Page 282 - DCOM102_DMGT101_PRINCIPLES_AND_PRACTICES_OF_MANAGEMENT

Principles and Practices of Management

Notes circles during the working hours. The employees will be least interested in devoting their
personal time to the quality circle. Therefore, the management should allow the workers
to hold quality circle meetings periodically during the working hours. It should extend
the assistance required by the quality circles for their smooth working.
4. Non-implementation of Suggestions: The workers will feel disheartened if their suggestions
are turned down without any reason. The suggestions of each quality circle should be
given due weightage. If they are likely to improve quality of products, they must be
implemented. This will enthuse the members of the quality circle.

Task Find out more information on Quality Circles and give examples of some
companies that use quality circles.

Case Study Self-managed Teams at W.L. Gore and Associates

.L. Gore and associates manufactures Gore-Tex, the waterproof fabric found in
outdoor clothing and spacesuits, as well as other Teflon products for medical
Wand industrial uses. William L. “Bill” Gore, the founder of W.L. Gore and
Associates, created a company with a unique way of operating: Gore introduced the concepts
of worker self-management, empowerment, and teams more than thirty years ago. No
employee has a formal title – all are known as associates – and the company has no formal
structure. To be hired, an individual must be sponsored by an existing employee, who
must also find work for the “new” employee to do. The sponsor continues to advise the
associate and even “market” his or her abilities to project teams in the company.
For example, an individual who acts as a product specialist takes charge of developing a
new product. This person then creates a team to work on the product development. The
team expands its membership as needed to perform various functions in developing and
ultimately manufacturing the product. Team members decide how the team will operate
and what staff and financial resources the team requires. They do not need to consult with
individuals outside the team on budget or other decisions that mainly affect the team and
its product. Team members would perform functions traditionally performed by managers,
such as scheduling and assigning jobs, maintaining equipment, ordering supplies, and
keeping business data about the team’s performance.

Teams can grow to become a plant, but can have no more than 200 associates, so that
members are familiar with all those in the group. In principle, an entire work operation
can become a large self-managing team in which each member is self-managing. As the
team grows, it divides into multiple teams known as manufacturing cells. Each team
member can perform most manufacturing processes, but agrees to assume certain ones as
his or her personal responsibility. Once an associate makes a commitment, he or she is
expected to follow it. Each team has a leader who emerges from within the team as a result
of discussion and consensus.
The approach used at W.L. Gore and Associates is in marked contrast to that used in
companies with a clearly established set of reporting relationships and formal titles for all
employees. In traditionally functioning companies, leaders are appointed and teams are
not self-managing, but are supervised by a manager. In thirty years, W.L. Gore and

Contd...

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