The Utility of Quality Circles in United States Manufacturing Companies.

摘要

This research provides a systematic study of factors affecting the utility of quality circles as a technique for improving productivity. The results provide information useful for developing techniques to make optimal use of Navy personnel resources. Quality circles were established in organizations which differ in their work activities, their unionization, and their existing management practices. The effect of quality circles was examined and compared to matched work settings in which no quality circles were established. The work included the establishment and training of comparable quality control circles in each of 16 different work settings; the assessment of productivity and organizational effectiveness gains over matched groups in which no intervention was undertaken via a measure of productivity related and management-employee interaction patterns after three months of quality control circle operation. (Author)