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As we have moved into the twenty first Century, we see the world as a global market for all the companies. The post liberalization economic scenario1 has brought new challenges of corporate restructuring for the Indian companies. With a view to bring quality culture and thereby to enhance productivity in the organizations, Quality Circle movement in India is fast catching up. This activity has been successfully implemented in Japan; in fact, the phenomenal growth of the Japanese industry, and its high quality and high reliability products are largely due to quality circle's ability to impart high morale and team spirit in an organisation, culminating in the improved productivity.1 This paper discusses how the Quality Circle movement in Grasim Industries has brought significant improvements in terms of quality, cost & productivity.

The unprecedented rapidity with which quality circle principles and techniques have caught on in U.S. and European industry belies the fact that a dearth of evaluation research exists documenting quality circle program outcomes. A review of the available studies constituting this literature revealed that this research has frequently been susceptible to a common set of methodological deficiencies. However, even the results of well-designed quality circle evaluation studies may be misleading if relevant organizational circumstances are not given due consideration when a change agent selects quality circles from his or her repertoire of organizational development (OD) interventions. The effectiveness of quality circles, and for that matter organizational intervention procedures in general, depends upon the compatibility of the intervention and attributes of the organization's situation, the demand placed upon tangible and intangible resources, and the type of response desired from participants.

Since Independence, the education, particularly the higher education in India has undergone a uniquetransformation from elitist to egalitarian group. There has been the expansion of higher educationfacilities in India since independence. We can see the expansion of higher education with increasingspeed day by day in the context of globalization, liberalization and privatization. But a big question infront of us is whether the quality is ensured or not. It is saddening to note that 128 universities who gotthemselves accredited by the NAAC only 32 per cent could get 'A' or above level of rating whileanother 52 per cent of them could manage with 'B' or above grade. The remaining 16 per cent fall ingrade 'C' or above. NAAC assessment further indicates that 68% of colleges are rated as 'B' whileanother 23% colleges is rated as 'C' grade; and only the remaining 9% are 'A' grade. Thus the qualityassurance in higher education is the need of the hour.

This study was designed to test the developmental effects of quality circles (QCs) on participants' job performance and promotions. A quasiexperimental design was used to compare 118 circle members with 118 noncircle employees. In the year following the circle intervention, circle members received significantly greater performance ratings and were promoted morefrequently than non-members. The developmentalproperties of the QC process believed responsible for these findings are discussed. Other possible explanations for the results are also proposed: visibility, positive evaluation bias, and anticipatory socialization.

PurposeGiven the widespread lack of proper mechanism for disaster management, this paper aims to develop a disaster mitigation framework using quality circle (QC) – a bottom‐up approach.Design/methodology/approachThe paper considers QC and discussing the utility of the concept with respect to disaster management. Discusses the process of systematically building a disaster mitigation framework.FindingsBy having the proposed framework, the disasters that occur can be tackled speedily. Owing to the direct involvement of public (key stakeholders), the proposed framework strengthens the knowledge and awareness on disaster management, which in turn helps towards disaster preparedness and disaster mitigation effectively.Practical implicationsThe current efforts at disaster mitigation are not successful. The proposed framework provides proactive collaboration among all players including central, state governments and local people to examine risks and vulnerability to all hazards and to implement measures to reduce the damage to a minimum. The application of a framework will help to make plans more functional and relevant and will ensure successful disaster mitigation.Originality/valueAs no systematic frameworks exist in disaster management and planning, this paper offers to provide a comprehensive framework, which involves all the stakeholders. The value of the paper is largely in the area of bringing new possibilities to the attention of the government, public and research and practitioner communities dealing with disaster management.

Despite the optimism which surrounded the advent
of quality circles a decade ago, recent research
suggests that there are few programmes still
functioning. The data on which this article is based
were collected in five organisations in central
Scotland in the period 1983‐86, when quality circles
were in operation or were being introduced. Since
then, all but one of the programmes has ceased.
The research indicates that the barriers
encountered by quality circles are of two kinds:
some general to any form of organisational change;
others specific to quality circles. In addition, quality
circles cannot easily be assimilated into existing
organisational power structures but require changes
to systems of reward, communication and decision
making. Specifically the role played by middle
managers is examined. They may see quality
circles as a threat to their managerial prerogative
and are in a position to impair the circles by denying
them the resources (such as time, information,
people and finance) they need to operate. Without
the co‐operation of middle managers, the circles
cannot select appropriate projects, collect data or
implement solutions, and may find it impossible
to continue.