Ishikawa diagram

WOTD - 17 February 2009    

English

Wikipedia

An Ishikawa diagram

Etymology

Named after Kaoru Ishikawa, who first developed such diagrams as a management tool.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˌɪ.ʃɪˈkɑ.wɑ ˈdaɪ.ə.ɡɹæm/
• (US) IPA: /ˌɪ.ʃiˈkɑ.wɑ ˈdaɪ.ə.ɡɹæm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

Ishikawa diagram (plural Ishikawa diagrams)

1. A diagram used in quality management to display a detailed list of causes and effects of a problem and thus to decipher the root cause of a problem.
   • 2000, Donald E. Lighter, Douglas C. Fair, Principles and Methods of Quality Management in Health Care, ‎page 59

     The procedure for constructing an Ishikawa diagram relies on brainstorming for stimulating the QI team to think of reasons for the problem.

   • 2001, Judy Hankins, Infusion Therapy in Clinical Practice, page 42

     The Ishikawa diagram is used extensively in what is termed root cause analysis, meaning the development of hypotheses of why an event occurred.

Synonyms

• fishbone diagram

Translations

display of causes and effects

Czech: diagram rybí kosti (cs) m. Finnish: kalanruotokaavio (fi)

Russian: диаграмма причинно-следственных связей (ru) f.

References

• Summers, donna C.S. (2005) Quality management-creating and sustaining Organizational Effectiveness. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Person/prentice hall.