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The Journal of Social Psychology Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vsoc20
The Case of Active and Inactive Quality Circles a
b
Thomas Li-Ping Tang , Peggy Smith Tollison & Harold Dean Whiteside
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Department Of Management and Marketing , Middle Tennessee State University , USA b
Textron Aerostructures , Nashville
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Department of Psychology Middle , Tennessee State University , USA Published online: 01 Jul 2010.
To cite this article: Thomas Li-Ping Tang , Peggy Smith Tollison & Harold Dean Whiteside (1996) The Case of Active and Inactive Quality Circles, The Journal of Social Psychology, 136:1, 57-67, DOI: 10.1080/00224545.1996.9923029 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00224545.1996.9923029
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The Journal of Social Psychology, 1996, /36( I), 57-67
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The Case of Active and Inactive Quality Circles THOMAS LI-PING TANG Department of Management and Marketing Middle Tennessee State University PEGGY SMITH TOLLISON Textron Aerostructures, Nashville HAROLD DEAN WHITESIDE Department of Psychology Middle Tennessee State University
ABSTRACT. Active and inactive quality circles (QCs; small groups of employees that solve organizational problems) were studied during the first 3 months (Times 1.2. and 3) and the last 3 months (Times 4. 5. and 6) of their existence. The results indicated that both active and inactive QCs tended to have more members during the first 3 months than during the last 3 months. Membership in inactive QCs decreased significantly from Time 5 to Time 6. in contrast to membership in active QCs. which did not change during this period. and active QCs tended to have more members than inactive QCs did at Time 6. Thus. a significant decrease in QC membership may forecast disbandment.
JAPANESE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES have been of interest to U.S. employers for several decades (Ouchi, 1981). Quality circles (QCs). in particular, were considered in the 1980s to be one of the most promising approaches for improving U.S. workers' productivity. A QC is a group of employees who usually meet for an hour or so each week to discuss organizational problems, explore causes, recommend solutions, and take corrective action, if they have the authority to do so (Adam, 1991; Barrick & Alexander. 1987; Ferris & Wagner. 1985; Griffin, 1988; Marks, Mirvis, Hackett, & Grady, 1986; Rafaeli, 1985; Steel & We thank Melissa McCann and Janet Chamblee for their assistance. Address requests for the archival data for the 53 QCs and other correspondence to Thomas Li-Ping Tang, Box 516, Department of Management and Marketing, College of Business, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN 37132. Telephone: (615) 898·2005. FAX: (615) 898-5308. Electronic mail may be sent via the Internet to [email protected] 57
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Lloyd, 1988; Tang & Butler, 1992; Tang, Tollison, & Whiteside, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993). Over 90% of the Fortune 500 companies were estimated to have had QC programs in the mid-1980s (Lawler & Mohrman, 1985), and over two hundred thousand U.S. workers have had QC experience (Lawler, 1986). Moreover, according to a survey of Fortune 1,000 companies, the number of QC programs even showed a small increase from 1987 to 1990 (Lawler, 1992; Lawler, Mohrman, & Ledford, 1992). Despite this popularity, however, QC activity in Japanese chemical industries has declined significantly over a period of years (Cole & Tachiki, 1983), and QC programs in the United States have failed in more than 60% (Castorina & Wood, 1988; Marks, 1986) to 75% (Crosby, 1987) of the organizations that have implemented them. Little research has been devoted to the problems that are involved in maintaining QCs over time (Goodman, 1983). Researchers have found that QCs have a lower rate of problem-solving failure, a higher rate of attendance at meetings, and a higher net savings of projects than inactive QCs do (Tang et al., 1993), but the subject of QC membership has not been explored. Ferris and Wagner (1985, p. 158) emphasized the necessity for research on "the effects of group size on QC performance." QCs have a definite life cycle (Lawler & Mohrman, 1985) which is dependent upon membership (Lawler, 1992). In the present study, our main purpose was to explore the differences regarding QC membership, for active and inactive QCs, during the first 3 months and the last 3 months of their existence. We examined a 3-year period of archival data from a QC program, with the expectation that an analysis of QC membership over time might provide information that would be of theoretical and practical importance.
Small Groups and Quality Circles Group development follows five distinct phases: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning (Tuckman & Jensen, 1977). Our focus in the present study was group membership during two of these phases, the forming phase (potential members decide whether they want to belong to the group and whether the group will meet their needs) and the adjourning phase (the group disbands). Like larger organizations, QCs are born, grow older, and eventually die (Daft, 1992). Although researchers (Hambrick & D' Aveni, 1992) have noted significant differences between "bankrupt" and "survivor" firms, "the important aspects of group composition have been somewhat underexplored" (Haleblian & Finkelstein, 1993, p. 845). Empirical research concerning the team size (membership) of active and inactive QCs is practically nonexistent.
Reasons for forming QCs. The primary reason for becoming involved in a QC is its "potential for improving the work place" (Dean, 1985, p. 326). QCs are
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"sources of both informational and emotional social support" (Marks et al., 1986, p. 68). The decision to join a QC is significantly related to the desire to be more involved in the organization and to the belief that QCs have an instrumental role in solving problems (Dean). Lawler and Mohrman (1985) and Sims and Dean (1985) considered the logical extension of QCs to be self-managing work teams. In self-managing teams, "all work group members are also team members" (Sims & Dean, 1985, p. 28). A recent managerial trend encourages more employee participation. The amount of time one spends on the target activity during the free-choice period (e.g., Deci, 1971; Lepper, Greene, & Nisbett, 1973; Tang, 1986, 1990; Tang & Baumeister, 1984; Tang, Liu, & Vermillion, 1987; Tang & SarsfieldBaldwin, 1991) and one's willingness to participate in future experiments (cf. Amabile, Dejong, & Lepper, 1976; Staw, Calder, Hess, & Sandelands, 1980) have been taken as measures of intrinsic motivation. It stands to reason that people who are interested in QCs, whether for intrinsic or extrinsic reasons, are more likely to become QC members than those who are not. QC membership is voluntary in most U.S. organizations and can be considered an indicator of the intrinsic motivation within an organization (Tang, Tollison, & Whiteside, 1987).
