Membership in Quality Circles and Participation in Decision Making

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Abstract
This study is an examination of the relationship between membership in quality circles and desired and perceived actual levels of employee participation on work-related and economic/strategic issues. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted on questionnaire responses from 224 nonsupervisory employees from three manufacturing plants. The results indicated that reliable differences in levels of desired and perceived actual participation were found due to quality circle (QC) membership and company. When differences between companies on employee demographic profiles, need for dominance, task characteristics formalization, and management attitudes about participation were controlled for; only one univariate difference due to company remained. Similar MANOVA analyses for outcome variables (absenteeism, turnover, work satisfaction, and organizational commitment) indicated a multivariate difference due to company and to the interaction between company and QC membership. Univariate analyses indicated the differences were apparent with turnover, work satisfaction, and organizational commitment. The covariate analyses eliminated some but not all of the significant differences.

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