The relationship diagram it is a favorable tool that allows the analysis of the links of causes and effects of a certain problematic situation that occurs in a complex way.
Generally its structure is organized by means of a series of elements that include ideas, opinions and perceptions among others, through causal connections that they contain among themselves.
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This tool is used as a complement of affinity diagram, when it has already been organized and the elements and ideas of a central theme are consolidated. Through its elaboration, it can be easily see any relationship between the participating factors, with an unstructured approach.
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In this article you will find:
Objective of the Relationship Diagram
The main objective of the relationship diagram is to achieve identify complex causes that exist in a given condition, which means that it is a method that can present a large number of possible causes and effects around a defined problem.
The objective of its application is to obtain a complex analysis of its relationships from its possible causes. Other outstanding objectives presented by this tool are:
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- Fully show the factors that are related to the topic.
- Provide a complete picture on the topic.
- Clarify the causal relationships that are intertwined and present in the problem or complex situation.
- Identify the links that are or are not related to cause and effect.
- Highlight the key factors.
What is the Relationship Diagram for?
It is a technique that serves to help improve the quality of different processes and to achieve plans that reduce customer complaints, which means that you can to be used for the analysis of problems when the supposed causes are multiple and have a relationship between Yes.
This type of diagram is used to:
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- Strengthen thoughts that are multidirectional rather than linear.
- Concentrate all the content of the problem and seek to avoid the evolution or personal interests of each of the participants.
- Delimit and graphically express logical relationships that contain sequences between the central ideas and those that are linked to them.
- Solve problems where it is necessary to reason various contents that affect a single objective.
How is the Relationship Diagram classified?
This type of diagram can be differentiated according to the center from where it begins to develop or depending on the relationship of the cause or effect that it contains. It is classified into three types that are:
Central Convergent
When the diagram is made from the center, which is much more useful in case the problem or the subject under study contains a large number of causes.
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Directional Intensive
When its development is carried out from a certain direction and the central theme contains fewer causes.
Relationship Indicator
When it has a relationship between the elements that do not have specific causes and effects connections or in the event that there is no defined central content.
Advantages of using the Relationship Diagram
Among the most important advantages are:
- Unlike other techniques, this tool can provide the facility to represent complex connection structures, which is of great benefit to the challenge of quality control.
- It is a tool that complements others of higher quality and has the property of improving the continuity of the affinity diagram, to consolidate the information and deepen the exploration of the causes.
- It allows an excellent visual representation of cause and effect related to a target element of analysis.
- It manages to analyze the relationship between elements, perceptions, opinions, ideas or themes.
Limitations of the Relationship Diagram
Within the development of this type of diagram there are some difficulties such as the following:
- The evaluation of causal relationships is individual.
- The execution of the relationship diagram does not involve any type of information, related to the actions to be carried out.
- The interpretation sometimes lacks clarity.
How is a Relationship Diagram made?
The relationship diagram can be executed from a positive point of view, the objective or the problem and from there the possible actions will be generated in order to create an effective Outcome.
To be able to carry out a diagram like this, you need a good work team who has the ability to reason and know the problem well and in general can analyze effectively the situation.
In order to construct a relationship diagram, the following steps should be followed:
Describe the problem
The first thing to do is write the situation in detail on a card about what you want to explore. This will be confirmed by placing yourself in the center of a work surface.
Identify the possible causes of the problem
The work team must state the possible causes that, according to their interpretation, may affect the problem. These causes will be written on cards and then the workplace has to be posted.
Group similar causes
When the ideas have already materialized and the cards have been placed on the work surface, the team will proceed to group those that contain similarities to each other. This will make it easier for you to develop the procedure for the next phase.
Sort the cause cards according to the cause-effect relationship
To continue, the team places the cause cards that are most directly similar to the problem posed, the closest to the central card, therefore, these will be the causes primary.
Continue the order of the cards
After placing the cards of the first level, the causes of the second and third level should be successively located.
Establish the relationship of the cards
Once all the cards and the cause-effect relationships they have between them have been placed, they will be marked with arrows correspondingly.
Diagram analysis
To analyze the diagram, it must be taken into account that the cards that contain the greatest number of arrows are surely the Main causes, therefore, are those that have more interest as well as the cards that receive more cause arrows - effect.
It can be said that it is totally essential to take into account the input and output of arrows for all the cards that correspond to the analysis of a certain problem.