Reasons QCs disband. The reason cited most frequently by people who do not join QCs is the perception that QCs do not accomplish much (Dean, 1985). A related factor is "the success or failure of previous programs" (Dean, p. 325), "If a QC never has a suggestion adopted, the members will become discouraged, and even disband" (Wayne, Griffin, & Bateman, 1986, p. 84). A high rate of failure to solve problems may cause QC members to expect ineffective results (Dean) or an active QC to become inactive (Tang et al., 1993). In one study (Wayne et al., 1986), a QC was considered to be relatively successful if at least two of the solutions generated by it were accepted and implemented by upper level management. The results of another study (Brockner & Hess, 1986) indicated that successful QCs were not significantly larger than unsuccessful QCs. It must be noted, however, that the researchers in this study examined only nine QCs for a 12-month period. "Low volunteer rate" is a factor that is destructive for QCs (Lawler & Mohrman, 1985). Team size may affect the "information-processing capabilities of top management teams" (Haleblian & Finkelstein, 1993, p. 845). QC membership, effectiveness, and longevity may have a reciprocal influence on each other; QCs may die because members drop out, or members may drop out because a QC is dying. In the present study, we explored changes related to membership, using archival data from a QC program, although we were unable to explore a potential causal relationship between QC membership and the likelihood of QC survival. A QC's primary mission is to solve quality-related problems in a work area. QCs that "run out of problems" (Lawler & Mohrman, 1985) are no longer useful
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in their present form and may evolve into other forms, such as advisory groups, business teams, and semiautonomous work groups (Lawler & Mohrman). Some researchers have suggested that QCs of this type should disband. Changes of commitment and turnover. In a study on organizational commitment and turnover, Porter, Crampon, and Smith (1976) examined leavers' and stayers' commitment, using the "last back" technique of analysis. Measures of leavers' commitment at 1.5 months, 3.5 months, and 5.5 months before their departure were compared with measures of commitment for a matched stayer group, at the same intervals. Porter et al. found that the commitment of leavers whose departure would occur within 1.5 months was significantly weaker than that of the stayers, but that the commitment of leavers whose departure was at least 6 months away was indistinguishable from that of the stayers. Mowday, Porter, and Steers (1982) found that stayers' commitment was fairly consistent throughout their first 15 months on the job, whereas leavers' commitment was not only lower to start with but also declined as the leavers came closer to quitting their jobs. 'The closer an eventual leaver comes to the point of termination, the more his or her attitudes separate from the comparable stayer" (p. 40). It seems that if researchers are going to detect any significant changes between stayers' and leavers' commitment, they must assess employees' commitment approximately I month before their departure from the organization. We believed that the pattern of membership in active and inactive QCs would be similar to the pattern for commitment, just discussed. In the present study, we labeled QC membership for the first 3 months of operation as Times I, 2, and 3 and QC membership for the last 3 months of operation as Times 4, 5, and 6. For both active and inactive QCs, the data for Time I reflect QC membership at the beginning of the group's operation (the first month). For active QCs, the data for Time 6 represent QC membership at the end of the 3-year period, and for inactive QCs, the data for Time 6 represent the number of members in the group before it became inactive (the last month). The data for Time 4 represent the number of QC members 3 months before the QC's disbandment, and the data for Time 5 represent the number of QC members 2 months before the QC's disbandment. The shortest tenure among all the QCs during the 3-year period was 6 months. The main reason we limited our analyses to these six time periods was related to the fact that the shortest QC tenure in the present data set was only 6 months. Because the sample size was small (53) and the distribution of active and inactive groups was unequal (36 vs. 17, respectively), the use of a longer time period might have resulted in a further decrease in sample size, which would have rendered our findings more tenuous. We reasoned that active QCs would have more members at Time I than inactive QCs would because members in active QCs are probably more committed initially than members of inactive QCs are. Although both groups may experience a decline in membership, active QCs, at least the larger ones, will be able
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to withstand such a loss, but inactive QCs will not. For inactive QCs, this development may represent a final and irreversible decline. Although initially QC members may have been reluctant to share their reservations about the group's usefulness and may have been unwilling to leave, the departure of one or two influential members leads to the almost immediate dissolution of the group. Membership for active QCs should thus be stable at Times 4, 5, and 6, in contrast to membership for inactive QCs, which should be stable at Times 4 and 5 and should experience a significant decline in membership at Time 6 before disbandment. We also expected that active QCs would have more members than inactive QCs would at Time 6 and that membership for active and inactive QCs would not differ significantly from each other at Times 4 and 5. Our hypotheses were as follows: I. For inactive QCs, but not for active QCs, there will be a significant decline in QC membership from Time 5 to Time 6. 2. There will be no significant difference between membership for active QCs and membership for inactive QCs during Time 5, but active QCs will have more members than inactive QCs will during Time 6.
