Meaning of fishbone diagram | Babel Free

Definitions

An Ishikawa diagram.

Examples

“The cause-and-effect diagram, or fishbone diagram, is helpful in determining the root causes and effects within a school or district's processes and systems. It can be used to identify⟳ the components in the process⟳ that are responsible for an existing problem.”

“Root Cause diagrams provide⟳ insight into reasons and solutions for process⟳ problems. Kaoru Ishikawa introduced another method of evaluating root causes in the 1960s, often nicknamed the “Fishbone diagram” because of its appearance.”

“It is not possible to mention⟳ the topic of cause and effect without dealing with fishbone diagrams (also known as cause-and-effect diagrams, or Ishikawa diagrams). This is a visual aid to some forms of thinking created and made popular by a renowned management guru by the name⟳ of Ishikawa (who is also attributed to the original thinking that eventually produced the ‘five Ms and an E’ concept). […] The effect, or desired result⟳, is placed as statement at one end⟳ of a line, representing the main backbone, then categories of activities, conditions or occurrences that are likely to contribute⟳ to it are drawn as main bones radiating from the backbone. More detailed items are then drawn from the main bones, and so on.”

“Tommy decided to use⟳ a fishbone diagram that he had learned about at school. The tool is called a fishbone diagram because it looks like⟳ the skeleton of a fish⟳. The purpose of a fishbone diagram, his teacher said, is to get⟳ to the main causes of something. This can be something either good or bad. A fishbone diagram can help⟳ to figure⟳ out why a process⟳ works well, like⟳ a class play⟳. It could also help⟳ to explain⟳ outcomes like⟳ grades. It is a way to look⟳ at a process⟳.”

CEFR level