The
fishbone diagram was designed by Japanese quality control expert Kaoru Ishikawa. His purpose was
to provide a means of identifying underlying causes of problems so that solutions were not
misapplied to secondary causes; if underlying causes are missed, larger problems develop. The
fishbone diagram is meant to detect root causes of problems through group thinking by asking why
each potential cause happens. The fishbone diagram is traditionally worked from right to left
with "bones" for each cause branching from the center bone. The complexity of the
fishbone lies in the smaller branching bones supporting each potential cause and answering
"why"
(whatis.techtarget.com).
Advantages
Major
advantages to the fishbone diagram accord with the purpose and method of the fishbone.
- It identifies cause and effect relationships in problems.
- The method operates through the function of joint brainstorming
discussions. - Brainstorming allows for broad-ranging thinking, steering
teams away from "in a rut" thinking patterns. - These diagrams ask
"why does this happen" again and again at each stage as each potential cause is
identified. - Fishbone allows for prioritizing relevant causes so the
predominating, underlying root cause is addressed first.
Disadvantages
Some major disadvantages relate to
the greatest strengths of the fishbone diagram.
- Brainstorming
produces irrelevant potential causes along with relevant ones, resulting in a time and energy
drain. - Brainstorming is as often based on opinion as on fact and evidence
( - A very large space for working out the diagram is needed for complex problems with
many branching bones and "why"-bones. - The complex
interrelationships of multiple factors are difficult to show on a fishbone
(worldbank.org).
Here is an illustration of a detailed fishbone
diagram.
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