In this part of the lesson, you will learn how to use the fourth step (Identify the Root Cause Using the ‘Five Whys’) involved in conducting a Root Cause Analysis to identify the root cause of Pizza Crunch’s problems.
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Step 4: Identify the Root Cause Using the ‘Five Whys?’
Next, you got the Pizza Crunch focus group to narrow their focus and isolate the root-cause(s) of the issue at hand.
Using the Five Whys, the team found that the causal statements under scrutiny pointed to one recurring cause. For instance:
Under METHODS you asked:
Why was baking temperature increased to 250 degrees Celsius and baking time reduced to 10 minutes?
“To keep up with the number of orders from customers pouring.”
So, you asked, “Why is that an issue?”
Customers won’t wait beyond 20 mins for an order, and we won’t be able to get enough pizzas out per batch, to service incoming customers within 20 mins –
Why can’t we get enough pizzas per batch? you enquired
Because there aren’t enough ovens in the outlet.
Also, under MILIEU, the statement listed was ‘Outlet located close to a sports stadium as a result of which footfalls increased drastically over the weekend, putting a strain on the infrastructure’. When this statement was subjected to the Five Whys – this is what came through.
Why is there a strain put on the infrastructure on the weekends?
“We have a lot more demand than we can cater to.”
Why can’t we cater to the increased demand? –
“Because we can’t make pizzas fast enough.”
Why can’t we make pizzas fast enough?
Because there aren’t enough ovens in the outlets.
A Point to Note
In this case with Pizza Crunch, your enquiries helped zeroed in on a single cause of the organisation’s afflictions, lack of sufficient ovens in the outlets,
Sometimes, though, your efforts will yield more than one causal factor that is contributing to the problem identified. It is great if you are in a position to address all causal factors and resolve the problem. However, this is rarely going to be the case; time, budget, energy and mental bandwidth being finite resources.
What is important then is to zero in on those causal factors that exert the most impact on the problem, and should thus be prioritized in the solution design stage. Identifying the causal factors to be prioritized requires one to perform a Pareto Analysis or Frequency-Impact Analysis exercise, a tool we cover in our course titled “Isolating the Problems You Must Prioritize to Solve.”
