CREATING A FISHBONE DIAGRAM
Cause Enumeration/Dispersion Analysis

Kauro Ishikawa. 1982. Guide to Quality Control: 18-29

Yonatan Reshef
School of Business
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
T6G 2R6 CANADA

Define the problem

Collect information from students - 15 minutes
Use tools such as check sheets or brainstorming.  If check sheets are used, each cause should be totalled across 13/26/39 class meetings.  If brainstorming is used, decide on the technique:

Arrange the causes
Write causes on sticky notes.  Place the causes generated through the former step on a flip chart so that all the students can clearly see them.  Place the sheets on the wall. 

Collect information from professors - 15 minutes
Get more information from a different source, professors.  Now, place the new set of causes on a flip chart so that all the students can clearly see them.  Place the sheets on the wall. 

Decide on the root causes - 10 minutes
Use check sheets, Pareto charts, and brainstorming to identify root causes (e.g. material, machine, measurement, methods, men) and agree on secondary causes

Construct your diagram with the root causes

Review - 5 minutes

Construct the rest of the diagram - 15 minutes  
Attach the secondary causes to their respective root causes

Review - 15 minutes

If time permits
Prioritize root/secondary causes using the Nominal Group Technique, which allows a team to quickly come to a consensus on the relative importance of issues by integrating individual importance rankings into a team final priorities.

STEP 1 - The Team Attaches a Letter to Each Major Cause
A Professor
B Students
C Facility
D Technology

STEP 2 - Each Team Member Prioritizes the Major Causes
A 3
B 4
C 2
D 1

Here, "4" is the most important and "1" is the least important ranking .

STEP 3
Summarize points across all the team member rankings

Prepare an action plan for improvement.