Method Participants
The participants were 316 employees-6.8% of the total work force of a middle Tennessee structures fabrication and assembly plant-who had been involved in 53 QCs over a 3-year period. The average age of the participants was 36.8 years. The participants' level of education ranged from grade school through graduate school, with an average of 13.12 years of school. The participants' average tenure with the company was 6 years. QC size ranged from 3 to 26 members, with an average of 8.5 members per group during the 3-year period. In the present study we investigated archival data from these 53 QCs. These data were obtained from QC facilitators' cumulative project status reports, which were updated monthly. Employees' subjective perceptions and attributions of QCs' failure have been presented in other research (Butler & Tang, 1992; Tang & Butler, 1992). Active Versus Inactive QCs
Seventeen of the 53 QCs died, and 36 survived during the 3-year period. The former were designated inactive QCs; and the latter, active QCs. The criteria for labeling a group inactive were as follows. First, the QC facilitator asked all the QC members how willing they were to continue the operation. As long as at least 1 member wanted to continue to solving QC-related problems, the QC was con-
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sidered active. This was the kind of QC the facilitator would try to revive. Second, the facilitator interviewed the area managers to assess the depth of their interest in and their support for the QC in question. If none of the QC members wanted to have a QC and the managers were not interested in the group and did not support it, the QC was pronounced inactive. None of the QCs that were declared inactive became active again during the 3-year period. The QC was disbanded and declared inactive when there were no more members. QC Membership
QC membership reflected the number of members in a QC across the life of the QC, during a 3-year period. Twenty-eight QCs were formed in the l st year of this 3-year period, and 4 of these became inactive before the end of the Ist year. Eighteen QCs were formed during the 2nd year, and 7 during the 3rd year. Only 7 of the 53 QCs survived for the 36-month period. None of the 7 QCs that were formed during the 3rd year had become inactive by the end of the year. QC membership was recorded for the first 3 months of each QC's existence. The QCs did not begin their activities at the same time. Thus, the time period (month, year) for QC membership (Time I) was different for most QCs. For example, one QC was established in January of the Ist year; QC membership data for January (Time I), February (Time 2), and March (Time 3) of the first year were used in the analysis for this QC. QC membership for the last 3 months of each QC was also recorded. For active QCs, data from October (Time 4), November (Time 5), and December (Time 6) of the 3rd year were collected. QCs were terminated and became inactive at different times. For example, one QC was established in January of the 1st year and became inactive in October of the 2nd year; QC membership data for August (Time 4), September (Time 5), and October (Time 6) of the 2nd year were used in the analysis. QC size varied from 4 to 26 members during Time I and from 3 to 20 members during Time 6. QC tenure, expressed in manufacturing days, was defined as the length of time the QC had existed in the 3-year period. For inactive QCs, QC tenure was the total life span of the QC. Tenure for active and inactive QCs did not differ significantly. Results
We examined QC membership, using a mixed-design multivariate analysis of variance (MANOYA), with one between-subjects variable (active vs. inactive) and two within-subject variables (the first 3 months vs. the last 3 months; 1st vs. 2nd vs. 3rd month). For active QCs, the means and standard deviations of group membership for the six time periods were as follows: Time I: M = 12.11, SD = 4.49; Time 2: M = 12.33; SD =4.33; Time 3: M = 12.08, SD =4.36; Time 4: M
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= 8.97, SD =3.46; Time 5: M =8.69, SD =4.27; and Time 6: M = 8.69, SD = 4.45. For inactive QCs, the means and standard deviations of group membership for the six time periods were as follows: Time I: M = 9.53, SD = 2.90; Time 2: M =9.35, SD =3.28; Time 3: M =9.06, SD =3.44; Time 4: M =7.00, SD =3.54; Time 5: M =6.82, SD =3.81; and Time 6: M =6.00, SD =3.59, respectively. The results of the mixed-design MANOVA indicated that active QCs tended to have more members than inactive QCs did (Ms = 10.15 and 7.96, respectively), F(1, 51) =6.42, p =.014. QCs tended to have more members during the first 3 months of their existence than during the last 3 months (Ms = 11.26 and 8.09, respectively), F(1, 51) = 36.79, p < .001. There were no significant differences related to membership among the 3 months, F(2, 102) =2.33, p =.102. The interaction effects were not significant. We had predicted that for inactive QCs, but not for active QCs, membership would decline significantly from Time 5 to Time 6. We had also predicted that there would be no significant difference between membership for active and inactive QCs during Time 5, but that active QCs would have more members than inactive QCs would during Time 6. The results of the simple main-effects tests we performed to test these hypotheses suggested that there was a significant change in QC membership between Times 5 and 6 for inactive QCs, but not for active QCs, F(I, 16) =9.99, p =.006; and F(I, 35) = .00, p = 1.00, respectively. Furthermore, active QCs tended to have more members at Time 6 than inactive QCs did, F(1, 51) 4.76, p = .034. The differences at Times 4 and 5 were not significant, however. Thus, the results of the present study supported both hypotheses. Further, active QCs tended to have more members than inactive QCs did at Times 1,2, and 3, F(I, 51) =4.67, P =.035; F(I, 51) =6.31, p =.015; and F(1, 51) 6.30, p .015, respectively. We also examined Pearson product-moment correlations, for active and inactive QCs. For active QCs, the QC tenure was negatively correlated with the average QC membership for the whole 3-year period (r =-.28, p < .05), whereas for inactive QCs, the same correlation was not significant (r =-.07, ns).
