Quality circles: An expression of change at the grass roots

Abstract

Operation Phoenix is conceived on a grand scale. It is complex, multi‐dimensional, affecting the wholeof world society at macro‐level and yet dependent on individual change. It is about change at the grass roots. Quality Circles are in the grass roots. The supervisor and workers sit down together voluntarily to pick and solve one of their work problems. The idea is elegant in its simplicity, but mind‐blowing in terms of the normal management philosophy which specialises tasks and isolates people in little boxes to carry them out. It is subversive in terms of the organisation structure which tries to separate power and knowledge from work, and preserve them for the top echelons. It works within the old society and prepares for the new. It is, to this extent, a creature of the Threshold.

Citation

AGNEW, B. (1982), "Quality circles: An expression of change at the grass roots", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 86-88. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb003871