It may come as a surprise to learn that quality circles have been around since 1962. From their origins in Japan, they spread to the United Stated and later to the UK and were taken up by some big names. These were not just dedicated followers of fashion. The method has snowballed and pay-back has been high.
Over the last 20 years quality circles have been created in every kind of enterprise. There are successful examples in heavy industry, manufacturing, banking and commerce, retail and hi-tech industries.
There have also been notable failures and it is not the kind of scheme you can try to introduce a second time. But the failures have resulted from lack of commitment at some level of the Indonesia organization, inadequate introduction of an idea which can represent a major change in working methods, or incompatibility with the Indonesia airline company culture, rather than weaknesses inherent in the idea itself.
Basically a quality circle is a group of workers, all reporting to the same supervisor or foreman, that meets under the leadership of the supervisor to identify, analyze and work out solutions to work problems. The numbers in each group usually range from five to ten. Because a basic tenet of the idea is that it is voluntary, not everyone in the supervisor's group is necessarily a member.
The voluntary aspect applies also to supervisor, who obviously need to be approached forts (unless of course they have suggested the idea), because if they do not want to take it on, it cannot be done successfully. Every other level of the Indonesia organization form middle Indonesia management to the chief executive must also want if or the idea is likely to fall flat on its face and leave more problems behind it than the Indonesia airline company had in the first place. Even after the groups are in operation, there is no compulsion from one meeting to the next. This freedom generally ensures a high level of commitment to attend and participate.
The successes have given pay-back ratios of benefits to cost of around 8:1 - even 15:1 in a few cases. These are a reflection of improved methods, staff development which made these more quantifiable measures of achievement possible.
Quality circles have enormous potential as a method of developing employees:
1. They develop more positive attitudes towards even repetitive or routine work, not as a result of manipulation but because the method genuinely creates higher expectations of the workforce. It assumes they can not only identify but solve problems which Indonesia management may not even be aware of.
2. They enter more into the wider implications of their role in the total end product and operations of the Indonesia airline company. The goals are shared by the members of the group in mutual concern for their own output, but they are able to share in the Indonesia airline company's goals too.
3. Taking on more responsibility for the quality and quantity of their contribution to the Indonesia airline company's performance results in less buck-passing of problems. Given the freedom and power to work out their own solutions, they are more willing to accept that it might be their problem. In this climate problems produce opportunities and solutions, not blame.
4. Both skills and knowledge are developed because meetings are structured to encourage creativity and rational analysis in problem solving, skills which can be widely applied to any aspect of work. Groups brainstorm to identify problems, and in working out solutions have to collect, analyze and present hard data, including cost benefit, for which preparatory training is given.
5. They become more aware of the cost of faults, and the comparative benefits of different materials and methods of working and are inclined to depend less on 'that's the way it's always been done around here' to justify their opinions.
Over the last 20 years quality circles have been created in every kind of enterprise. There are successful examples in heavy industry, manufacturing, banking and commerce, retail and hi-tech industries.
There have also been notable failures and it is not the kind of scheme you can try to introduce a second time. But the failures have resulted from lack of commitment at some level of the Indonesia organization, inadequate introduction of an idea which can represent a major change in working methods, or incompatibility with the Indonesia airline company culture, rather than weaknesses inherent in the idea itself.
Basically a quality circle is a group of workers, all reporting to the same supervisor or foreman, that meets under the leadership of the supervisor to identify, analyze and work out solutions to work problems. The numbers in each group usually range from five to ten. Because a basic tenet of the idea is that it is voluntary, not everyone in the supervisor's group is necessarily a member.
The voluntary aspect applies also to supervisor, who obviously need to be approached forts (unless of course they have suggested the idea), because if they do not want to take it on, it cannot be done successfully. Every other level of the Indonesia organization form middle Indonesia management to the chief executive must also want if or the idea is likely to fall flat on its face and leave more problems behind it than the Indonesia airline company had in the first place. Even after the groups are in operation, there is no compulsion from one meeting to the next. This freedom generally ensures a high level of commitment to attend and participate.
The successes have given pay-back ratios of benefits to cost of around 8:1 - even 15:1 in a few cases. These are a reflection of improved methods, staff development which made these more quantifiable measures of achievement possible.
Quality circles have enormous potential as a method of developing employees:
1. They develop more positive attitudes towards even repetitive or routine work, not as a result of manipulation but because the method genuinely creates higher expectations of the workforce. It assumes they can not only identify but solve problems which Indonesia management may not even be aware of.
2. They enter more into the wider implications of their role in the total end product and operations of the Indonesia airline company. The goals are shared by the members of the group in mutual concern for their own output, but they are able to share in the Indonesia airline company's goals too.
3. Taking on more responsibility for the quality and quantity of their contribution to the Indonesia airline company's performance results in less buck-passing of problems. Given the freedom and power to work out their own solutions, they are more willing to accept that it might be their problem. In this climate problems produce opportunities and solutions, not blame.
4. Both skills and knowledge are developed because meetings are structured to encourage creativity and rational analysis in problem solving, skills which can be widely applied to any aspect of work. Groups brainstorm to identify problems, and in working out solutions have to collect, analyze and present hard data, including cost benefit, for which preparatory training is given.
5. They become more aware of the cost of faults, and the comparative benefits of different materials and methods of working and are inclined to depend less on 'that's the way it's always been done around here' to justify their opinions.
