Fishbone Analysis: Cause and Effect Analysis

For management learners globally

Fishbone Analysis

A fishbone analysis is also know as a cause and effect analysis. The concept was thought up by Kaoru Ishikawa. The analysis suggests that inorder to solve a problem an organization is going through, the firm should try to find out the causes. Only when the causes are discovered and understood can you prevent the problem from occurring again.

The best way to view the cause and effect was to draw it out like a fish skeleton with the problem at the head of the fish and the bones, the causes. Causes of problems could be anything from:

Manpower
Machinery
Materials the firm uses
Methods of making the product

Or it could be down to one or some of the elements of the p’s in business ( see below). If you look at this diagram the problem for the company is declining sales, the causes of declining sales when traced back can be from inefficient processes, to lack of training for staff. To address the problem of declining sales the causes need to be addressed.

The benefit of a fishbone analysis is it enables the problem to be traced back to the root causes, with the aim of trying to find long term solutions. A cause and effect analysis is usually completed in teams, where the fishbone is drawn out and team member brainstorm possibilities of the problem.

fishbone analysis