The 80/20 rule, often used in quality improvement, is commonly exemplified by which tool?

The 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle, states that roughly 80% of effects come from 20% of the causes. This concept is vital in quality improvement as it helps identify the most significant factors in a process that lead to the majority of problems or defects.

A Pareto Diagram is specifically designed to visually highlight these vital few causes. It categorizes and displays the most common problems in a dataset, allowing practitioners to focus their improvement efforts on the issues that will yield the highest impact. By utilizing a Pareto Diagram, teams can clearly see which issues require immediate attention, guiding resources towards addressing these significant contributors.

In contrast, control charts monitor process stability over time, scatter plots show the relationship between two variables, and process mapping illustrates the steps in a process. While these tools are useful in understanding and improving quality, they do not explicitly embody the 80/20 principle in the same straightforward manner as the Pareto Diagram does.