and uncertainty to projects. In these cases, it might be beneficial to figure out what is really causing
the situation to happen; and remove it so it does not occur again. This is commonly referred to as the
Root Cause. Root Cause Analysis finds the real cause of the problem and deals with it rather than
simply continuing to deal with the symptoms.
For may people this raises several questions:
• How does one determine which situations are targets for root cause analysis?
• How does one figure out what the root cause is?
• Does the removal of the cause entail less resource expenditure than it takes to continue to deal
with the symptom?
Determining Targets or Candidates
In normal organizational environments or complex systems it is often difficult to find candidates for
root cause analysis; this is because the situations which repeat are either distributed over time so one
doesn't realize they are actually recurring, or the situation happens to different people or different
parts of the system so there isn't an awareness of the recurring nature of the situation. Manual
brainstorming methods such as fishbone (Ishikawa) diagrams are typically used to determine the
problem. These methods are usually adequate for simpler problems but have the disadvantage of not
being persistent or uniform across the organization. In some cases, an organization has to use an
automated problem resolution support system to facilitate determination target problems and which
situations are recurring with what frequency.
Finding the Root Cause
Once the candidates are found, the organization can determine the root cause. Most situations
which arise within an organizational context have multiple approaches to resolution. These different
approaches generally require different levels of resource expenditure or effort to execute. And, due to
the immediacy which exists in most organizational situations or projects there is a tendency to opt for
the solution which is the most expedient in terms of dealing with the situation. In doing this the
tendency is generally to treat the symptom rather than the underlying fundamental problem that is
actually responsible for the situation occurring. Yet, in taking the most expeditious approach and
dealing with the symptom, rather than the cause, what is generally ensured is that the situation will,
in time, return and need to be dealt with again.
To find root causes there is one really only one question that's relevant, "What can we learn from this
situation?" In General, research has repeatedly proven that unwanted situations within organizations
for example; are about 95% related to process problems and only 5% related to personnel problems.
Yet, most organizations spend far more time looking for culprits than causes and because of this
misdirected effort seldom really gain the benefit they could gain from understanding the foundation
of the unwanted situation.
To Resolve or Not To Resolve
Once the root cause is determined then it has to be determined whether it costs more to remove the
root cause or simply continue to treat the symptoms. This is often not an easy determination. Even
though it may be relatively easy to estimate the cost to remove the root cause it is generally very
difficult to assess the cost of treating the symptom. This difficulty arises because the cost of the
symptom is generally wrapped up in some number of customer and employee satisfaction factors in
addition to the resource costs associated with just treating the symptom. In systems, it may involve
updating a large customer base with cost and technical difficulties.
Corollary
Is "Root Cause Analysis" really an appropriate phrase? In this apparently endlessly interconnected
world and increasingly complex systems, everything seems to influence so many other things.
Seeking the "Root Cause" could become an endless exercise because no matter how deep you go
there's always at least one more cause you can look for. In many cases, looking for a cause that can
be acted on; providing long term relief from the symptoms, without causing more problems that need
to be dealt with seems to be a real world solution.