=
=
=
Discussion
The present results indicate that, during a 3-year period, the active QCs had more members than the inactive QCs did. In addition, for both active and inactive QCs, membership was larger during the first 3 months of the groups' existence than during the last 3 months. There were no significant differences between active and inactive QCs during Times 4 and 5. During Time 6, inactive QCs experienced a significant drop in membership before total dissolution. The fact that the larger QCs seemed to have a better chance of survival than the smaller QCs did may be attributable to a number of explanations. First, employees attend QC meetings and solve QC-related problems for different intrinsic and extrinsic reasons. Members in active QCs have the option of satis-
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fying their needs through the improved working conditions and greater opportunities for expression and self-development that result from QC activity (Marks et aI., 1986), but members of inactive QCs do not. Second, members of active QCs may be more interested in and committed to problem-solving activities than members of inactive QCs are and, thus, form a larger group at Time I than inactive QC members do. We did not assess commitment and satisfaction in the present study. A third possibility is that as group size increases, members' efforts tend to decrease (Steiner, 1972). A low level of membership, also, can lead to decreased motivation and ineffective problem solving. It seems likely that when group membership drops below a certain level, QC members may conclude that there is no interest in solving QC-related problems or that the problems in question cannot be solved by a QC. The few remaining QC members cannot solve these problems effectively and, finally, admit defeat. We were not able to determine, using the present archival data, whether the QCs died because their members left or whether the members left because their QCs were dying. There was a significant, negative correlation between tenure and size for active QCs but not for inactive QCs. This correlation may be evidence that members who did not participate in or contribute to active QCs left the group. Because the significant drop in membership occurred only 1 month before the QCs' failure, we had difficulty monitoring and predicting the results. This context was reminiscent of the employees' significant change of commitment in the 1976 study of Porter et al. The difference between active and inactive QC membership at Time 6 was quite small (8.69 vs. 6.00), as was the change in membership for inactive QCs between Times 5 and 6 (6.82 and 6.00, respectively). The sudden decline in QC membership may have represented the final and irreversible stage of the QC's demise. Perhaps many QC members, having decided that the QC was not useful, wanted to quit but were unwilling to be the first to leave. When other members left the QC, these members followed suit, and the QC dissolved almost immediately. This last finding has important implications for managers. Because it is too late to save the QC by the time the decline in membership is noticed, practitioners should be advised to look for other indications of waning commitment so that action can be taken while saving the QC is still possible. A more detailed analysis of the events that occur during the final month is needed. Additional data that were not available in the present study, such as weekly data on group membership, member satisfaction, commitment, and QC involvement, should be used in future analyses. The results of the present study indicate that a significant drop in membership is a precursor of QC failure. Managers in personnel or human resources must support QCs and increase their effectiveness and efficiency to prevent these groups from disbanding (Tang, Tollison, & Whiteside, 1987, 1989, 1993).
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The QC data that were examined in the present study, which were measurable, quantifiable, and objective, can be retrieved from archival sources. Given the small sample size and the unequal division between active and inactive QCs, our analysis may be tenuous. Also, because QC membership, problem-solving success, and the survival of QCs are interrelated, these variables may have reciprocal effects on each other. In any case, for managers interested in saving QCs, the seven factors identified in a recent study (Tang & Butler, in press) of employee attributions for QCs' failure to solve problems-lack of support from top management, lack of commitment from QC members, lack of problem-solving skills, QC member turnover, the nature of the task, lack of support from staff members, and lack of data and time-may be a good place to start. REFERENCES Adam, E. E. (1991). Quality circle performance. Journal ofManagement. /7.25-39. Amabile, T. M., Dejong, W., & Lepper, M. R. (1976). Effects of externally imposed deadlines on subsequent intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34(1),92-98. Barrick, M. R., & Alexander, R A. (1987). A review of quality circle efficacy and the existence of positive-findings bias. Personal Psychology, 40. 579-592. Brockner, J., & Hess, T. (1986). Self-esteem and task performance in quality circles. Academy ofManagement Journal, 29(3), 617-623. Butler, E. A., & Tang, T. L. P. (1992, March). Attributions of quality circles' problemsolving failure: A pilot study. Paper presented at the 38th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, Knoxville, TN. Castorina, P., & Wood, B. (1988). Circles in the Fortune 500: Why circles fail. Journal of Quality and Participation, //(2), 4Q-41. Cole, R. E., & Tachiki, D. S. (1983). Japanese quality circles: Preliminary comparisons. The Quality Circles Journal, 6, 11-16. Crosby, B. (1987). Why employee involvement often fails and what it takes to succeed. Developing Human Resources, /6, 179-185. Daft, R. L. (1992). Organization theory and design. St. Paul, MN: West Publishing. Dean, J. W. (1985). The decision to participate in quality circles. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 2/(3),317-327. Deci, E. L. (1971). Effects of externally mediated rewards on intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, /8, 105-115. Ferris, G. R, & Wagner, J. A. (1985). Quality circles in the United States: A conceptual re-evaluation. Journal ofApplied Behavioral Science, 2/(2), 155-167. Goodman, P. S. (1983). Sustaining quality circles: Inherent problems, some strategies. The Quality Circles Journal. 6. 6-8. Griffin, R. W. (1988). Consequences of quality circles in an industrial setting: A longitudinal assessment. Academy ofManagement Journal, 3/(2), 338-358. Haleblian, J., & Finkelstein, S. (1993). Top management team size, CEO dominance, and firm performance: The moderating roles of environmental turbulence and discretion. Academy ofManagement Journal, 36. 844-863. Hambrick, D. C., & D' Aveni, R A. (1992). Top team deterioration as part of the downward spiral of large corporate bankruptcies. Management Science. 38. 1445-1466. Lawler, E. E. (1986). High-involvement management. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
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Received March 24, 1995
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The Case of Active and Inactive Quality Circles a
b
Thomas Li-Ping Tang , Peggy Smith Tollison & Harold Dean Whiteside
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Department Of Management and Marketing , Middle Tennessee State University , USA b
Textron Aerostructures , Nashville
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Department of Psychology Middle , Tennessee State University , USA Published online: 01 Jul 2010.
To cite this article: Thomas Li-Ping Tang , Peggy Smith Tollison & Harold Dean Whiteside (1996) The Case of Active and Inactive Quality Circles, The Journal of Social Psychology, 136:1, 57-67, DOI: 10.1080/00224545.1996.9923029 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00224545.1996.9923029
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The Journal of Social Psychology, 1996, /36( I), 57-67
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The Case of Active and Inactive Quality Circles THOMAS LI-PING TANG Department of Management and Marketing Middle Tennessee State University PEGGY SMITH TOLLISON Textron Aerostructures, Nashville HAROLD DEAN WHITESIDE Department of Psychology Middle Tennessee State University
ABSTRACT. Active and inactive quality circles (QCs; small groups of employees that solve organizational problems) were studied during the first 3 months (Times 1.2. and 3) and the last 3 months (Times 4. 5. and 6) of their existence. The results indicated that both active and inactive QCs tended to have more members during the first 3 months than during the last 3 months. Membership in inactive QCs decreased significantly from Time 5 to Time 6. in contrast to membership in active QCs. which did not change during this period. and active QCs tended to have more members than inactive QCs did at Time 6. Thus. a significant decrease in QC membership may forecast disbandment.
JAPANESE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES have been of interest to U.S. employers for several decades (Ouchi, 1981). Quality circles (QCs). in particular, were considered in the 1980s to be one of the most promising approaches for improving U.S. workers' productivity. A QC is a group of employees who usually meet for an hour or so each week to discuss organizational problems, explore causes, recommend solutions, and take corrective action, if they have the authority to do so (Adam, 1991; Barrick & Alexander. 1987; Ferris & Wagner. 1985; Griffin, 1988; Marks, Mirvis, Hackett, & Grady, 1986; Rafaeli, 1985; Steel & We thank Melissa McCann and Janet Chamblee for their assistance. Address requests for the archival data for the 53 QCs and other correspondence to Thomas Li-Ping Tang, Box 516, Department of Management and Marketing, College of Business, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN 37132. Telephone: (615) 898·2005. FAX: (615) 898-5308. Electronic mail may be sent via the Internet to [email protected] 57
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Lloyd, 1988; Tang & Butler, 1992; Tang, Tollison, & Whiteside, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993). Over 90% of the Fortune 500 companies were estimated to have had QC programs in the mid-1980s (Lawler & Mohrman, 1985), and over two hundred thousand U.S. workers have had QC experience (Lawler, 1986). Moreover, according to a survey of Fortune 1,000 companies, the number of QC programs even showed a small increase from 1987 to 1990 (Lawler, 1992; Lawler, Mohrman, & Ledford, 1992). Despite this popularity, however, QC activity in Japanese chemical industries has declined significantly over a period of years (Cole & Tachiki, 1983), and QC programs in the United States have failed in more than 60% (Castorina & Wood, 1988; Marks, 1986) to 75% (Crosby, 1987) of the organizations that have implemented them. Little research has been devoted to the problems that are involved in maintaining QCs over time (Goodman, 1983). Researchers have found that QCs have a lower rate of problem-solving failure, a higher rate of attendance at meetings, and a higher net savings of projects than inactive QCs do (Tang et al., 1993), but the subject of QC membership has not been explored. Ferris and Wagner (1985, p. 158) emphasized the necessity for research on "the effects of group size on QC performance." QCs have a definite life cycle (Lawler & Mohrman, 1985) which is dependent upon membership (Lawler, 1992). In the present study, our main purpose was to explore the differences regarding QC membership, for active and inactive QCs, during the first 3 months and the last 3 months of their existence. We examined a 3-year period of archival data from a QC program, with the expectation that an analysis of QC membership over time might provide information that would be of theoretical and practical importance.
Small Groups and Quality Circles Group development follows five distinct phases: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning (Tuckman & Jensen, 1977). Our focus in the present study was group membership during two of these phases, the forming phase (potential members decide whether they want to belong to the group and whether the group will meet their needs) and the adjourning phase (the group disbands). Like larger organizations, QCs are born, grow older, and eventually die (Daft, 1992). Although researchers (Hambrick & D' Aveni, 1992) have noted significant differences between "bankrupt" and "survivor" firms, "the important aspects of group composition have been somewhat underexplored" (Haleblian & Finkelstein, 1993, p. 845). Empirical research concerning the team size (membership) of active and inactive QCs is practically nonexistent.
Reasons for forming QCs. The primary reason for becoming involved in a QC is its "potential for improving the work place" (Dean, 1985, p. 326). QCs are
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"sources of both informational and emotional social support" (Marks et al., 1986, p. 68). The decision to join a QC is significantly related to the desire to be more involved in the organization and to the belief that QCs have an instrumental role in solving problems (Dean). Lawler and Mohrman (1985) and Sims and Dean (1985) considered the logical extension of QCs to be self-managing work teams. In self-managing teams, "all work group members are also team members" (Sims & Dean, 1985, p. 28). A recent managerial trend encourages more employee participation. The amount of time one spends on the target activity during the free-choice period (e.g., Deci, 1971; Lepper, Greene, & Nisbett, 1973; Tang, 1986, 1990; Tang & Baumeister, 1984; Tang, Liu, & Vermillion, 1987; Tang & SarsfieldBaldwin, 1991) and one's willingness to participate in future experiments (cf. Amabile, Dejong, & Lepper, 1976; Staw, Calder, Hess, & Sandelands, 1980) have been taken as measures of intrinsic motivation. It stands to reason that people who are interested in QCs, whether for intrinsic or extrinsic reasons, are more likely to become QC members than those who are not. QC membership is voluntary in most U.S. organizations and can be considered an indicator of the intrinsic motivation within an organization (Tang, Tollison, & Whiteside, 1987).
