Water Cooler: Digging Deeply Enough

If a problem occurs, how can you determine whether you are addressing its real cause or just a symptom? A crisis is often the result of several things going wrong simultaneously. Are these independent causes or is something more fundamental occurring? To eliminate recurrences of the problem, you have to identify its “root causes” and eliminate or mitigate each one. One way to find the root cause of an event is to keep asking “why” or “how” to every explanation. Often, the most immediate, obvious cause is an innocent action that exposed a deeper flaw. Some authors suggest asking “why” five times (Serrat, 2009).

To prepare for this Discussion, identify several real problems that you have encountered recently. Discuss each one with a different group of friends or colleagues. In each group, ask why the problem occurred. Note the responses, and repeatedly ask “why” or “how” until you believe the group has uncovered the root cause of the problem.

In 400-600 words please explain what prompted you to stop asking “why” or “how” for each problem you discussed. In other words, how can you tell when you have the real root cause and not just another symptom? Was it the same for each group? If not, what factors do you believe caused the differences? Explain your reasoning.

SAMPLE SOLUTION

D4 – Water Cooler: Digging Deeply Enough

When analyzing the why/how question is important since it helps one step back and think more analytically regarding the problem, the failure to answer these questions implies that one needs to gain more insights before executing a given solution.  Using this approach is essential since it helps to address the real problem and not just the symptom. It has long-term effectiveness since it prevents other things and underlying problems from going wrong simultaneously (Ram, 2011). Moreover, it helps to prevent the reoccurrence of the problem, helps in identifying the root cause of the problem and address it for all. However, most people have a problem knowing when to ask the why/how question. The why/how the question should focus on enhancing the analytical analysis and thinking about the presented problem. In one of the groups where we’re discussing the cause of the system failure in the manufacturing section. We asked why/how questions five times until we identified the real cause of the problem. The actual problem should identify the exact triggers of the problem. For instance, the actual trigger of the problem should be connected to other external factors and should be the immediate cause of the problem rather than postulating or associating the cause to other triggers (Boyer et al., 2010). Therefore, one should…