles TQM Training Japanese...

...R. Anthony Inman; Robert S. Boothe IMPLEMENTATION JUST-IN-TIME QUALITY CIRCLES The Impact of Quality Circles on JIT Implementation The Impact of Quality Circles on JIT R. Anthony Inman Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, and Robert S. Boothe University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg...

... ATTITUDES INCENTIVES QUALITY CIRCLES IJQRM 10,5 56 Received March 1992 Revised June 1992 The Workforce-oriented Incentive Potential of Quality Circles in the FRG Joachim Deppe VAW Aluminium AG, Bonn, Germany Introduction Since quality circles (QC) and other forms of small-group work first emerged ten...

...Frances M. Hill Studies two Northern Ireland manufacturing companies, Shirtco and Carpetco, to generate some quantitative data concerning possible attitudinal and behavioural outcomes of quality circle (QC) participation. Attention focused on three variables: (1) the attitudes of QC participants...

...J. de Vries; H. van de Water Although it is often posited that quality circles are an instrument for improving both efficiency and quality of working life, little systematic research has been done. In 1985 therefore, the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment initiated a research study...

... major trend points to the key importance of contingency factors at the pre‐introduction and introduction phases of QCs. © MCB UP Limited 1992 CONTINGENCY PLANNING QUALITY CIRCLES IJQRM 9,2 Contingency Factors in Quality Circles: A Review of Empirical Evidence 18 Bruno Fabi Received...

...Franc¸oise Chevalier Quality circles are a sign of the times, and their success provokes legitimate irritation for those confronted with their development. They often spark off controversy and generate subjective points of view that denote a downright unwillingness to regard them fairly. What...

...Joachim Deppe With the foundation of the National Quality Circle Society in the Federal Republic of Germany, a forum has been established for small group work and the promotion of Quality Circle ideas. The number of firms in the FRG who use Quality Circles is growing and a historical account...

...Alan Honeycutt The Quality Circle programme is used increasingly in all sectors of the US economy. The need is for investigative empirical research into the variables influencing participation in Quality Circles. A study at a major US aerospace company is described in which the major influences...

... if the languages of different disciplines merge to confront crucial management issues. © MCB UP Limited 1989 JOB DESIGN QUALITY CIRCLES IJQRM 6,6 40 Received February 1988 Accepted April 1988 Prospects and Problems of the Quality Control Circle Transplant: The Permeable Discipline Barriers...

...M.J. Isaac The objective here is to critically assess the essential characteristics of quality circles and to focus attention on the factors and conditions which are crucial to the successful implementation of quality circles at Cosalt Holiday Homes. The proposed quality circle programme for Cosalt...

...Yash P. Gupta; Walter Willborn World competition is forcing organisations to re‐examine and refocus their operations and business strategies. It has been argued that price‐based competition has given way to quality‐based competition. Several management techniques such as quality circles and “zero...

...Frances M. Hill One of the main difficulties with the Quality Circle (QC) technique is that, to the uninitiated, it appears attractively simple in concept. This attraction has been enhanced by the many claims made for it in the management literature. Such claims though, are often based...

...M. Dolores Moreno Luzon This article is an attempt to increase knowledge of the best conditions for application of a programme of quality circles. It suggests that before applying such a programme, the top management team must clarify: the purpose of application, the ways to use the circles...