CREATIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING & DECISION-MAKING - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

About This Presentation
Title:

CREATIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING & DECISION-MAKING

Description:

Instructions on how to appropriately analyze and conduct problem-solving – PowerPoint PPT presentation

Number of Views:6825
Slides: 71
Provided by: kennethfox1
Tags:

less

Transcript and Presenter's Notes

Title: CREATIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING & DECISION-MAKING


1
Problem Solving Decision Making
  • 2007

2
(No Transcript)
3
C O N T E N T S
  1. Background to Problem Solving
  2. Setting the Problem Statement
  3. Analyze the Problem in Detail
  4. Identify Likely Causes
  5. Define Actual Causes

4
Background to Problem Solving
  • (1)

5
What is PAID?
  • A logical problem solving process can be done
    through some steps called "PAID"
  • Problem Statement
  • Analyze the problem in detail
  • Identify likely causes
  • Define actual cause(s)

6
  • Problems exist when someone or something is not
    performing as expected.
  • Action needs to be taken to solve the problem
    thus action should follow from a clear
    understanding of the problem.
  • To understand problem solving it is necessary to
    distinguish between symptoms of a problem and its
    causes.

7
  • Identification of the cause of a problem is the
    key to problem solving.
  • Once you know the real cause of the problem, you
    can decide how to deal with it

8
Causes and Symptoms of a Problem
  • It is necessary to distinguish between the
    symptoms of a problem and its causes.
  • What is the best indication that a problem can be
    solved?
  • The symptoms of the problem have been treated?
  • OR
  • The cause of the problem has been isolated?
  • Sure symptoms treatment not a solution but once
    you have found the real cause of a problem you
    can decide how to deal with it.

9
Diagram of a Problem
  • To help understand what we are looking for when
    finding the cause of a problem, it is worthwhile
    looking at a problem diagrammatically.
  • Look at the diagram on the right. It shows
    performance over time. In this case it is
    constant, but is there a problem?

10
  • The area with the positive variance is called
    Opportunity"
  • An opportunity is the exact opposite of a
    problem.
  • They can be analyzed in the same way as problems.
  • You want to find out what caused an opportunity
    to happen that you can exploit it to the full or
    make it happen elsewhere.

Positive Variance Opportunity
Negative Variance Problem
11
  • Problems don't occur without a reason.
  • In any situation with a problem, there must be an
    historical point.
  • When actual performance started to deviate.
  • Something happened at the time x which caused the
    problem to occur.

12
Problem Solving Action Flow
  • Set a Problem Statement
  • Describe the problem
  • Develop a one sentence problem statement
  • Analyze the problem in detail
  • Analyze what is wrong
  • Analyze what is right
  • Identify likely causes
  • What's different?
  • What has changed?
  • What are the most likely explanations?
  • Define actual cause/s
  • What is the most likely explanation?
  • Can I prove it?

13
Avoiding Pitfalls
  • (A) Giving up too early
  • (B) Jumping straight to conclusions about the
    cause
  • (C) Not getting the right people involved
  • (D) Not collecting all the relevant data
  • The worst one is B " because. It is always very
    tempting to think you know the cause of a problem
    straight away, jump to conclusions and take
    action to solve it.

14
Setting the Problem Statement
  • (2)

Describe the problem Develop a one sentence
problem statement
15
Describe the Problem
  • The purpose of describing the problem is to
    create an impressionistic view of it - something
    on which to lay a solid foundation for further
    work.
  • Choose what you would do first from this list
  • Write down a list of possible causes
  • Undertake a detailed analysis to produce a
    structured picture of the problem
  • Write down everything you know about the problem
  • Interview the people you think are to blame for
    the problem

16
Describe the Problem
  • The purpose of describing the problem is to
    create an impressionistic view of it - something
    on which to lay a solid foundation for further
    work.
  • Choose what you would do first from this list
  • Write down a list of possible causes
  • Undertake a detailed analysis to produce a
    structured picture of the problem
  • Write down everything you know about the problem
  • Interview the people you think are to blame for
    the problem

17
Brainstorming
  • Creative thinking techniques have a potentially
    powerful role in the PAID process.
  • They are a very good starting point when you have
    a blank piece of paper.
  • They can help you get insights into the nature of
    the problem that purely analytical techniques
    couldn't.
  • many people broadly know what it means, but don't
    do it properly.
  • Even though it's a creative thinking technique it
    has several rules which must be followed to make
    it work.

