ITEC70 – PRINCIPLES OF SYSTEMS

THINKING
 CAUSE AND EFFECT DIAGRAM
An established tool for visualizing the root causes of business problems.
Cause and Effect Diagram

A Cause and Effect diagram (also known as a Fishbone or Ishikawa

diagram) graphically illustrates the results of the analysis and is
constructed in steps.
 Cause and Effect Analysis is usually carried out by a group who all have
experience and knowledge of the cause to be analyzed.

 Cause-and-Effect diagrams graphically display potential causes of a problem.

 The layout shows Cause-and-Effect relationships between the potential causes.

Why use CAUSE AND EFFECT DIAGRAM?

• It is common for people working on improvement efforts to

jump to conclusions without studying the causes, target one
possible cause while ignoring others, and take actions aimed at
surface symptoms
Why use CAUSE AND EFFECT DIAGRAM? (cont.)

Cause-and-effect diagrams are designed to:

 Stimulating thinking during a brainstorm of potential causes

 Providing a structure to understand the relationships between many possible

causes of a problem

 Giving people a framework for planning what data to collect

 Serving as a visual display of causes that have been studied

 Helping team members communicate within the team and with the rest of the
organization
When to use CAUSE AND EFFECT DIAGRAM?

• When Identifying possible causes for a problem

• When a team’s thinking tends to fall into ruts.
Cause and Effect Analysis

Cause and Effect Analysis is a valuable tool for:

 Focusing on causes not symptoms capturing the collective knowledge and
experience of a group

 Providing a picture of why an effect is happening

 Establishing a sound basis for further data gathering and action

Cause and Effect Analysis can also be used all of the areas that
need to be tackled to generate a positive effect.
What are the Benefits of Cause and Effect Diagram?

1. Highly Visual
2. Systematic
3. Organized
4. Provide method
Fishbone Diagram procedure

A. Identify the Problem/Issue

• Select a particular problem, issue or effect.

• Make sure the problem is specific, tightly defined and relatively small in scope
and that everyone participating understands exactly what is being analyzed.
Fishbone Diagram procedure (continuation)

B. Brainstorm

• Conduct a Brainstorm of all the possible causes of the effect, i.e., problem.
Fishbone Diagram procedure (continuation)

C. Draw fishbone Diagram

• Place the effect at the head of the “fish”

• Include the 6 recommended categories shown below

Sources of Variation

1. PEOPLE
o The activities of the workers.

o Variations caused by skill, knowledge, competency and attitude

Sources of Variation (continuation)

2. METHOD
o The methods used to produce the products.

o Variations caused by inappropriate methods or processes.

Sources of Variation (continuation)

3. MACHINE
o The equipment used to produce the products.

o Variations caused by temperature, tool wear and vibration

Sources of Variation (continuation)

4. MATERIAL
o The "ingredients" of a process.

o Variations caused by materials that differ by industry, product and stage of

production.
Sources of Variation (continuation)

5. ENVIRONMENT
o The methods used to control the environment.

o Variations caused by temperature changes, humidity etc.

Sources of Variation (continuation)

6. MEASUREMENT SYSTEM
• The methods and instruments used to evaluate products.

• Variations caused by measuring techniques, or calibration and maintenance of the

instruments.
Fishbone Diagram procedure (continuation)

D. Align Outputs with Cause Categories

• Review your brainstorm outputs and align with the recommended major cause
categories, e.g., the People, Method, Machine, Material, Environment and
Measurement System.

Note: These may not fit every situation and different major categories might well
be appropriate in some instances, however, the total should not exceed six. Other
categories may include Communications, Policies, Customer/Supplier Issues etc.
Fishbone Diagram procedure (continuation)

E. Allocate Causes
• Transfer the potential causes from the brainstorm to the diagram, placing each
cause under the appropriate category.
Fishbone Diagram procedure (continuation)

F. Analyze for root cause

• Consider which will be the most likely root causes of the effect.

• Root cause is the casual or contributing factors that, if corrected, would prevent
recurrence of the identified problem.
Fishbone Diagram procedure (continuation)

G. Test for reality

• Test the most likely causes by, e.g., data gathering and observation if this has not
already been done.

• Cause and Effect Analysis can be combined with Process Mapping.

• A fishbone may be developed for each discrete activity within the process that is
generating the output / effect so that causes are linked to particular steps in the
process.
Fishbone Diagram Example: