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A quality circle is a group of workers who do the same or similar work, who meet regularly to identify, analyze and solve work-related problems.〔(Inc Encyclopedia - "Quality Circles" ). accessed 17 November 2014〕 Normally small in size, the group is usually led by a supervisor or manager and presents its solutions to management; where possible, workers implement the solutions themselves in order to improve the performance of the organization and motivate employees. Quality circles were at their most popular during the 1980s, but continue to exist in the form of Kaizen groups and similar worker participation schemes.〔(Edward E. Lawler III and Susan A. Mohrman, "Quality Circles After the Fad", ''Harvard Business Review'', January 1985 ). Accessed 17 November 2014〕 Typical topics for the attention of quality circles are improving occupational safety and health, improving product design, and improvement in the workplace and manufacturing processes. The term ''quality circles'' was most accessibly defined by Professor Kaoru Ishikawa in his 1988 handbook, "What is Total Quality Control? The Japanese Way"〔Ishikawa, K., "What is Total Quality Control? The Japanese Way", Prentice Hall, 1985〕 and circulated throughout Japanese industry by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers ((JUSE )) in 1960. The first company in Japan to introduce Quality Circles was the Nippon Wireless and Telegraph Company in 1962. By the end of that year there were 36 companies registered with JUSE by 1978 the movement had grown to an estimated 1 million Circles involving some 10 million Japanese workers. Contrary to some people's opinion this movement had nothing whatever to do with Dr. W. Edwards Deming or indeed Dr Juran and both were skeptical as to whether it could be made to work in the USA or the West generally. Quality circles are typically more formal groups. They meet regularly on company time and are trained by competent persons (usually designated as facilitators) who may be personnel and industrial relations specialists trained in human factors and the basic skills of problem identification, information gathering and analysis, basic statistics, and solution generation. Quality circles are generally free to select any topic they wish (other than those related to salary and terms and conditions of work, as there are other channels through which these issues are usually considered). Quality circles have the advantage of continuity; the circle remains intact from project to project. (For a comparison to Quality Improvement Teams, see Juran's ''Quality by Design.''). == History == Quality circles were originally described by Edwards Deming in the 1950s, Deming praised Toyota as an example of the practice.〔P. Ranganath Nayak & John Ketteringham (1994). Breakthroughs! How the Vision and Drive of Innovators in Sixteen Companies Created Commercial Breakthroughs that Swept the World. Rawson Associates, Arlington, MA ISBN 978-0892562947〕 The idea was later formalized across Japan in 1962 and expanded by others such as Kaoru Ishikawa. The Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) coordinated the movement in Japan. The first circles started at the Nippon Wireless and Telegraph Company; the idea then spread to more than 35 other companies in the first year. By 1978 it was claimed that there were more than one million quality circles involving some 10 million Japanese workers. they operate in most East Asian countries; it was recently claimed that there were more than 20 million quality circles in China. Quality circles have been implemented even in educational sectors in India, and QCFI (Quality Circle Forum of India) is promoting such activities. However this was not successful in the United States, as the idea was not properly understood and implementation turned into a fault-finding exercise - although some circles do still exist. Don Dewar together with Wayne Ryker and Jeff Beardsley established quality circles in 1972 at the Lockheed Space Missile factory in California. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「quality circle」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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