18
Brainstorming
  • See if you can identify what we can use
    brainstorming for as part of sorting out a
    statement of the problem.
  • To generate as many ideas as possible about
  • The overall nature of the problem
  • The actions to be taken to solve the problem
  • Possible causes of the problem
  • Specific aspects of the problem

19
Brainstorming
  • See if you can identify what we can use
    brainstorming for as part of sorting out a
    statement of the problem.
  • To generate as many ideas as possible about
  • The overall nature of the problem
  • The actions to be taken to solve the problem
  • Possible causes of the problem
  • Specific aspects of the problem

20
Brainstorming
  • You are the leader of a brainstorm session
    looking at a customer service problem.
  • A member of the group gives an idea you know is
    completely irrelevant. What should you do? 
  • Write down the idea as stated
  • Modify the idea to make it relevant and write
    that down
  • Ignore the idea completely
  • Ask members of the group whether they think the
    idea is relevant

21
Brainstorming
  • You are the leader of a brainstorm session
    looking at a customer service problem.
  • A member of the group gives an idea you know is
    completely irrelevant. What should you do? 
  • Write down the idea as stated
  • Modify the idea to make it relevant and write
    that down
  • Ignore the idea completely
  • Ask members of the group whether they think the
    idea is relevant

22
Bug Listing
  • When listing the things they liked, the group got
    a very different set of ideas.
  • It is quick and easy to use and very useful for
    getting a feel about problems. It can also be
    used later when you are looking for the areas you
    need to specify in detail.

23
Reversals
  • 'Reversals' is a simple technique which is useful
    at any stage in the PAID process.
  • It is good to use at the start of the process
    because it's fun.
  • You simply take an issue that you planned to
    brainstorm and reverse it!
  • You then brainstorm the reversed issue. It's best
    explained by example. Here are a few issues and
    possible reversals
  • How to attract more customers into my store
  • How to reduce the number of customers visiting my
    store
  • How to improve the quality of customer service
  • How to reduce the quality of customer service

24
Setting the Problem Statement
  • A problem statement is a single sentence which
    embraces your understanding of the problem.
  • Not the cause of the problem, but the problem
    itself.
  • Setting the problem statement is the single most
    important action you will take in the whole
    problem solving process.
  • It is so important that you must be prepared to
    put in time and effort to get it right.

25
Setting the Problem Statement
  • But why is setting the problem statement so
    important?
  • Several potential reasons are given below
  • Get the problem statement wrong and you will
    search in the wrong areas for the problem's
    cause.
  • A clear problem statement enables you to decide
    what work must be completed to find the cause.
  • Keeping the problem statement visible during the
    search for the cause keeps effort focused in the
    right area.
  • The problem statement provides the context within
    which all further work takes place.

26
Effective Problem Statements
  • If a problem statement is to do its job it must
    be
  • A single sentence.
  • Precise. 
  • Understandable to a person with no knowledge of
    the problem area.
  • Neutral.
  • Based on the description of the problem.

27
The Completed First Stage
  • When you have completed the first stage of the
    PAID problem solving process you will have
  • A description of the problem. This will probably
    contain things like
  • Your notes on how you see the problem
  • Notes of conversations with other people involved
  • Examples of how the problem manifests itself
  • Write-ups of brainstorms, bug lists or reversals
  • Any available statistics which showed you have a
    problem
  • You will then sort out all this information to
    produce
  • The Problem Statement
  • A one sentence statement which incorporates your
    understanding of the problem

28
Analyze the Problem in Detail
  • (3)

Analyze what is wrong Analyze what is right
29
Analyzing what is wrong
  • Here you are aiming to develop a detailed
    specification of the problem.
  • This involves measuring its scale and scope,
    determining what the detailed symptoms are and
    the negative consequences they cause.
  • It also needs to determine who is involved and
    when and how often the problem occurs.

30
Analyzing what is right
  • The purpose of this is to determine what the
    problem is not.
  • If things are going well, then they can't be part
    of the problem.
  • By analyzing what is right you can eliminate
    potential causes of the problem and limit the
    scope of your investigation.

31
OverviewAnalyze the Problem in Detail
  • Though both activities are equally important,
    this is rarely reflected in how problem solvers
    behave.
  • Individuals and teams attempting to solve
    important organizational problems, nearly always
    focus on what is wrong, ignoring what is right.

