Affinity Diagramming: Steps

To create an affinity diagram, you sort your ideas from your literature search list, moving ideas from the brainstorm into affinity sets, and creating groups of related ideas.

As you sort ideas:

1. Rapidly group ideas that seem to belong together.

2. It isn't important to define why they belong together.

3. Clarify any ideas in question.

4. Copy an idea into in more than one affinity set if appropriate.

5. Look for small sets. Should they belong in a larger group?

6. Do large sets need to be broken down more precisely?

7. When most of the ideas have been sorted, you can start to enter titles for each affinity set.

Cause & Effect Diagram

The cause & effect diagram is the brainchild of Kaoru Ishikawa, who pioneered quality management processes in the Kawasaki shipyards, and in the process became one of the founding fathers of modern management.

The cause and effect diagram is used to explore all the potential or real causes (or inputs) that result in a single effect (or output). Causes are arranged according to their level of importance or detail, resulting in a depiction of relationships and hierarchy of events. This can help you search for root causes, identify areas where there may be problems, and compare the relative importance of different causes.

Causes in a cause & effect diagram are frequently arranged into four major categories, these categories can be anything. The categories you use should suit your needs. We often create the branches of the cause and effect tree from the titles of the affinity sets in a preceding affinity diagram.

The C&E diagram is also known as the fishbone diagram because it was drawn to resemble the skeleton of a fish, with the main causal categories drawn as "bones" attached to the spine of the fish, as shown below.

Cause & effect diagrams can also be drawn as tree diagrams, resembling a tree turned on its side. From a single outcome or trunk, branches extend that represent major categories of inputs or causes that create that single outcome. These large branches then lead to smaller and smaller branches of causes all the way down to twigs at the ends.

The tree structure has an advantage over the fishbone-style diagram. As a fishbone diagram becomes more and more complex, it becomes difficult to find and compare items that are the same distance from the effect because they are dispersed over the diagram. With the tree structure, all items on the same causal level are aligned vertically.

To successfully build a cause and effect diagram:

1. Be sure everyone agrees on the effect or problem statement before beginning.

2. Be succinct.

3. For each node, think what could be its causes. Add them to the tree.

4. Pursue each line of causality back to its root cause.

5. Consider grafting relatively empty branches onto others.

6. Consider splitting up overcrowded branches.

7. Consider which root causes are most likely to merit further investigation.

Force Field Analysis

Force Field Analysis is a simple but powerful technique for building an understanding of the forces that will drive and resist a proposed change. It consists of a two column form, with driving forces listed in the first column, and restraining forces in the second.

The force field diagram is derived from the work of social psychologist Kurt Lewin. According to Lewin’s theories, human behavior is caused by forces - beliefs, expectations, cultural norms, and the like - within the "life space" of an individual or society. These forces can be positive, urging us toward a behavior, or negative, propelling us away from a behavior. A force field diagram portrays these driving forces and restraining forces that affect a central question or problem.

A force field diagram can be used to compare any kind of opposites, actions and consequences, different points of view, and so on.

In the context of process improvement, driving forces could be seen as pushing for change while restraining forces stand in the way of change. A force field diagram is used to analyze these opposing forces and set the stage for making change possible.

Change will not occur when either the driving forces and restraining forces are equal, or the restraining forces are stronger than the driving forces. For change to be possible, the driving forces must overcome the restraining forces. Usually, the most effective way to do this it to diminish or remove restraining forces. It can be tempting to try strengthening the driving forces instead, but this tends to intensify the opposition at the same time.

The balance sheet structure of the force field diagram makes it applicable to situations other than comparing driving and restraining forces as well. For example, you could use it to list possible actions and reactions, compare ideal situations and reality, or in negotiation, weigh what you want from someone with what they would have to face if they agreed.