Reasons QCs disband. The reason cited most frequently by people who do not join QCs is the perception that QCs do not accomplish much (Dean, 1985). A related factor is "the success or failure of previous programs" (Dean, p. 325), "If a QC never has a suggestion adopted, the members will become discouraged, and even disband" (Wayne, Griffin, & Bateman, 1986, p. 84). A high rate of failure to solve problems may cause QC members to expect ineffective results (Dean) or an active QC to become inactive (Tang et al., 1993). In one study (Wayne et al., 1986), a QC was considered to be relatively successful if at least two of the solutions generated by it were accepted and implemented by upper level management. The results of another study (Brockner & Hess, 1986) indicated that successful QCs were not significantly larger than unsuccessful QCs. It must be noted, however, that the researchers in this study examined only nine QCs for a 12-month period. "Low volunteer rate" is a factor that is destructive for QCs (Lawler & Mohrman, 1985). Team size may affect the "information-processing capabilities of top management teams" (Haleblian & Finkelstein, 1993, p. 845). QC membership, effectiveness, and longevity may have a reciprocal influence on each other; QCs may die because members drop out, or members may drop out because a QC is dying. In the present study, we explored changes related to membership, using archival data from a QC program, although we were unable to explore a potential causal relationship between QC membership and the likelihood of QC survival. A QC's primary mission is to solve quality-related problems in a work area. QCs that "run out of problems" (Lawler & Mohrman, 1985) are no longer useful
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in their present form and may evolve into other forms, such as advisory groups, business teams, and semiautonomous work groups (Lawler & Mohrman). Some researchers have suggested that QCs of this type should disband. Changes of commitment and turnover. In a study on organizational commitment and turnover, Porter, Crampon, and Smith (1976) examined leavers' and stayers' commitment, using the "last back" technique of analysis. Measures of leavers' commitment at 1.5 months, 3.5 months, and 5.5 months before their departure were compared with measures of commitment for a matched stayer group, at the same intervals. Porter et al. found that the commitment of leavers whose departure would occur within 1.5 months was significantly weaker than that of the stayers, but that the commitment of leavers whose departure was at least 6 months away was indistinguishable from that of the stayers. Mowday, Porter, and Steers (1982) found that stayers' commitment was fairly consistent throughout their first 15 months on the job, whereas leavers' commitment was not only lower to start with but also declined as the leavers came closer to quitting their jobs. 'The closer an eventual leaver comes to the point of termination, the more his or her attitudes separate from the comparable stayer" (p. 40). It seems that if researchers are going to detect any significant changes between stayers' and leavers' commitment, they must assess employees' commitment approximately I month before their departure from the organization. We believed that the pattern of membership in active and inactive QCs would be similar to the pattern for commitment, just discussed. In the present study, we labeled QC membership for the first 3 months of operation as Times I, 2, and 3 and QC membership for the last 3 months of operation as Times 4, 5, and 6. For both active and inactive QCs, the data for Time I reflect QC membership at the beginning of the group's operation (the first month). For active QCs, the data for Time 6 represent QC membership at the end of the 3-year period, and for inactive QCs, the data for Time 6 represent the number of members in the group before it became inactive (the last month). The data for Time 4 represent the number of QC members 3 months before the QC's disbandment, and the data for Time 5 represent the number of QC members 2 months before the QC's disbandment. The shortest tenure among all the QCs during the 3-year period was 6 months. The main reason we limited our analyses to these six time periods was related to the fact that the shortest QC tenure in the present data set was only 6 months. Because the sample size was small (53) and the distribution of active and inactive groups was unequal (36 vs. 17, respectively), the use of a longer time period might have resulted in a further decrease in sample size, which would have rendered our findings more tenuous. We reasoned that active QCs would have more members at Time I than inactive QCs would because members in active QCs are probably more committed initially than members of inactive QCs are. Although both groups may experience a decline in membership, active QCs, at least the larger ones, will be able
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to withstand such a loss, but inactive QCs will not. For inactive QCs, this development may represent a final and irreversible decline. Although initially QC members may have been reluctant to share their reservations about the group's usefulness and may have been unwilling to leave, the departure of one or two influential members leads to the almost immediate dissolution of the group. Membership for active QCs should thus be stable at Times 4, 5, and 6, in contrast to membership for inactive QCs, which should be stable at Times 4 and 5 and should experience a significant decline in membership at Time 6 before disbandment. We also expected that active QCs would have more members than inactive QCs would at Time 6 and that membership for active and inactive QCs would not differ significantly from each other at Times 4 and 5. Our hypotheses were as follows: I. For inactive QCs, but not for active QCs, there will be a significant decline in QC membership from Time 5 to Time 6. 2. There will be no significant difference between membership for active QCs and membership for inactive QCs during Time 5, but active QCs will have more members than inactive QCs will during Time 6.
