One of the best examples of the use of statistical quality control in clerical operations is found in Aldens' Mail Order House in Chicago. Statistical quality control was begun at Aldens' early in 1945 by the installation of sample inspection and the control chart in one of the order-picking departments (Mercer, 2003). Within two months, the error ratio in this department fell from 3% to less than 1% while efficiency increased from 82% to 107% (Walton, 2012). Since then, use of the system has been extended throughout the organization (23 departments by June, 1947) with such outstanding success that it has gained the complete support of top management. Over a two-year period, statistical quality control brought about a reduction in errors of 25.4% as indicated by customer adjustments (Box & Colleagues, 2009).
With few exceptions, statistical quality control in the federal government has been confined to engineering or construction activities (e.g., Army and Navy ordnance). The Bureau of the Census and the National Office of Vital Statistics of the Federal Security Agency have experimented with dif Quality circles (QC) are organizational interventions that seek to increase an organization's productivity and the quality of its products through direct employee participation (Walton, 2012). The underlying assumption is that such participation will result in useful suggestions for improving work methods and quality control, and for increasing employee commitment to implement these changes (Sensenbrenner, 2005). A quality circle is composed of a small group of employees, doing similar work, who volunteer to meet periodically to discuss production, quality, and related problems, to investigate causes, recommend solutions, and take corrective actions to the extent of their authority (Sherr & Teeter, 2010).
Normally, a company-wide steering committee of both union and management representatives decides where in the organization quality circles should be introduced and what types of problems are appropriate for the quality circles to work on. Once initiated, a quality circle (consisting of about ten employees from a work unit and their immediate supervisor) holds a weekly one-hour meeting to discuss ways of improving productivity and related issues (Walton, 2000). To aid their effectiveness, the group and its leader are trained in group dynamics, problem solving, data analysis, quality control, and the presentation of information and recommendations to management. Circle leaders usually receive about three days of training prior to the circle's first meeting (Sensenbrenner, 2005). Circle members receive their training during the first eight to ten circle meetings. These meetings are held on company time and at company expense, and the decision to implement any of the group's suggestions remains ultimately with management. External facilitators, who have received about five days of training in the use of quality circle techniques and are usually company employees, guide and assist the quality circle during the meetings (Walters, 2007).
Within the federal sector, the Navy was the first to implement a quality circle program in 1979 in its Norfolk Naval Shipyard. By 1980 the shipyard claimed to have achieved a four-to-one cost-benefit ratio. The Navy has since expanded its QC program to a number of its bases and shipyards. In addition, a variety of other federal agencies (including the Air Force, the Veteran's Administration, and the Public Health Service) have all begun to experiment with their own quality circle programs. Interest in the QC process among federal agencies appears to be rapidly growing (Mercer, 2003).
The Bureau of the Census, for example, in processing 1940 census figures for housing and population used statistical sampling in the verification of card punching and maintained quality control charts on each individual puncher (Walton, 2000). Great care was taken when setting up the sampling system to develop criteria for selecting the punchers whose work should be sample verified. Length of experience, average error rate, and fluctuations in error rate were determined to be the...
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