Cause and Effect Diagram – A Simple but Effective Problem-Solving Tool

“A problem well stated is a problem half-solved.” This is a very powerful quote popularized by a well-known inventor, engineer, and former General Motors director of research, Charles Kettering. This statement became the guiding principle I employed in introducing problem-solving activities to organizations. For quality management practitioner, problem-solving is a way of life. In dealing with such an activity, the application of quality tools and techniques is significant.

The quality control tools introduced by well-known quality management experts like Deming, Juran, Feigenbaum, Taguchi, Crosby, and Ishikawa have been readily available. The goal of using these tools is for the organizations to be able to uncover their problems and take countermeasures for continuous improvement. In this changing world of business where organizations grow exponentially, senior leaders exert more efforts to make each business activity efficient.  

One way of achieving efficiency and excellence in operation is the use of one simple and popular analysis tool – the Cause and Effect Diagram. Also called Ishikawa Diagram or Fishbone Diagram, Cause and Effect Diagram is an effective way to organize and display the various theories of potential causes of a problem (Juran and De Feo, 2010).

Cause and Effect Diagram was discovered by Professor Kaoru Ishikawa, a quality guru in the 1960s. The tool was published in his 1990 book “Introduction to Quality Control.” It was also called Fishbone diagram because the completed diagram looks like a skeleton of a fish (Cause and Effect Analysis, n.d.).

For several years now, I have been using this simple, yet powerful tool in all forms of problem-solving activities.  Employing this tool is one way of defining a problem clearly. The organization’s continuous quality improvement team spends more time in the investigation and identification of the root cause of the customer complaints.

In our organization’s complaint management system, the quality manager runs a complaint prioritizing report using the Pareto Chart or 80-20 rule. Once the vital few complaints have been segregated from trivial many, a brainstorming session starts. Brainstorming in our organization is a meeting of representatives from different departments to generate ideas around an identified major issue.

The quality manager facilitates the meeting and reviews the rules of the meeting which include avoiding criticism, avoiding evaluation, and avoiding discussion of ideas (Tague, 2004). A five-minute ice breaker is introduced prior to a brainstorming process because I believe that active participation and enthusiasm are keys to successful brainstorming. The brainstorming is a free-wheeling kind of meeting where all participants are encouraged to contribute to the cause of the problem. There is no wrong answer here. All answers are accepted and recorded. The facilitator (the quality manager) controls both the time and participation of the attendees. After the conclusion of the meeting, the quality manager summarizes the results and classifies them using the process affecters.

I used  4 M’s when I was in the manufacturing sector (man, machine, material, method)  and employed 4 P’s when I transitioned my career to service industry (people, procedure, plant technology, partner). Anyone can use any of the process affecters. This paper presents the cause and effect diagram utilized in a service / healthcare industry (Exhibit 1).

Exhibit 1 – Cause and Effect Diagram – Late Delivery

This cause and effect diagram clearly defines the root cause of the problem and relating such a statement to Kettering’s quote, the problem in late delivery was well stated and well defined. Identifying the root causes has led the team to a countermeasure that will correct the loopholes in the Procedures of the entire quality system.

This article has revealed that while there are a number of quality improvement tools available in the quality world, the use of simple but effective technique like cause and effect diagram has proven great performance results. There was a significant reduction in the customer complaints. 

I have personally witnessed the success stories on the use of cause and effect diagram from my last three employers with three different industries – printing, paper cores manufacturing and medical device. Furthermore, the aforementioned companies did not only enjoy the benefits from the customer experiences but also provided motivation to the most important resource of an organization – the employees.