fish bone diagram sample

1. The Cause & Effect diagram
(Fishbone Diagram)
 Background
The Cause & Effect, or Fishbone Diagram, was first used by Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa of the
University of Tokyo in 1943 - hence its frequent reference as an "Ishikawa Diagram". This tool
is most effective when used in a team or group setting. This diagram is used to identify all of the
contributing root causes likely to be causing a problem.
 This methodology can be used on any type of problem, and can be tailored by the user to
fit the circumstances. Use of this tool has several benefits to process improvement teams:
 Straightforward and easy to learn visual tool.
 Involves the workforce in problem resolution - preparation of the fishbone diagram
provides an education to the whole team.
 Organizes discussion to stay focused on the current issues.
 Promotes "System Thinking" through visual linkages.
 Prioritizes further analysis and corrective actions.
 First step is to decide how to categorize the causes. There are two basic methods:
 By function,
 By process sequence.
 The most frequent approach is to categorize by function.
In manufacturing settings the categories are often: Machine, Method, Materials, Measurement,
People, and Environment. In service settings, Machine and Method are often replaced by Policies
(high level decision rules), and Procedures (specific tasks).
In this case, we will use the manufacturing functions as a starting point, less Measurement
because there was no variability experienced from measurements (it’s easy to see if the ball goes
through the basket).

2.  The topics we are working on are “The problem of FBS (Faculty of Business Studies)”
We used fishbone diagram to find out the problems of FBS. So, 1st we divide it in two
parts.
 Cause of the problem. (Here we discuss the different types of problems of FBS.)
 Effect of the cause. (Because of that problems what will be the initial result.)
 Here in the causing portion we divide the main bone into 5 parts.
 Place
 People
 Method
 Materials
 Others
Now, we focus on the fishbone diagram. Here we present it in details.

3.  SOLUTION
To analyze all the possible cause of the problem, we constructed a cause-and-effect diagram.
The main problem, the problem FBS of JU is the head of the diagram. We brainstormed all the
possible causes and we found several major categories that are beyond managerial control.
Several suspected causes identified for each major categories.
 DECISION POINT
We, with our excellent analytical ability of the process, suspected that most of the poor
educational quality was caused by problem with “Study & progress”.