K Mohamed Khadir

Ans: Cause and effect diagram is called a fishbone diagram and also known as Ishikawa diagram, which will help to identify the possible causes of a problem and in sorting ideas into categories. A fishbone diagram is a visual way to look at cause and effect. It is a more structured approach than some other tools available for brainstorming causes of a problem (e.g. the Five Whys tool). Whoever using the fishbone diagram has to follow the below steps, · It should have started with a defined problem statement (also referred to as the effect), which should be written in head of the fish. Should be clear and specific about the problem. · Need to identify the major categories of causes of the problem, should be written as branches from the main arrow. Eg: Equipment, environment, Manpower, Material etc · Brainstorm all the possible causes of the problem with team. Ask members to write it in a white paper to share as much as causes and ideas for the problem statement. · Need to categorize the possible causes into major categories to arrive at the vital causes of the problem · This will help to identify and address root causes to prevent the future problems. Common ways by which Fishbone Diagram is misused are, · Asking more “whys” to identify the possible causes from team will leads to, getting incorrect causes of problem due to frustration or by panic of receiving more “whys” from the supervisor or facilitator. · Brainstorming will give the relevant and irrelevant potential causes of the problem, which will drain the energy · Often the efforts are wasted in identifying causes as a fishbone diagram is based on opinion of the team rather than evidences. This concept involves independent way of choosing the cause, which may not be an effective way of identifying the causes · Same possible causes can map in multiple major categories like material, man etc and which will change the focus of an improvement area