Why is RCA essential?

[normhowe]

Does anyone have a good explanation for why RCA is essential? I frequently run into seemingly intelligent people who just.don't.get.it. I'm talking about people in responsible management positions. I've explained until I'm blue in the face and they still keep grasping at cosmetic solutions. I've showed them how RCA saves money, avoids problems, improves quality, increases customer satisfaction... Any ideas?

 

[Ninja]

Sounds like you already told them the truth...anything beyond the truth is a cosmetic.

Ask them, if they had termites in their house, whether they would paint over the damage...or kill the termites.
Or other such "real world, relatable" examples...take it outside of a corporate context and make it real to them.

If you've said so many words that you are blue in the face...you're saying the wrong words...JMO

 

[Tagin]

I would suspect that they understand it perfectly well from your explanations. However, I bet their value systems are different from yours, and it is value systems that shape decisions. They probably also look at vision & mission statements as PR rather than something to live by.

 

[Bev D]

Request for Corrective Action or Root Cause Analysis?

 

[Jim Wynne]

Request for Corrective Action or Root Cause Analysis?

I changed it.

 

[Mike S.]

Maybe tell them it's not important, that just guessing, or throwing darts at a board full of possible causes, is just as valid as any other method.

 

[optomist1]

depending on your audience, level etc., share with them "if nothing changes....nothing changes", you cant change that which you dont recognize and correctly identify the cause(s)

 

[Ed Panek]

"When you go to your doctor for a body ache, would you prefer they find the root cause, or just treat the symptoms?"

 

[Bev D]

In my experience there are two competing 'beliefs/values' at play when organizations are highly resistant to root cause analysis. The first is the belief that a 'good' engineer will just know what to do. (they don't need no stinkin RCA) The other is that RCA is slow and expensive and a bandaid or guess at a solution is good enough.

neither beliefs are helped when weak RCA methods and tools are used of course...

 

[optomist1]

this thread would appear to fall under a broader title of "Corporate Culture"; that needs to be re-aligned, re-calibrated...etc.,