Method Participants
The participants were 316 employees-6.8% of the total work force of a middle Tennessee structures fabrication and assembly plant-who had been involved in 53 QCs over a 3-year period. The average age of the participants was 36.8 years. The participants' level of education ranged from grade school through graduate school, with an average of 13.12 years of school. The participants' average tenure with the company was 6 years. QC size ranged from 3 to 26 members, with an average of 8.5 members per group during the 3-year period. In the present study we investigated archival data from these 53 QCs. These data were obtained from QC facilitators' cumulative project status reports, which were updated monthly. Employees' subjective perceptions and attributions of QCs' failure have been presented in other research (Butler & Tang, 1992; Tang & Butler, 1992). Active Versus Inactive QCs
Seventeen of the 53 QCs died, and 36 survived during the 3-year period. The former were designated inactive QCs; and the latter, active QCs. The criteria for labeling a group inactive were as follows. First, the QC facilitator asked all the QC members how willing they were to continue the operation. As long as at least 1 member wanted to continue to solving QC-related problems, the QC was con-
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sidered active. This was the kind of QC the facilitator would try to revive. Second, the facilitator interviewed the area managers to assess the depth of their interest in and their support for the QC in question. If none of the QC members wanted to have a QC and the managers were not interested in the group and did not support it, the QC was pronounced inactive. None of the QCs that were declared inactive became active again during the 3-year period. The QC was disbanded and declared inactive when there were no more members. QC Membership
QC membership reflected the number of members in a QC across the life of the QC, during a 3-year period. Twenty-eight QCs were formed in the l st year of this 3-year period, and 4 of these became inactive before the end of the Ist year. Eighteen QCs were formed during the 2nd year, and 7 during the 3rd year. Only 7 of the 53 QCs survived for the 36-month period. None of the 7 QCs that were formed during the 3rd year had become inactive by the end of the year. QC membership was recorded for the first 3 months of each QC's existence. The QCs did not begin their activities at the same time. Thus, the time period (month, year) for QC membership (Time I) was different for most QCs. For example, one QC was established in January of the Ist year; QC membership data for January (Time I), February (Time 2), and March (Time 3) of the first year were used in the analysis for this QC. QC membership for the last 3 months of each QC was also recorded. For active QCs, data from October (Time 4), November (Time 5), and December (Time 6) of the 3rd year were collected. QCs were terminated and became inactive at different times. For example, one QC was established in January of the 1st year and became inactive in October of the 2nd year; QC membership data for August (Time 4), September (Time 5), and October (Time 6) of the 2nd year were used in the analysis. QC size varied from 4 to 26 members during Time I and from 3 to 20 members during Time 6. QC tenure, expressed in manufacturing days, was defined as the length of time the QC had existed in the 3-year period. For inactive QCs, QC tenure was the total life span of the QC. Tenure for active and inactive QCs did not differ significantly. Results
We examined QC membership, using a mixed-design multivariate analysis of variance (MANOYA), with one between-subjects variable (active vs. inactive) and two within-subject variables (the first 3 months vs. the last 3 months; 1st vs. 2nd vs. 3rd month). For active QCs, the means and standard deviations of group membership for the six time periods were as follows: Time I: M = 12.11, SD = 4.49; Time 2: M = 12.33; SD =4.33; Time 3: M = 12.08, SD =4.36; Time 4: M
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= 8.97, SD =3.46; Time 5: M =8.69, SD =4.27; and Time 6: M = 8.69, SD = 4.45. For inactive QCs, the means and standard deviations of group membership for the six time periods were as follows: Time I: M = 9.53, SD = 2.90; Time 2: M =9.35, SD =3.28; Time 3: M =9.06, SD =3.44; Time 4: M =7.00, SD =3.54; Time 5: M =6.82, SD =3.81; and Time 6: M =6.00, SD =3.59, respectively. The results of the mixed-design MANOVA indicated that active QCs tended to have more members than inactive QCs did (Ms = 10.15 and 7.96, respectively), F(1, 51) =6.42, p =.014. QCs tended to have more members during the first 3 months of their existence than during the last 3 months (Ms = 11.26 and 8.09, respectively), F(1, 51) = 36.79, p < .001. There were no significant differences related to membership among the 3 months, F(2, 102) =2.33, p =.102. The interaction effects were not significant. We had predicted that for inactive QCs, but not for active QCs, membership would decline significantly from Time 5 to Time 6. We had also predicted that there would be no significant difference between membership for active and inactive QCs during Time 5, but that active QCs would have more members than inactive QCs would during Time 6. The results of the simple main-effects tests we performed to test these hypotheses suggested that there was a significant change in QC membership between Times 5 and 6 for inactive QCs, but not for active QCs, F(I, 16) =9.99, p =.006; and F(I, 35) = .00, p = 1.00, respectively. Furthermore, active QCs tended to have more members at Time 6 than inactive QCs did, F(1, 51) 4.76, p = .034. The differences at Times 4 and 5 were not significant, however. Thus, the results of the present study supported both hypotheses. Further, active QCs tended to have more members than inactive QCs did at Times 1,2, and 3, F(I, 51) =4.67, P =.035; F(I, 51) =6.31, p =.015; and F(1, 51) 6.30, p .015, respectively. We also examined Pearson product-moment correlations, for active and inactive QCs. For active QCs, the QC tenure was negatively correlated with the average QC membership for the whole 3-year period (r =-.28, p < .05), whereas for inactive QCs, the same correlation was not significant (r =-.07, ns).
