1. Seven Management and Planning Tools 1
Seven Management and Planning Tools
The Seven Management and Planning Tools have their roots in Operations Research work done after World War
II and the Japanese Total Quality Control (TQC) research. In 1979 the book Seven New Quality Tools for Managers
and Staff was published and in 1983 was translated into English.
The seven tools include:
1. Affinity Diagram (KJ Method)
2. Interrelationship Diagraph (ID)
3. Tree Diagram
4. Prioritization Matrix
5. Matrix Diagram
6. Process Decision Program Chart (PDPC)
7. Activity Network Diagram
The seven tools
Affinity Diagram
This tool takes large amounts of disorganized data and information and enables one to
organize it into groupings based on natural relationships. It was created in the 1960s by
Japanese anthropologist Jiro Kawakita. Its also known as KJ diagram,after Jiro
Kawakita. Affinity diagram is a special kind of brainstorming tool.
Interrelationship Diagraph
This tool displays all the interrelated cause-and-effect relationships and factors
involved in a complex problem and describes desired outcomes. The process of
creating an interrelationship diagraph helps a group analyze the natural links between
different aspects of a complex situation.
2. Seven Management and Planning Tools 2
Tree Diagram
This tool is used to break down broad categories into finer and finer levels of detail. It
can map levels of details of tasks that are required to accomplish a goal or task. It can
be used to break down broad general subjects into finer and finer levels of detail.
Developing the tree diagram helps one move their thinking from generalities to
specifics.
Prioritization Matrix
This tool is used to prioritize items and describe them in terms of weighted criteria. It
uses a combination of tree and matrix diagramming techniques to do a pair-wise
evaluation of items and to narrow down options to the most desired or most effective.
Matrix Diagram
This tool shows the relationship between items. At each intersection a relationship is
either absent or present. It then gives information about the relationship, such as its
strength, the roles played by various individuals or measurements. Six differently
shaped matrices are possible: L, T, Y, X, C, R and roof-shaped, depending on how
many groups must be compared.
Process Decision Program Chart (PDPC)
A useful way of planning is to break down tasks into a hierarchy, using a Tree
Diagram. The PDPC extends the tree diagram a couple of levels to identify risks and
countermeasures for the bottom level tasks. Different shaped boxes are used to
highlight risks and identify possible countermeasures (often shown as 'clouds' to
indicate their uncertain nature). The PDPC is similar to the Failure Modes and Effects
Analysis (FMEA) in that both identify risks, consequences of failure, and contingency
actions; the FMEA also rates relative risk levels for each potential failure point.
3. Seven Management and Planning Tools 3
Activity Network Diagram
This tool is used to plan the appropriate sequence or schedule for a set of tasks and
related subtasks. It is used when subtasks must occur in parallel. The diagram enables
one to determine the critical path (longest sequence of tasks). (See also PERT
diagram.)
Further reading
• Brassard, M. (1996) The Memory Jogger Plus+. ISBN 1-879364-83-2.
• Seven New Management and Planning Tools [1]
External links
• American Society for Quality [2] - official Web site
• The 'New' Tools [3] from Vanderbilt University
• A Periodic Table of Visualization Methods for Management [4]
• Visualization Methods Exploration [5]
References
[1] http:/ / www. asq. org/ learn-about-quality/ new-management-planning-tools/ overview/ overview. html
[2] http:/ / www. asq. org/ index. html
[3] http:/ / www. vanderbilt. edu/ Engineering/ CIS/ Sloan/ web/ es130/ quality/ newtool. htm
[4] http:/ / www. visual-literacy. org/ periodic_table/ periodic_table. html
[5] http:/ / www. cems. uwe. ac. uk/ xmldb/ rest/ db/ Visualization/ index. xql
4. Article Sources and Contributors 4
Article Sources and Contributors
Seven Management and Planning Tools Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=404870845 Contributors: Bloo, Booksworm, Closedmouth, Craigwb, CultureDrone,
DanielPenfield, FCYTravis, Goalqpc, Jdtoellner, Ketiltrout, Lars.pijnappel, Ling.Nut, Manquer, Mdd, Oguzhan.cerrah, Stephenb, Wtarpley, 13 anonymous edits
Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors
Image:AffinitySmall.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:AffinitySmall.gif License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Original uploader was Jdtoellner at
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Image:InterrelationshipSmall.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:InterrelationshipSmall.gif License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Original uploader
was Jdtoellner at en.wikipedia
Image:TreeDiagramSmall.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:TreeDiagramSmall.gif License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Original uploader was
Jdtoellner at en.wikipedia
Image:MatrixSmall.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:MatrixSmall.gif License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Original uploader was Jdtoellner at
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Image:ProcessDecisionSmall.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:ProcessDecisionSmall.gif License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Original uploader
was Jdtoellner at en.wikipedia
Image:ActivityNetworkSmall.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:ActivityNetworkSmall.gif License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Original uploader
was Jdtoellner at en.wikipedia
License
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