A.J.,As you may be aware, Root Cause Analysis (RCA) or what some of us like coin “Systems Thinking” is required when an unwanted situation which consumes resources and tends to happen in a repeated fashion then there is a possibility that it might be beneficial to figure out what is really causing this situation to occur and remove it so the situation does not occur again. This is generally referred to as Root Cause Analysis, finding the real cause of the problem and dealing with it rather than simply continuing to deal with the symptoms.When attempting to find the root cause, consider this. When a certain fix or process fails, that fail structure may comprise of a balancing loop which is intended to achieve a particular result, yet the result is foiled by an insidious reinforcing loop (Harvard University,2000; MIT, 2003). These two loops interact in such a way that the desired result initially produced by the balancing loop is, after some delay, negated by the actions of the reinforcing loop.The internal balancing loop operates in the standard balancing loop fashion. The action that adds to the migration of the current state toward the desired state also influences, after some delay, some unexpected consequences. These unexpected consequences subsequently impede the migration of the current state in the intended direction.What makes this structure so annoying is that the time delay associated with the unexpected consequences may be such that it is most difficult to really see what’s happening. The fact that it is a reinforcing loop means that its impact may initially be small and only grows to be noticed over time. You fix a problem and think things are fine, then days, weeks, or even months later the same problem is back again. And, with the hectic nature of organizations, who can remember what happened months ago (Ballinger, 2000 & 2004).The most effective strategy in this particular scenario is advanced planning.
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