Author: z617322

Cause and Effect Diagram

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT TOOLKIT

Purpose
Once a problem has been identified, a cause and effect diagram (often referred to as a ‘fishbone’ diagram because of it’s shape) can be used to help identify all the possible causes of that problem. This will allow teams to develop change ideas which target the causes of a problem, increasing the likelihood of developing a change idea which tackles or reduces that problem.

How to use the tool
Brainstorm Ideas: For best results, this exercise should be done in collaboration as a team, where everyone involved in delivering a service can contribute their ideas on what factors could potentially be contributing to a problem. This diagram can either be completed on a computer using the blank template provided, or on paper using post-it notes.
Developing a Problem Statement: Once you know what the problem you’re hoping to solve is, develop a concise ‘problem statement’, articulating what the problem is. This statement should be concise and neutral, and should not pre-judge the cause of this problem—for example, having ‘lack of face-to-face engagement with service users because of lack of office space’ as a problem statement would pre-judge the reason for this problem being lack of office space, whereas there may be other factors that are causing or contributing towards this problem.
Major Cause Areas: Select up to 6 major cause areas, which are broad ‘categories’ that could be contributing towards a problem. These usually include high level factors such as people/personnel, policies, processes, equipment, environment, methods, technology, cost, etc.
Possible Root Causes: Once you’ve identified the major cause areas, these should be broken down even further to identify which more detailed factors are contributing towards the problem. For example, if ‘people/personnel’ is a major cause area that could be contributing to a problem, consider which specific factors relating to people/personnel could be contributing to the problem. This could include factors such as lack of staff capacity, lack of staff training, unconscious bias etc. These are the possible root causes of the problem, and the team should consider and discuss which of the root causes are most likely to be contributing towards the problem, and therefore which should be prioritised.
Change Ideas: Once you have used this diagram to list all of the possible root causes of a problem, consider which change ideas can be tested as a possible solution to deliver an improvement. For example, if lack of staff training is a possible root cause that you’ve identified as a priority, consider which change ideas you could test and implement to improve on this situation, for example by funding training programmes or arranging work shadowing.

2. Select up to 6 major cause areas, which are broad ‘categories’ that could be contributing towards a problem. These usually include high level factors such as people/personnel, policies, processes, equipment, environment, methods, technology, cost, etc.

1. Develop a concise ‘problem statement’, articulating what the problem is. This statement should be concise and neutral, and should not pre-judge the cause(s) of this problem

3. Major cause areas should be broken down even further to identify which more detailed factors are contributing towards the problem. For example, if ‘people/personnel’ is a major cause area that could be contributing to a problem, consider which specific factors relating to people/personnel could be contributing to the problem

4. Once you have used this diagram to list all of the possible root causes of a problem, consider which change ideas can be tested as a possible solution to deliver an improvement. Prioritise the change ideas you feel is most likely to solve a problem.

General Example
The example below shows how a cause and effect diagram has been used identify all the likely causes of someone being late to work.

The main cause areas are very broad, allowing the individual completing this diagram to consider a broad range of potential root causes.

Under each main cause area, a series of possible root causes have been identified and logged. Once all of the possible root causes have been identified, the person completing this diagram can then consider which ones they think are having the biggest impact on the problem, and therefore which should be targeted for improvement, by developing and testing a change idea. In this example, they may feel that the time they set their alarm is having the biggest on whether or not they’re late for work, so they may test setting their alarm earlier than usual as a change idea, to see if this is able to solve the problem.

This clearly defines what the problem is, without pre-judging what may be causing it.

Blank Template
This blank template can be used to complete your own cause and effect diagrams. Feel free to input information on this document or print this off to complete it on paper. Click on a box to input text.

Blank Template
This blank template can be used to complete your own cause and effect diagrams. Feel free to input information on this document or print this off to complete it on paper. Click on a box to input text.