Problem Solving in Plain English

Craig Cochran

• Publisher: Paton Professional
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781932828306
• eBook ISBN: 9781932828559
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Operations
• Index: Business

Effective problem solving is equal parts art and science. In this book, Craig Cochran shows how to master both sides of the problem-solving coin by explaining the process step by step. Have you ever wondered why problem-solving efforts that start out strong, with motivated team members and supportive managers, fizzle out before they produce any benefits? Or why it can be so hard to stick with a problem until it's solved? Craig Cochran will explain the answers.This straightforward book is ideal for managers with long-standing business problems, as well as front-line employees who are often intimately familiar with dealing with them. Topics covered include:

• Selecting the right problem
• Forming effective problem-solving teams
• Planning and implementing corrective actions
• How to verify effectiveness
• Writing a problem statement
• Identifying root causes
• Defining the current process

Chapter 1

Select The Right Problem

I used to work for a company that held a monthly “package meeting.” This was a meeting for top managers to review the month’s results, and it featured a large package of tabular data and charts. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of facts and figures on every imaginable aspect of the company’s performance. The purpose of the meeting, admirably enough, was to solve problems and improve performance. With limited resources, it was always a challenge to decide exactly which issues deserved attention. After all, we couldn’t take action on every problem we faced.

Every problem had its advocate. It didn’t take much guessing to know which manager advocated which problem. The director of engineering, an industrial engineer, constantly harped on the need to reduce labor costs. The vice president of supply chain focused on reducing raw material costs. The vice president of sales wanted to focus on any blip in the sales numbers. The CEO, who had founded the company and invented some of the technology, focused on manufacturing efficiency. Every problem and potential problem of the company had its champion who constantly beat the drum for action to be taken on his or her project. The executives would fill the package meeting with a rambling debate about the issues bearing on the company and whoever was willing to talk the longest was usually the one whose problem won in the end. So what was our problem-selection criteria? Long windedness. If you kept talking until everybody else got tired, your problem would probably come out on top.

The company was typical of most companies. We didn’t have well-defined problem-selection criteria. The way problems were selected for investigation and action was completely irrational. We often chose the wrong problems to pursue simply because the issue was near and dear to someone’s heart, not because it had a significant effect on our success. Because time, energy, and capital are always in short supply, it’s critical that organizations apply their problem-solving resources where they are most needed.

PROBLEM-SELECTION TRAPS TO AVOID

Organizations fall victim to a number of problem-solving traps when deciding which problems are worth their time and effort. These aren’t mutually exclusive, of course. Organizations can fall victim to multiple traps, and they often do. Here are the most common traps to avoid:

• Allowing the loudest or longest-winded complainant to select the problem

• Selecting the most recent problems

• Selecting the most comfortable problems

The first trap is the one we discussed at the beginning of the chapter: allowing the loudest complainant to select our problem. This not only happens inside the organization, but also outside. It’s common for companies to jump on a particular problem simply because a customer complained the loudest. There may be more important problems out there, but our attention has been captured by the loudest voice. Before long, everybody learns the trick of action: complain loud and hard. Suddenly, every problem is top priority, which means nothing is top priority.

The second trap to avoid is pursuing the most recent problems. Face it, people have short memories. Whatever problems that have occurred most recently are usually the ones on people’s minds. Never mind that a problem six months ago almost put us out of business, we’ve likely forgotten about it by now. Organizations have a tendency to attack the problems that have occurred most recently. Sometimes it’s because these are the problems that present the biggest opportunities for improvement. Other times it’s simply because we don’t do a good job of remembering recent history.

The third trap to avoid is attacking the most comfortable problem. These are the issues we’re most familiar with and deal with all the time. Another company that I used to work for was quick to jump on any problem that resulted in returned goods. If a customer returned a product, then dozens of people were mobilized to handle it. Lab testing was initiated, sales people began investigations, and top management placed urgent phone calls. Sometimes the products were returned because the customer had too many in stock, but we still jumped through flaming hoops. We were comfortable investigating returned goods, so these were the problems we always attacked, even if there were more important problems facing us.

Figure 1.1 summarizes the problem-selection traps that must be avoided.

RATIONAL PROBLEM-SELECTION CRITERIA

Your biggest challenge of problem selection is to move toward rational problem-selection criteria. Rational criteria evaluates a problem in terms of its risk to the organization. In other words, how much is this problem hurting us? The problems that hurt the most are the ones that are highest priority. In a world of unlimited time and resources, you would address every problem your organization has. This isn’t practical. You must carefully select problems based on how much benefit their removal will provide.

Rational problem selection involves rating a problem according to a short list of risk factors and then multiplying the ratings to produce a risk priority number. The higher the risk priority number, the more the problem needs to be solved. The trick is choosing the correct factors with which to rate problems. Just as you don’t have time to act on all problems, you don’t have time to evaluate problems from every angle. You must have a quick and effective way of knowing which problems pose the biggest risk and must be solved. Here are the most typical criteria that can be used for evaluating problems:

• Cost

• Frequency

• Scale

• Customer concern

• Safety

• Environmental effect

Let’s discuss each one, keeping in mind that you probably won’t be able to use all of them.

Cost

Organizations run on money. It doesn’t matter if you’re a nonprofit charity, a government agency, or a Fortune 100 corporation; money is what makes the wheels go round. So, when a problem begins costing a lot of money, it demands our attention. Of course, the cost of a problem is entirely relative, depending on the depth of your pockets. A $50,000 problem for a small organization might be catastrophic while quite minor for a larger organization. Every organization must develop its own cost criteria b...

Table of contents

• IntroPage
• Otherbooks
• Copyright
• DedicationA
• DedicationB
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chap1ProblemSolving
• Chap2ProblemSolving
• Chap3ProblemSolving
• Chap4ProblemSolving
• Chap5ProblemSolving
• Chap6ProblemSolving
• Appx1
• Appx2
• Appx3
• Appx4
• Appx5