SE Interrelationship digraph Having identified and prioritised the most significant causes or restraining forces, where should improvement efforts be focussed! It is tempting to seek solutions to causes or forces with the highest rating, but if these ratings have been undertaken subjectively there are risks. Typically, people rate mast highly the causes or restraining forces that they feel are the most significant, but these may not represent underlying causes. An interrelationship digraph is apowerful tool to examine the interaction among related causes in order to identify one or more underlying causes. * Six to eight of the most significant causes or restraining forces are identified and are drawn in acircle, like the numbers on a clock face. + The cause and effect relationship between each pair of causes is considered in turn and the question is asked: “Is there a relationship between these two causes!” + [€the answer is yes, a line is drawn berween the two items and a second question is asked: “Which causes the other, the most!” + Anvarrowhead is drawn from the cause pointing into the item that isan effect. + After each pair has been considered, the number of arrowheads in and our of each item is counted and noted on the chart. The items with the most outward arrows are the stronger Causes: the root causes. Those with more inward pointing arrows are the effects of other causes. To achieve the most sustainable improvement to the system, strategies can then be developed to address these root causes. ——— eee