Quality circles are small groups of employees who meet on a regular basis to assess quality issues and make recommendations to improve quality standards. It is common for the members of a quality circle to be from different departments in the organization, in order to get different perspectives and a range of views and suggestions. For example, it is important to hear from representative of the finance, marketing and human resources departments even though the issues being discussed are primarily related to operations management. Members of quality circles are typically volunteers.

Professor W. Edwards Deming (1900 - 1993), a notable figure in the field of quality management, argued that employees should have most of the responsibility for quality management in an organization. Not only is this empowering for staff, and hence boosts productivity, it also yields better results than if the responsibility was held by only a few senior managers.

 Advantages of quality circles

The advantages of quality circles include the following points:

• They promote team working (a form of non-financial motivator) and boost team cohesiveness. This can therefore help to improve employee morale, as staff feel more valued.

• Almost any organization, in any industry, can use quality circles to improve quality standards.

 Disadvantages of quality circles

The disadvantages of quality circles include:

• Quality circles are not necessarily cost-effective, as employees have to be suitable qualified and trained in the process of identifying problems and making feasible suggestions.

• For quality circles to work well, staff must be fully supported by senior management. If their recommendations are rejected or not adequately funded, members of the quality circle will lose any motivation to continue.

• Some staff members may be unable or uncomfortable to take on such level of responsibility, arguing that senior managers are the people paid to problem solve and resolve quality issues.

Benchmarking helps to improve performance

Benchmarking is the routine process of an organization comparing its products, processes (operations) and performance to that of its competitors or its own historical standards. For example, an accounting firm may consider its employees’ professional examination pass rate with those of its competitors to assess the quality of the training they provide. An IB World School will compare its own examination results and pass rates with those of rival schools and its own historical performance. Such benchmark assessments enable the organization to determine the quality of teaching and learning in the school.

Benchmarking is a form of managing quality in an organization as it explores areas within the business where quality and performance can be improved. It involves firms learning from their rivals in order to gain insights into ways to improve their own performance. Hence, benchmarking plays an important role in quality improvement.

 Advantages of benchmarking

The advantages of using benchmarking include:

• Almost any aspect of an organization’s operations can be benchmarked, so long as it is measurable, such as:

• Benchmarking encourages organizations to continually learn from their competitors, in an attempt to improve their processes, performance and overall quality.

• It enables an organization to determine its strengths and weaknesses in comparison to its competitors.

• Effective benchmarking helps an organization to improve its performance and competitiveness.

 Disadvantages of benchmarking

However, the potential drawbacks of using benchmarking include the following arguments:

• Benchmarking only enables a business to identify the areas that need improving. It does not determine to how the business should solve the performance and quality issues. 

• Benchmarking is not always done in a meaningful or objective way, such as perceptions of customer feedback.

• It can be expensive to benchmark best practice in an industry, as time and money are needed to ensure adequate comparisons are made.

As a form of quality management, total quality management (TQM) involves all workers having responsibility for maintaining quality standards throughout the production process. TQM aims to achieve zero defects by preventing mistakes being made in the first place. Instead, it focuses on getting things done right, first time round.

Therefore, TQM requires the empowerment of all workers so that they can take responsibility for quality issues in all aspects of the firm’s operations. In reality, total quality management encompasses other aspects of lean production, such as continuous improvement (Kaizen), benchmarking of all business operations, and quality circles.

By making quality the key focus, TQM applies to all aspects of an organization’s operations, including improvements in its products, processes, productivity and performance.

 Advantages of total quality management

The benefits of total quality management include the following points:

• TQM aims to reduce the reject rate to zero, thereby reducing reworking costs by doing everything right the first time. As a result, production costs are likely to fall as wastage declines or disappears.

• The corporate image is likely to improve as the organization has a “right first time” approach to production, so defects are minimal if at all existent.

• Staff morale increases because they feel more valued and empowered being part of the total quality process and culture.

 Disadvantages of total quality management

However, there are drawback to using TQM. These limitations include:

• TQM is highly expensive because of the significant costs required to train staff and to ensure they uphold the philosophy of total quality management.

• There is a time lag between when the TQM approach is implemented and when its benefits are experienced.

• TQM only works if every employee is fully committed to the approach. This may be far more difficulty to achieve in reality than in theory.

• Benchmarking is the routine process of an organization comparing its products, processes (operations) and performance to that of its competitors or its own historical standards.

• Quality circles are small groups of employees who meet on a regular basis to assess quality issues and make recommendations to improve quality standards.

• Total quality management (TQM) involves all workers having responsibility for maintaining quality standards throughout the production process. It aims to achieve zero defects by preventing mistakes being made.