I have often heard people say,” How hard can it be to have a party?” Selecting a venue, making a guest list, planning food, working out the party themes, decorations, preparing goodie bags are just a few things that come to mind. Often, planning a party looks like an easy job. Let us take a look at the following two situations for understanding the need to have ‘pictures’ to solve a problem. Obviously, demarcating solutions from problems is not an easy task. The Ishikawa is drawn like a fishbone and helps a person to ‘see’ the causes and effects in a particular relationship. It is a very helpful tool as it gives a pictorial representation of what is the cause of a problem or a phenomenon, what factors have a high/low impact to those problems/phenomena and how can the situation be resolved. Definition of Ishikawa Diagram (Fishbone Diagram)Īn Ishikawa diagram basically helps in understanding the ‘cause and effect’ relationship for solving a problem. The seven famous quality tools proposed by him were: control chart, run chart, histogram, scatter diagram, Pareto chart, Ishikawa diagram, and flowchart. Managing and maintaining quality of products and services is Quality Management. In order to understand the importance or rationale of the Ishikawa Diagram (Fishbone Diagram), it is a good idea to investigate what Quality Management is. The concept of an Ishikawa Diagram (fishbone diagram) was pioneered by Kaoru Ishikawa, who contributed to the concept of Quality Management in Japan. The teacher went on to explain the meaning and definition of the Ishikawa Diagram(fishbone diagram). “That is interesting and quite true, but in the context of this Math class, let me help you understand that the Ishikawa I am mentioning here are diagrams that help us study ‘cause and effect’ relationships and are a useful tools for solving problems.” The pupil was red in the face and thought that he was dumb to give that answer and figured that the teacher was not teaching them geography!

Lean Six Sigma Online Certification & TrainingĪ Math teacher once asked his pupils, “What do you think is Ishikawa?” “It is a place in Japan,” was the prompt answer of a ninth-grader.Six Sigma Virtual Instructor-led Training.

Ishikawa diagram cause and effect