This document provides an overview of cause and effect analysis and cause and effect diagrams. It explains that cause and effect analysis is a technique used to identify all possible causes associated with a problem or effect. A cause and effect diagram visually illustrates the results of this analysis and shows the relationships between potential causes. The document outlines how to construct a cause and effect diagram, including defining the problem, drawing the fishbone structure, and analyzing the diagram to identify the root cause.

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Cause and
Effect Diagram

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What is Cause and Effect Analysis?
Cause and Effect Analysis is a technique for identifying all the possible
causes (input condition) associated with a particular problem / effect (output
condition).

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Cause and Effect Analysis is a valuable tool for:
• Focusing on causes not symptoms
• Providing a picture of why an effect is happening
• Establishing a basis for further data gathering and action
• Cause and Effect Analysis can also be used to identify all of the areas that need to
be tackled to generate a positive effect.
Why use Cause and Effect Analysis

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What is a 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 diagrams graphically display potential causes of a problem
• The layout shows Cause-and-Effect relationships between the potential
causes.

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Why use a 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
• Cause-and-effect diagrams are designed to:
• 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

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How do I do it?
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 analysed.
• Write the problem definition at the top.

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How do I do it? (continued)
Draw fishbone diagram
• Place the effect at the head of the “fish”
• Include the 6 recommended categories shown below
Problem
or Issue
Method Machine
Environment Measurement System
People
Material

8. For Example
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Finding Cause for Blurry photo:

9. • The resulting diagram illustrates the main causes and sub-causes leading to an effect.
• Analyse the diagram and identify the root cause of the effect that is been noted.
• Solve the problem by examining the root cause.
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How do I do it? (continued)

10. Reference
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http://www.airccse.org/journal/mvsc/papers/3212ijmvsc02.pdf
http://www.academicjournals.org/journal/AJBM/article-full-text-pdf/AA1143816550
http://asq.org/learn-about-quality/cause-analysis-tools/overview/fishbone.html