Root Cause Analysis.

Have you ever faced a problem and tried to solve it by all means, but eventually it returns back repeatedly?

This phenomenon usually happens in our personal lives and in the organizations we run or work at.

To explain this phenomenon, it is important to understand what the meaning of the problem is?

Definition of problem:

Oxford learner’s dictionary defines it as: “a thing that is difficult to deal with or to understand”.

Also defined as: “a matter or situation regarded as unwelcome or harmful and needing to be dealt with and overcome” – Oxford languages.

We can summarize those definitions into this simple one: “a gap between what is desired and what is happening”.

Characteristics of problems:

From the mentioned definitions, the characteristics of problems can be determined in the following:

• They are unwelcome or harmful.
• They need to be dealt with or overcome.
• They are difficult to deal with or to understand.

Types of solutions:

Managers deal with this dilemma by “Shifting the burden”. It is an act of applying solutions to mitigate the effect of the problem. However, it cannot be considered a problem-solving decision; it rather is considered a symptomatic solution.

Beware of symptomatic solutions, sometimes they seem to solve the problem, however, it is developing and getting more complicated.

What is “root cause analysis” – (RCA)?

“Root cause analysis” is a sequence of procedures organizations apply for a better understanding of the problem and its causes, in addition to find alternatives and test them in order to select the optimum one and execute it to solve the problem fundamentally.

Types of problems’ causes:

There are three basic types of causes:

• Physical causes.
• Human causes.
• Organizational causes.

RCA investigates the three types of causes to find the root cause that led to the problem.

For example:

Problem: A courier company received a late delivery complaint.

They may solve the problem by making the delivery for free. However, this would be a “symptomatic solution” or a quick fix to deal with a critical situation.

Therefore, they need to apply RCA in order to prevent this problem from happening again.

Analyzing the problem will lead us to the root cause:

Physical cause: The delivery was late because the car broke down.

Human cause: The deliveryman was incompetent due to a lack of training.

Organizational cause: Insufficient workforce due to absence of needs analysis system.

RCA helped to determine several root causes of the problem in order to apply fundamental solutions.

RCA process:

RCA has five main steps, each step represents a procedure to identify the problem and solve it. Each step, shall provide answers to the following questions:

Step one: Define the problem

• What is happening?
• What are the symptoms?

Step two: Collect data

• What evidence do we have for the problem?
• For how long does the problem exist?
• How does the problem affect the system?

Step three: Identify possible causal factors

• Where is the gap and how big it is?
• What circumstances led to the problem?

Step four: Identify the root causes:

• What is the real reason that led to the problem?

Step five: Recommend and implement solutions

• What measures are to be taken to prevent the problem from happening again?
• How to implement the solution?
• Who will be responsible for the implementation?
• What are the pros and cons of implementing the solution?

After that, testing the solution through feedback is essential that might lead to either continuing or returning to any of the previous steps for more details.