Manager Thought: Solution of a Problem?

Don’t rush to find solutions before knowing what the real problem is.

The first step in the decision-making process is to identify the real problem.

Inadequate, incomplete, incorrect understanding of problems will only lead to improper decisions. Quality decisions can be made only if the real problem is identified and its root cause studies.

Scientific Ways to find out real cause of a problem:

Root cause analysis (RCA) is a method of problem solving that tries to identify the root causes of faults or problems that cause operating events.

RCA practice tries to solve problems by attempting to identify and correct the root causes of events, as opposed to simply addressing their symptoms. By focusing correction on root causes, problem recurrence can be prevented. RCFA (Root Cause Failure Analysis) recognizes that complete prevention of recurrence by one corrective action is not always possible.

RCA is typically used as a reactive method of identifying event(s) causes, revealing problems and solving them. Analysis is done after an event has occurred. Insights in RCA may make it useful as a preemptive method. In that event, RCA can be used to forecast or predict probable events even before they occur. While one follows the other, RCA is a completely separate process to Incident Management.

Ishikawa diagrams (also called fishbone diagrams, herringbone diagrams, cause-and-effect diagrams, or Fishikawa) are causal diagrams created by Kaoru Ishikawa (1968) that show the causes of a specific event. Common uses of the Ishikawa diagram are product design and quality defect prevention, to identify potential factors causing an overall effect. Each cause or reason for imperfection is a source of variation. Causes are usually grouped into major categories to identify these sources of variation. The categories typically include:

People: Anyone involved with the process
Methods: How the process is performed and the specific requirements for doing it, such as policies, procedures, rules, regulations and laws
Machines: Any equipment, computers, tools, etc. required to accomplish the job
Materials: Raw materials, parts, pens, paper, etc. used to produce the final product
Measurements: Data generated from the process that are used to evaluate its quality
Environment: The conditions, such as location, time, temperature, and culture in which the process operates

On the basis of listed causes, we can easily identify the majority of causes which causing to End Problem.

After that we can do PARETO Analysis to find key problematic area causing maximum problem.

Pareto analysis is a statistical technique in decision making that is used for selection of a limited number of tasks that produce significant overall effect. It uses the Pareto principle – the idea that by doing 20% of work, 80% of the advantage of doing the entire job can be generated. Or in terms of quality improvement, a large majority of problems (80%) are produced by a few key causes (20%).

Pareto analysis is a formal technique useful where many possible courses of action are competing for attention. In essence, the problem-solver estimates the benefit delivered by each action, then selects a number of the most effective actions that deliver a total benefit reasonably close to the maximal possible one.

Steps to identify the important causes using simple rote (20/80) Pareto analysis[2]

Step 1: Form an explicit table listing the causes and their frequency as a percentage.

Step 2: Arrange the rows in the decreasing order of importance of the causes (i.e., the most important cause first)

Step 3: Add a cumulative percentage column to the table

Step 4: Plot with causes on x- and cumulative percentage on y-axis

Step 5: Join the above points to form a curve

Step 6: Plot (on the same graph) a bar graph with causes on x- and percent frequency on y-axis

Step 7: Draw line at 80% on y-axis parallel to x-axis. Then drop the line at the point of intersection with the curve on x-axis. This point on the x-axis separates the important causes (on the left) and trivial causes (on the right)

Step 8: Explicitly review the chart to ensure that at least 80% of the causes are captured