Define the diffusion model, quality circles as an example of the diffusion model, and alternatives proposed to the diffusion model.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Knowledge, which leads to a change in attitudes, which in turn leads to practice. Further, students should explain what quality circles are and how they spread. The quality circle is a group of 3 to 10 employees who meet on the job to discuss and solve quality problems, originally developed in Japan. As U.S. companies began using quality circles, they did not have the same success as they did in Japan. Quality circles did not fit in well with the dominant U.S. value of individualism. Regarding alternatives, answers will vary. The participatory model emerged in response to criticism of the diffusion model, including its heavy identification with mass media channels, but more particularly its basic assumption that information flows from the knowledgeable to the less knowledgeable. The participatory model stresses the dialogue as catalyst for individual and community empowerment. The participatory model stresses that people should have control over decisions that affect them. Rogers himself moved away from the diffusion model to what he called the convergence model. His model has been modified to treat communication as a process of convergence among members of interpersonal networks. In the convergence model, communication is defined as a process in which information is shared by two or more individuals who converge over time toward a greater degree of mutual agreement. The convergence model focuses on the relationship between those who share information, whereas the diffusion model focuses on what one individual does to another. Thus, the level of analysis shifts from the individual to the dyad or, on the macro level, to groups and cultures.