32
OverviewAnalyze the Problem in Detail
  • The result are solutions that come to wrong
    conclusions, vital aspects of the situation are
    ignored and underlying problems remain unsolved.
  • Make sure you avoid the trap of concentrating
    only on what is wrong and ignoring what is right

33
The Role of Questions
  • Asking questions is the key to analyzing
    problems.
  • A systematic approach to questioning ensures you
    don't miss any important areas.
  • If you don't ask the right questions, you can't
    possibly get the right answers.
  • The best questions nearly always start with
  • What? Why? When?
  • Who? Where? How much?
  • Because such questions cannot be answered with a
    single word, but require some form of comment

34
How do you decide which questions to ask?
  • Essentially, your problem statement and
    description of the problem are the best starting
    points for generating questions.
  • You should also think of holding a creative
    thinking session to generate questions.
  • This is an area where the techniques are
    particularly useful.
  • Brainstorming, bug listing and reversals can all
    be used in this context.

35
Herringbones
  • Herringbones are a variant of the Ishikawa Fish
    Bone and serve the same purpose.
  • The Ishikawa Fish Bone was invented in Japan for
    use by teams working in quality circles when
    trying to solve problems.
  • They are most commonly used in operations
    departments.

36
Herringbones
  • The technique is particularly useful in
    determining what needs to be analyzed.
  • A herringbone is like a structured brainstorm.
  • You write down the issue you want to cover in the
    box marked 'Problem Statement', then brainstorm
    it using the headings on the herringbone.

37
  • Look at an example of a completed herringbone
  • The issue was a backlog of work.
  • A herringbone is a structured brainstorm, where
    the headings on each 'bone' provide a structure
    appropriate to the problem that needs to be
    solved.

38
Analyzing the Problem
  • Here are some what questions you might find handy
    when attempting to solve a problem.

Questioning Tool Box Questioning Tool Box
What is wrong?What did you do about it?What was the result?What happened next? What was their reaction?What are the symptoms?What are their effects?What did you notice first?
  • The list isn't exhaustive, but should be enough
    to give you a clue how to go about using them.

39
Analyzing the Problem
  • "When" questions aim to pinpoint exactly when the
    symptoms began to appear.
  • In other words you are trying to track down the
    point x in time.
  • So the key question is When did it start going
    wrong?
  • If you can discover the point x, then something
    must have happened at that point in time to cause
    the symptoms.
  • Once you discover what happened, then you have
    found the cause of the problem.

40
Analyzing the Problem
  • Where questions isolate the parts of the
    organization or geographical area where the
    symptoms are being experienced.
  • There is no point in looking for the cause of a
    problem in areas of the organization which don't
    exhibit symptoms.
  • You also need to know who is involved

41
Analyzing the Problem
  • To summaries, the key questions you need to ask
    are
  • What is wrong?
  • When did it go wrong?
  • How much went wrong?
  • Where did it go wrong?
  • Who is involved?

42
Analyzing What is Right
  • There is no need to go into detail about the
    types of question you should ask to explore what
    is right.
  • They are the mirror images of those you ask when
    analyzing what is wrong.
  • Basically, they are based around
  • What am I satisfied with?
  • When are things correct?
  • How much is correct?
  • Where are things correct?
  • Who is not involved?

43
Identify Likely Causes
  • (4)

What's different?What has changed?What are the
most likely causes?
44
Identify Likely Causes
  • Identify the differences between what you have
    identified from your analysis of what is right
    and what is wrong.
  • This will enable you to discover what is
    distinctive about the problem.
  • What has changed? Something happened to cause the
    problem.
  • So what things changed round about the time the
    problem started to manifest itself.
  • What are the most likely explanations?
  • The work you have done so far should enable you
    to identify potential causes of the problem.

