Root Cause Analysis|Business & Finance homework Assignment
Root-cause analysis is gaining significance in the globally changing business environment since problems arise necessitating for more sophisticated techniques of handling and solving them. Andersen and Fagerhaug (2013), argue that it is an approach that enables business owners to respond to the question of why a problem occurred, identifying the origin of a problem following a set of stages with tools connected to it. It is used to look for the initial cause of the problem. From competition to customer satisfaction challenges, to the quality of goods and services provided; organizations and enterprises are obliged to be innovative incessantly.
One of the tools I would use is the five why’s since it is useful in any problem-solving procedure. Mostly, it is employed in the analysis stage as an analytical tool. It is a simple tool that allows one to get to the bottom of the problem and it is inherently subjective by nature and requires to be backed up by both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Also, it needs that after the discovery of the cause of a problem that the results from quantitative and qualitative data are fed into the resolution development. Moreover, it employs a question-asking technique to sightsee the cause-effect association causing the problem. In essence, the problem solver repetitively asks “why” in anticipation of a significant inference being arrived at. Usually, at least five questions ought to be asked. The Five Why’s begins with a statement that needs to be understood and then followed by asking whether the account is valid. It is then trailed by asking why the report is accurate continuously until there is no other answer to the question. The fifth number is when one has already identified the cause of the problem. While some problems’ causes can be defined in the first four stages, there are some that go even beyond the fifth extra question if the actual causative is yet to be well-known instead of just resolving for an incomplete inference.
Another tool that I would use is the cause-effect that has other terms such as the Fishbone, Fishikawa, Ishikawa, and Herringbone. Here, the different causes are categorized into groups using pointers in the diagram showing how the causes move towards the unconventionality. These classes are not distinct, but respective groups consist of apparatus, approaches, dimensions, resources, surroundings, and persons. Basically, this tool is a causal procedure and strives for understanding the likely reasons by querying interrogations like “what happened in reality,” “at that time,” “wherever,” “why,” “in what way,” and “so what” till a conceivable reason is acknowledged, and the outcome and implication is scrutinized for each group.
I would employ the five why’s when addressing a problem to do with daily sales if there are reduced sales than other times. This way, I will be able to determine what happened and reach a conclusion on the bottom of the problem.
In another scenario, I would employ cause-effect tool if the customers are complaining about the quality of services rendered to them since it would enable me to sightsee all the possible causes of the complaint before settling at any resolution. This will also help in eradicating the problem of poor quality of services entirely and primarily without recurring.
In my final paper, I would consider using the cause-effect analysis tool due to its full usage. It combines other analysis tools with it bringing out the best resolution. Furthermore, it integrates thinking with a kind of thoughts diagram driving one to think through all potential origins of a problem, instead of those that are utmost apparent.
References
Andersen, B., & Fagerhaug, T. (2013). ASQ pocket guide to root cause analysis.
https://www.isixsigma.com/tools-templates/cause-effect/determine-root-cause-5-whys/
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_03.htm
