In the previous lesson, you learned the five steps involved in conducting a Root Cause Analysis.
In this lesson, we will demonstrate how to conduct the Root Cause Analysis with the help of an example.
The video you are about to view will elaborate on how the first two steps of the Root Cause Analysis (Defining the Problem & Collecting Data) can be carried out to identify the root cause of Pizza Crunch’s problems.
Browse the video to learn more.
We recognise that some participants prefer reading to listening. If you are one of them, then you can access a transcript of the lesson by clicking on the View Transcript button below the video.
Step 1: Defining the problem statement
You start by defining the problem statement clearly at the outset.
You posed the following questions to Pizza Crunch’s management and staff, and you noted their responses.
Question 1: What exactly do you see/ hear happening? How much of this is fact, and how much of this is an interpretation?
Social media chatter on how our outlet, a winning choice for pizza on weekdays, strangely, fails to deliver on quality of the product on Saturdays and Sundays. Our store feedback forms also reflect this. Given this, it’s fair to state that there are facts at play here, rather than mere superficial interpretation.
Question 2: What are the specific symptoms that you observe that indicate a problem?
Our sales figures on the weekend are dropping alarmingly. Going by online reviews and social media posts, customers feel we can’t hold it together on weekends
Question3: When did it happen? Or, how often does this happen?
We’ve noticed this happening every weekend for the past quarter
Question 4: How long has the problem existed?
No specifics available at this point, but it would appear that the problem, whatever it may be, was triggered by something that preceded the symptoms.
Question 5: How can you be one hundred percent sure that this happened?
Our weekend customer feedback scores (both store and call center collations) are at an all-time low.
The responses to these questions*, which allow for separation of fact from interpretation, indicate that that Pizza Crunch does have a problem, and here is how you have defined it:
‘Customer complaints regarding the quality of the product on Saturdays and Sundays have increased drastically.’
Step 2: Collect all Possible Data
You then decided to conduct a focus group discussion, with a group of Pizza Crunch’s managers, restaurant staff, procurement personnel, call-centre staff and the social media team. You collated and analysed all feedback records for the past quarter.