45
What's Different?
  • In this stage of the PAID process you are looking
    for things which are
  • Distinctive in the symptoms identified which
    distinguish the problem situation from the areas
    where you are satisfied
  • Distinctive in the parts of the organization and
    specific locations where the problem arises which
    distinguish them from the areas where you are
    satisfied

46
What's Different?
  • In this stage of the PAID process you are looking
    for things which are
  • Distinctive about the time a problem arises from
    times when it does not
  • Different about a group which is affected by the
    problem compared to groups which are not affected
    by it

47
What Has Changed?
  • Often the changes involve
  • People. These include changes in personnel,
    organization structure, workgroups, skill levels
    and leadership style
  • Materials. Use of different materials, changes in
    material specification and changes in quality are
    all relevant

48
What Has Changed?
  • Often the changes involve
  • Equipment. This includes introduction of new
    equipment and changes in maintenance procedures
  • Processes. Introduction of new systems and
    procedures, changes to patterns of communication,
    training processes and so on

49
Define Actual Causes
  • (5)

What is the most likely explanation?Can I prove
it?
50
Define Actual Causes
  • Identifying what is the most likely explanation.
  • Of all the potential causes identified which is
    the most likely explanation for all the symptoms
    which have been identified?
  • Proving the cause.
  • This involves testing whether the cause
    identified can explain all the symptoms presented
    by the problem.

51
The Most Likely Cause
  • Does it explain all the data you have collected
    about the problem and what is wrong?
  • Is it consistent with the data you have collected
    about things which are right?
  • If the potential cause should be generating
    symptoms in areas which are right, but it is not,
    then that cause can be eliminated.

52
The Most Likely Cause
  • They would be solving the wrong problem.
  • They would focus on initiatives to sign up new
    retailers or retaining sales executives.
  • They would be taking action in relation to a
    symptom.

53
Proving the Cause
  • Identification of the cause of a problem will
    almost inevitably lead to action designed to
    eliminate it.
  • Deciding what to do involve decision making which
    is a distinct process in its own right and is
    dealt with in next chapter.
  • If action is taken to eliminate the wrong cause,
    there is a strong possibility that your actions
    will only make matters worse.
  • Therefore, it is often worthwhile seeing if you
    can prove that the most likely explanation is the
    actual cause.

54
Proving the Cause
  • Proving the cause involves
  • Checking that the actual cause identified does
    explain all the facts at your disposal
  • About both the problem and those things that are
    right.
  • Testing that any assumptions you have made which
    support the analysis are accurate.
  • Trying to replicate the problem situation in a
    controlled test.

55
Review
  • Once you have found the cause you should conduct
    a review to see if you can improve your
    performance next time round. The review should
    focus on three basic questions
  • What went well?
  • What went less well?
  • What should we do differently next time?

56
Problem Solving
  1. Background to Problem Solving
  2. Setting the Problem Statement
  3. Analyze the Problem in Detail
  4. Identify Likely Causes
  5. Define Actual Causes

57
Decision Making
  • The ICES decision making process stands for
  • InitiateCriteriaEvaluateSelect

58
Decision Making
  • A decision is about making choices.
  • It is the cut off point at which you stop the
    process of thinking and begin the process of
    action.
  • There are many types of decisions including
  • Yes or no decisions
  • Choose from a list
  • Creative

59
Making Decisions
  • If a decision is a cut off point when the
    thinking process stops,
  • Clearly the quality of thinking determines the
    quality of decisions.
  • But what is involved in the thinking process?
  • There are many ways to make decisions and all
    manners of decisions to be made.
  • Which do you think are the most difficult type?
  • All of them!

60
The ICES Process
  • INITIATE Deciding what to decide
  • This is the first important stage of any decision
    making process - INITIATING THE DECISION
  • CRITERIA Defining exactly what you want
  • EVALUATE Evaluating the options available
  • EVALUATING the options against the CRITERIA.
  • SELECT Selecting the best option

61
Evaluating Options
  • Generating several options will normally help you
    to select the one that will best help you achieve
    your decisions objectives.
  • The time and effort spent generating options
    depends on the importance of the decision being
    made.
  • Options can be generated by
  • Research
  • Informal discussion
  • Brainstorming
  • Meetings

62
Evaluating Options
  • So far youve learnt how to initiate the decision
    making process by
  • Describing the decision to be made
  • Producing a set of essential and desirable
    criteria
  • There is not an optimum number of options for
    making an effective decision
  • Sometimes a decision is simply just yes or no or
    a choice between two things.

63
(No Transcript)
64
(No Transcript)
65
(No Transcript)
66
(No Transcript)
67
(No Transcript)
68
(No Transcript)
69
(No Transcript)
70
Thank You..!
Write a Comment
User Comments (0)
About PowerShow.com