=
=
=
Discussion
The present results indicate that, during a 3-year period, the active QCs had more members than the inactive QCs did. In addition, for both active and inactive QCs, membership was larger during the first 3 months of the groups' existence than during the last 3 months. There were no significant differences between active and inactive QCs during Times 4 and 5. During Time 6, inactive QCs experienced a significant drop in membership before total dissolution. The fact that the larger QCs seemed to have a better chance of survival than the smaller QCs did may be attributable to a number of explanations. First, employees attend QC meetings and solve QC-related problems for different intrinsic and extrinsic reasons. Members in active QCs have the option of satis-
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fying their needs through the improved working conditions and greater opportunities for expression and self-development that result from QC activity (Marks et aI., 1986), but members of inactive QCs do not. Second, members of active QCs may be more interested in and committed to problem-solving activities than members of inactive QCs are and, thus, form a larger group at Time I than inactive QC members do. We did not assess commitment and satisfaction in the present study. A third possibility is that as group size increases, members' efforts tend to decrease (Steiner, 1972). A low level of membership, also, can lead to decreased motivation and ineffective problem solving. It seems likely that when group membership drops below a certain level, QC members may conclude that there is no interest in solving QC-related problems or that the problems in question cannot be solved by a QC. The few remaining QC members cannot solve these problems effectively and, finally, admit defeat. We were not able to determine, using the present archival data, whether the QCs died because their members left or whether the members left because their QCs were dying. There was a significant, negative correlation between tenure and size for active QCs but not for inactive QCs. This correlation may be evidence that members who did not participate in or contribute to active QCs left the group. Because the significant drop in membership occurred only 1 month before the QCs' failure, we had difficulty monitoring and predicting the results. This context was reminiscent of the employees' significant change of commitment in the 1976 study of Porter et al. The difference between active and inactive QC membership at Time 6 was quite small (8.69 vs. 6.00), as was the change in membership for inactive QCs between Times 5 and 6 (6.82 and 6.00, respectively). The sudden decline in QC membership may have represented the final and irreversible stage of the QC's demise. Perhaps many QC members, having decided that the QC was not useful, wanted to quit but were unwilling to be the first to leave. When other members left the QC, these members followed suit, and the QC dissolved almost immediately. This last finding has important implications for managers. Because it is too late to save the QC by the time the decline in membership is noticed, practitioners should be advised to look for other indications of waning commitment so that action can be taken while saving the QC is still possible. A more detailed analysis of the events that occur during the final month is needed. Additional data that were not available in the present study, such as weekly data on group membership, member satisfaction, commitment, and QC involvement, should be used in future analyses. The results of the present study indicate that a significant drop in membership is a precursor of QC failure. Managers in personnel or human resources must support QCs and increase their effectiveness and efficiency to prevent these groups from disbanding (Tang, Tollison, & Whiteside, 1987, 1989, 1993).
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The QC data that were examined in the present study, which were measurable, quantifiable, and objective, can be retrieved from archival sources. Given the small sample size and the unequal division between active and inactive QCs, our analysis may be tenuous. Also, because QC membership, problem-solving success, and the survival of QCs are interrelated, these variables may have reciprocal effects on each other. In any case, for managers interested in saving QCs, the seven factors identified in a recent study (Tang & Butler, in press) of employee attributions for QCs' failure to solve problems-lack of support from top management, lack of commitment from QC members, lack of problem-solving skills, QC member turnover, the nature of the task, lack of support from staff members, and lack of data and time-may be a good place to start. REFERENCES Adam, E. E. (1991). Quality circle performance. Journal ofManagement. /7.25-39. Amabile, T. M., Dejong, W., & Lepper, M. R. (1976). Effects of externally imposed deadlines on subsequent intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34(1),92-98. Barrick, M. R., & Alexander, R A. (1987). A review of quality circle efficacy and the existence of positive-findings bias. Personal Psychology, 40. 579-592. Brockner, J., & Hess, T. (1986). Self-esteem and task performance in quality circles. Academy ofManagement Journal, 29(3), 617-623. Butler, E. A., & Tang, T. L. P. (1992, March). Attributions of quality circles' problemsolving failure: A pilot study. Paper presented at the 38th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, Knoxville, TN. Castorina, P., & Wood, B. (1988). Circles in the Fortune 500: Why circles fail. Journal of Quality and Participation, //(2), 4Q-41. Cole, R. E., & Tachiki, D. S. (1983). Japanese quality circles: Preliminary comparisons. The Quality Circles Journal, 6, 11-16. Crosby, B. (1987). Why employee involvement often fails and what it takes to succeed. Developing Human Resources, /6, 179-185. Daft, R. L. (1992). Organization theory and design. St. Paul, MN: West Publishing. Dean, J. W. (1985). The decision to participate in quality circles. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 2/(3),317-327. Deci, E. L. (1971). Effects of externally mediated rewards on intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, /8, 105-115. Ferris, G. R, & Wagner, J. A. (1985). Quality circles in the United States: A conceptual re-evaluation. Journal ofApplied Behavioral Science, 2/(2), 155-167. Goodman, P. S. (1983). Sustaining quality circles: Inherent problems, some strategies. The Quality Circles Journal. 6. 6-8. Griffin, R. W. (1988). Consequences of quality circles in an industrial setting: A longitudinal assessment. Academy ofManagement Journal, 3/(2), 338-358. Haleblian, J., & Finkelstein, S. (1993). Top management team size, CEO dominance, and firm performance: The moderating roles of environmental turbulence and discretion. Academy ofManagement Journal, 36. 844-863. Hambrick, D. C., & D' Aveni, R A. (1992). Top team deterioration as part of the downward spiral of large corporate bankruptcies. Management Science. 38. 1445-1466. Lawler, E. E. (1986). High-involvement management. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
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Received March 24, 1995
