When members of one circle made unauthorized modification to a press and caused extended downtime, supervisors lobbied their managers, questioning the impact of quality circles on safety and productivity. In response, the circles were discontinues. This story told Steve that supervisors and middle managers could band together when necessary, and that they were unlikely to be open about their real concerns. Instead they would find a pretext to discredit a program they opposed. He also noted that the blocking coalition had not been overruled by senior management.