Root Cause Analysis: Importance and Application of Fishbone Technique

This article discusses the importance of root cause analysis and how the fishbone technique can be applied to identify the main and secondary causes of problems in an organization. The fishbone diagram is a graphical representation of the activities, ideas, and conclusions of an organization's view. The article explains the working principle of the fishbone structure and its role in the identification of problems and their root causes. It also highlights the advantages of using the fishbone technique for problem-solving and decision-making.

Running head: ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS
ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS
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1ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS
Introduction
In compilation of various projects and planning the associations of the risks are obvious.
In case of nay activity like financial activity, management activity or managing of the project,
the associated risks must not be neglected. The identification of the risks lies in the analysis of
the situations and conditions of the project. The possibility of the risks lies on the complexity of
the project. In order to mitigate then risks associated with the project or activity certain steps can
be taken into account like adaptation of the technologies, development of the cost effective
projects. The evaluation of the risk is done on the analysis of the situation (Loredana, 2017). The
identification of the risks and the reason for the occurrence of the issues in the organization can
be done through the root cause analysis. The root cause analysis can be done through the
application of the various techniques. One of the way for the implementation of the root cause
analysis is fishbone technique.
Discussion
The fishbone diagram is also known as Ishikawa diagram which is a graphical
representation of the activities, ideas and conclusion of the organization’s view. The formulation
of the graphical representation helps to identify the main cause of the problems (Chemweno et
al.,2016). It can be used in any kind of activities. The main application of this diagram happens
in case of the designing of the products and mitigates the degradation of the quality of the
products (Gertler et al.,2016). The problems or the cause of the analysis can be categorized into
different parts such as-People, methods, machines, materials, measurements and environments.
The selected journal aims to show the importance of the fishbone method for the identification of
the main and the secondary causes or problems in the organization.

2ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS
The graphical representation of the fishbone diagram relates the related causes and their
targets. In the diagram the “head of the fish” is the problem needed to be solves and the possible
causes are regarded as “fish bones”. There are certain branches in the fishbone diagram that
produces different significances (Loredana, 2017). The primary branch reflects the effects while
the major branch represents the major causes of the problems. The more detailed factors are
represented by the minor branches. The development of the fishbone diagram starts with the
identification of the problem and writing the description of the problem in right side (Buechler et
al.,2015). The horizontal line points out to the problem which can be referred as the backbone of
the problem. After the identification of the causes the categorization of the problems are done in
a proper way, this followed by the brainstorming activity for the solution of the problems.
The detailed discussion is done so that working process of the fishbone technology can be
done in a proper way. There are certain advantages of using fishbone technology in the problem
solving and the root cause analysis of the organizational problems. The main advantage of using
this technique is that the representation of this structure is graphical and it does not require any
statistical and complex implementation for analysis of the cause (Hand & Seibert, 2016). The
graphical representation is easy and understandable for the people (Coccia,2018). The fishbone
diagram helps to find out the fundamental cause in the organization. Apart from that this
representation encourages all the members of the team to participate in the brainstorming
process. Some of the general issues can be resolves using this analysis such as finding the cause
of the decreasing profit, loss of resources and loss of contracts. It is important to consider the
situations where an organization can use the fish bone diagram for the root cause analysis
(Ishikawa et al.,2018). Some of the situations are when the organization is concerned only about
the issues in the business and not with the symptoms, the situation where it is important to find

3ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS
the link between various factors of the problems, better understanding of the workflow of the
process and graphical representation of the causes those are responsible for the creation of the
problems.
The identification of the causes of problems and issues using fishbone diagram starts with
putting the main cause or the problem at the head of the fish. The arrow or the backbone in this
case points to the main cause of that particular problem. The deficiencies and the analysis of the
deficiencies are done related to the identified problem(Loredana, 2017). The identified major and
minor causes are inserted into the tail of the fish. The brainstorming is done on the basis of the
on the identification of the main cause along with the underlying minor causes for the identified
problems (Aurisicchio, Bracewel & Hooey, 2016). The main advantage of the brainstorming
process is that it allows all the members of the team to join in the discussion process, apart from
that the concentration on the major area of problems is done easily. The possible causes can be
identified along with their hierarchy of the importance.
The paper has completed the discussion in a logical manner that reflects the working
principal of the fishbone diagram and its significance in the problem solving techniques. In this
context it has identified some f the advantages of the fishbone diagram (Brook et al.,2015). The
root cause analysis is an important part for the management of the risk. Initially the paper does
not make any direct reference to the term root cause analysis. However, this discussion is related
to the root cause analysis for the solving of the problem. There are certain techniques those can
be helpful for the root cause analysis, one of the technique is representation of the problems and
their related causes through the graphical representation of the fishbone diagram. The main idea
behind the representation of the fishbone diagram is root cause analysis (Kum & Sahin, 2015).
This is the reason that in the staring of the paper the absence of the mention of root cause

4ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS
analysis raises the confusion (Peerally et al.,2017). The main idea behind this technique is not
related to the management of the risk. However, one of the main objectives of root cause analysis
is to mitigate the possible risks in the project or any activity in the organization (Loredana,
2017). It can be said from the discussion that the main objective of the root cause analysis is
identification of the problems and analysis of the major and minor causes of those problems. The
brainstorming sessions are done to resolve the cause through the proper implementation of the
different plans and programs.
The root cause analysis can be helpful for the identification of the problem in an easy
way. However, numerical methods can be applied for the analysis and the mitigation techniques
for the mitigation of the problems. The application of the numerical methods can be complicated;
moreover the other members of the team may not be understood the numerical methods and the
statistical analysis for solving the problem (De Bruycker et al.,2016). The simple graphical
representation in this case may be helpful for understanding the problems and their target causes.
The clear understanding and the identification of the causes for the problems will help in the
brain storming sessions. Apart from that the clear understanding o the problems and the root
cause will help the team members to analysis the situation more critically and represent their
thoughts for solving the problem in more effective manner.
According to the other members in the discussion group it can be said that according to
them the application of the fishbone structure for root cause analysis regarding the general issues
will definitely be helpful due to its simple and effective nature. The problem solving and the
effective decision making along with the group work can be achieved through the application of
the fishbone representation for the problem solving methods. However, some of the team
members also admits that the discussion is regarding the root cause analysis and the application

5ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS
of the root cause analysis is fishbone representation of the problems and the regarding causes.
This approach and the root case analysis can mitigate then risks associated with the projects and
activities.
Conclusion
The discussion is regarding the application and the basic work flow of the fishbone
structure for the root cause analysis in the project or the activities. The discussion is general but
effective and explains the significance and the advantages of implementation of the root cause
analysis. The model of the fishbone structure is well explained along with mentioning the of the
components in the structure and their functions. The effectiveness of the fishbone structure and
the brainstorming process is explained in a proper manner. In the later part of this discussion the
critical review of the selected paper has been mentioned. It can be said that the selected paper is
effective and informative enough to understand the significance of the fishbone structure.

6ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS
References
Aurisicchio, M., Bracewell, R., & Hooey, B. L. (2016). Rationale mapping and functional
modelling enhanced root cause analysis. Safety science, 85, 241-257.
Brook, O. R., Kruskal, J. B., Eisenberg, R. L., & Larson, D. B. (2015). Root cause analysis:
learning from adverse safety events. Radiographics, 35(6), 1655-1667.
Buechler, S., Ning, J., Bharadwaj, N., Kulkarni, K., DeValve, C., Head, T., & Mols, A. (2015,
September). Root cause analysis of drilling lost returns in injectite reservoirs. In SPE
annual technical conference and exhibition. Society of Petroleum Engineers.
Chemweno, P., Morag, I., Sheikhalishahi, M., Pintelon, L., Muchiri, P., & Wakiru, J. (2016).
Development of a novel methodology for root cause analysis and selection of
maintenance strategy for a thermal power plant: A data exploration
approach. Engineering Failure Analysis, 66, 19-34.
Coccia, M. (2018). The Fishbone diagram to identify, systematize and analyze the sources of
general purpose Technologies.
De Bruycker, E., De Vroey, S., Hallet, X., Stubbe, J., & Nardone, S. (2016, July). Root Cause
Analysis of the Unexpected Behaviour of a Flaked Material Under Irradiation and
Transferability to the Doel 3/Tihange 2 Reactor Pressure Vessels. In ASME 2016
Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference (pp. V01AT01A064-V01AT01A064).
American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

7ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS
Gertler, S. A., Coralic, Z., López, A., Stein, J. C., & Sarkar, U. (2016). Root cause analysis of
ambulatory adverse drug events that present to the emergency department. Journal of
patient safety, 12(3), 119-124.
Hand, M. W., & Seibert, S. A. (2016). Linking root cause analysis to practice using problem-
based learning. Nurse educator, 41(5), 225-227.
Ishikawa, N., Kim, S., Kano, M., & Hasebe, S. (2018). Root cause analysis of estimation error of
a soft-sensor. In Computer Aided Chemical Engineering (Vol. 44, pp. 2257-2262).
Elsevier.
Kum, S., & Sahin, B. (2015). A root cause analysis for Arctic Marine accidents from 1993 to
2011. Safety science, 74, 206-220.
Loredana, E. M. (2017). The Analysis Of Causes And Effects Of A Phenomenon By Means Of
The Fishbone Diagram. Annals-Economy Series, 5, 97-103.
Peerally, M. F., Carr, S., Waring, J., & Dixon-Woods, M. (2017). The problem with root cause
analysis. BMJ Qual Saf, 26(5), 417-422.

8ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS
Appendix
Reflection :
The choosing of the root cause analysis as the topic of discussion happens as the problem
solving intention of this topic has drawn my attention. The article I got from the Google scholar.
The selection of the article has been done by me as it shows the application or the tool for the
root cause analysis. The team members also find the topic as an interesting one. Their
understanding and the inputs in the discussion are important for me as those along with my own
understand have helped me to reach into the conclusion about this matter and I have critically
analyzed the content of this journal. I have identified the significance of the root cause analysis
and its connection with the mitigation of the risks associated with the projects and the events in
the organization. I have clearly understood the working principal of the fishbone structure and its
role in the identification of the problems and its root. The discussion in this topic among the team
members has helped me to think about the different perspective of the root cause analysis and its
advantage. I have learnt the advantage of application of the fishbone structure for problem
solving over solving the problems using numerical methods.