How to avoid the risk of solving symptoms of organisational problems
Aculture of applying scientific business problem solving methodologies is very low in many organisations. As a result, many organisations have been having the same problems for decades because they keep on solving symptoms of problems instead of the real business problems. This is costly because it does not only take away the money that could have been invested to grow the business but rather it results in mediocrity and negative organisational image and loss of customers to business rivals. Ultimately, many of these businesses experience a decrease in profit margins and some shut down resulting in huge loss and compromised livelihood of its workers. Research indicates that management knows only 15 percent of organisational problems, however, the same management has a habit of jumping from a shallow analysis of problems to provide solutions prematurely without following systematic problem solving approach. This makes them to rely on incorrect data that is biased and in most cases some use their perception in substitution of superior logical process of root causes analysis to make these decisions and that is a bad practice. This problem is usually caused by illogical attitude of people who think that to be in management means you know it all, as a result they miss opportunity of including the right people in the problem solving process. Moreover, this tendency of persistently solving symptoms of organisational problems is caused by lack of a learning organisation which has a rigid culture that does not allow employees to use their
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creativity to resolve errors before they manifest into bigger problems. This is a sign of an organ
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isation which does not have a culture of continual improvement because if it was then tools like
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Kaizen, Check sheet, Interrelationship Diagraph and Process Decision Program Chart could be
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constantly used to resolve existing problems permanently. Moreover, many organisations are
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not aware that after finding the real problems of
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the organisation, the proposed solution should be tested before it is implemented to check its validity and reliability in solving the identified problem.
This week we are breaking the generational curse of solving symptoms of problems by proposing that; firstly, organisations should take time to study their problems, secondly they should
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embark on scientific problem- solving process and lastly they should test the relevance and validity of their preferred solution before it is implemented.
One of the international best practices tool used to understand and solve organisational problems is called Kepner Tregoe and it has 3 phase process. The first phase is called situational appraisal and it requires the management to identify problem concerns in terms of their magnitude and importance and at this stage management should outline priority areas where the problem could be existing based on concern areas. Situational analysis also helps them to know how to begin in understanding the problem by recognising issues that require action, how to analyse issues that are overlapping and complex. Moreover, the management should plan who should be involved, what they will be doing and where as well as timing their actions and defining the extent of their involvement. The second phase requires management to conduct problem analysis and this entails description, identification, evaluation and confirmation of the root causes. It is very important to undertake root cause analysis to determine what the root causes of the problem are by using tools like Ishikawa diagram, Five Whys and Fault Tree Analysis.
One mistake organisations make is to be reactive in taking some of the root causes of the problem as the actual problem and this can be avoided by using three different problem identification tools in iterative manner to arrive at the final distilled problem. The third phase is
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decision analysis and this requires management to formulate possible solutions to the identified problems. It is advisable to choose at least 2 possible solutions that can address the identified problem because there can never be a best solution to a problem and having a second alternative makes the management to have enough choices. Moreover, it is very important to assess possible risks that can impede effective implementation of the identified solution using tools like Failure Mode Effect Analysis and Poka Yoke. Research indicates that many organisations fail to manage risk during implementation and that makes their problems to remain unresolved. The Author is a member of African Excellence Forum, Holds Master of Science Degree in Strategic Management and is a Certified Manager of Quality and Organisational excellence from America Society for Quality. Six Sigma Greenbelt, ISO 9001: 2015 Certified. Contact: + 26772211182,
Website: www. iqm. co. bw
Email: veronmosalakatane@ gmail. com LinkedIn: Veron Mosalakatane