Global Journal of Finance and Management. ISSN 0975-6477 Volume 6, Number 5 (2014), pp. 485-490 © Research India Publications http://www.ripublication.com
Employee Retention Management Through Quality Circle Poonam Likhitkar HR Manager cum Asst. Prof. MBA (HR) Swami Vivekanand College of Science and Technology, Bhopal (M.P), India
Abstract Presence of human workforce is every essential for every organization whether it is a sole proprietor, firm, a company – small sized or large sized. Employees are the real pillars & base of the organization. It is therefore very important to motivate them either monetary or nonmonetary form; for the purpose of retaining the existing competent workforce & encouraging competent manpower from outside to join the group. Employee Retention is one of the key challenges faced by various organizations. In today’s cut throat competition, a steady lift in the velocity of employee attrition is identified as a growing critical issue amongst various service providers. Managers of the organization must be look after the employees expectation from the employer by taking feedback from them from time to time; which helps in boosting their morale & motivation to work with full spirit & energy resulting in high production & mutual growth. Now the question arises? How would an employer get to know the expectations of the employee & / or who is ready to represent himself/herself on behalf of all the staff members & / or who is ready to face the Top Management? The present study therefore aims at examining the various organizations practicing the concept of Quality Circle as a part of their retention strategy & how Quality circle concept beneficial for mutual growth.. Keywords: Employee Retention; Employee Satisfaction; Attrition.
Quality
Circle;
Motivation;
Objective of the Study 1. How employer can retain an employee through the concept of quality Circle? 2. How Quality Circle beneficial for both Employer & Employee? 3. Suggestion to initiate Quality Circle.
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1. Introduction The employees are essential factor which lead to ups & downs of the company. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the Employer to retain their competent existing staff by satisfying their needs through various means such as Right allocation of job, healthy environment, empower, transparency, Fair Salary etc.
2. Literature Review Quality circles were first established in Japan in 1962; Kaoru Ishikawa has been credited with their creation. The movement in Japan was coordinated by The Japanese Union Of Scientist & Engineers .The first company in Japan to introduce quality circles was the Nippon Wireless & telegraph company in 1962. By the end of that year there were 36 companies registered with JUSE by 1978 the movement had grown to an estimated 1 million circles involving some 10 million Japanese workers. Quality circle was first introduced by B.H.EL , Ramachandrapuram Hyderabad in the year in India with the initiation of Mr. S.R Udpa – GM-Operations. Prof. V. Narayanan of Indian Statistical Institute(ISI) of Hyderabad too had knowledge about concept of quality circle. Dr. R.C Agarwal, President, JK Jute mills ltd. initiated workers participation in management in 1977.
3. Definition Retention management is the process of retaining the existing workforce & encouraging others to join the organization. Quality circle is a small group of people (Employees/even Students) who are engaged voluntarily or non-voluntarily in one place of work. This group meets regularly to discuss diverse problem related to their work & the various problems faced by the employees of the Organization & recommend various ways for improvement to the Top Management. As the term involves ‘Circle’ i.e. group of people, we can call it as “Team for Quality”.
4. Philosophy Quality circle concepts tell us about the continuous process of learning & development in the organization through involvement of all levels of staff. QC reduces the hesitation of the employee & creates a sense of belongingness & makes them feel pride to work for the organization.
5. Group Size The size may vary from organization to organization as per the number of employees working in it. It may be 5 to 8 members.
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6. QC Features Mostly voluntarily group of 5 to 8 people who are keen interested to be a part & work for it. Having Circle leader & its members. Meets periodically from time to time & discuss the issue & finding solutions. Representing solution to Top Management for implementation.
7. QC in India There are various organization practicing QC Concept in India are Bharat Electronics Ltd,B.H.E.L, TATA, TELCO, Reliance, Kirloskar brothers ltd, Bajaj Auto, SBI, HMT, Lucas-TVS etc. Quality circles have been implemented even in educational sectors in India, & QCFI (Quality Circle Forum of India).
8. Why QC fails in India? Due to various reasons, it is not succeeded in India; Lack of training /workshops to QC leaders &members, taken not seriously, lack of team spirit etc.
9. Problems can be tackled by QC QC Base Who
Auto-mobile
IT
Education
Pharmaceutical
Elected leader (Employee) & Members
Elected leader ( Employee) & members
Elected leader ( Employee) & members
For Whom
Employee related problem
Why
For quality product, process/ methods/ Human Resource /Environment/ Management/ Administration
For quality – Teaching / learning process/ system/ Human Resource/ Environment/ Management/ Administration
For quality product, process, methods/system, Environment/Ma nagement & Administration
When
Regularly
Employee related problem For quality – product/ process/ system, Human Resource/Env ironment/ Management/ Administratio n Regularly
Elected Leader (Manager/Faculty/ students) & members Staff & students related problem
Regularly
Regularly
Employee related problem
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10. QC Structure
Fig.10.1.(a) QC Structure
11. QC Process /Start QC Concept To start a QC Concept, minimum 5 to 8 people must be involved which has been followed a circle leader. The process: 1) Identify the root of the problem, collects data for analyzing & select alternative solution. 2) Present the solution in front of Top Management & approval for the same. 3) Implementation of the solution 4) Follow up, monitoring & maintaining it.
12. QC Tools It involves Flow diagram, Brainstorming Data collection, Bar charts, Pareto analysis Scatter diagram, Control chart, Process chart. Etc.
13. Benefits to employees Enhances job satisfaction Provide sense of participation & increases confidence level. Build competence & skills to handle various problems & prepares them for better supervisory positions. Enhances team spirit & reduces “I” Attitude (Ego). Helps to improve work environment
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14. Benefits to Organization
Enhances Production/Productivity Enhances motivation of the human resources of the organization. Improvement in - quality of product Enhance goodwill Harmonious relationship between Employer – employee
15. Findings 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
There are various organization practicing QC concept & getting benefit of it. QC concept is also used in education sector for better teaching-learning process. QC concept not only limited to Automobile sector but also helps in Pharmaceutical, Insurance as well as in IT. QC Concept enhances motivation, morale & desire to work. QC reduces the problem of high attrition rate. Thus, QC can be considered as a part of Retention Strategy.
16. Suggestions Initiative to start QC in your Organization. Awareness training programs must be conducted. Appreciate creative & innovative ideas of all levels of employees & implement it. Publicity through advertisement/ seminars especially for Top Management awareness. Specially, the Presence of QC in the Education sector enhances the leadership quality of students involved in it. By making it compulsorily in the School will surely increases the sound human resources of the nation.
17. Conclusion Hence it has been concluded that Quality circle is also way of retaining the workforce & enhances their motivation, morale & desire to work for the organization. It also enhances the goodwill of the organization. QC also increases the satisfaction level of the employee by which employer can gain trust & commitment from the employees.
References [1] www.qcfimc.com [2] www.medvarsity.com
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[3] Text Book Human Resource Management by V S P Rao, second edition, Chap24, p-541-543. [4] Hills (2011) why quality Circle fails but TQM might succeed. [5] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_circle Sept (2009)
