What is the root cause of a problem? Often there isn’t one simple answer. The bigger the problem, the more likely it is that the roots will be widespread, and mapping out the causes can quickly get out of hand, making the problem seem overwhelming.
The Causes Diagram helps you think of a problem in a thorough manner and provides a structured way to analyse it. Its pushes you to deconstruct all possible causes for the problem rather than the obvious ones. You can use it both to analyse a new problem and as a tool to highlight the gaps in an existing problem.
It also helps to differentiate causes from effects or symptoms, giving you a better idea of the solutions needed to solve a problem permanently, and it helps to build a shared understanding of what it is you’re working on.
Latest User Experience
Steven Asei-Dantoni
Unicef
User Rating: 5
Hello, I used this tool, and indeed I observed that it is quite difficult for people to differentiate between causes and consequences. Facing a huge array of social problems in the RAAN region of Nicaragua; we needed to look for a cause of the causes. We quickly decided to focus on unemployment.
The municipalities of the RAAN are marked by high unemployment (85% of population is economically active.).
According to the Human Development Report (UNDP, 2005), the Human Development Index for the RAAN, is 0.466, which represents low human development conditions, indicating that the population lives in extreme poverty.
Unemployment of the youth is an urgent issue. Not earning the means to a dignified life can lead to various social problems such as violence, drug consumption, pregnant adolescents or even risky sexual behaviors…etc.
The tool was very useful, it is documented on http://www.sadantoni.com/overview/ .
Thank you, Have a great day ,
Steven Asei Dantoni
@sadantoni
Rinko
UNICEF
User Rating: 3
Recently we used this tool for analyzing problems with university students. Contributing factors are a bit confusing for them, so we did not used it. For causal analysis, we used “5 whys” method to distill different levels of causes (immediate, underlying and structural causes). We explained “symptoms” as “consequences” – which was easier for them to understand. For example, “as a result of the problem X”, we will have X , Y, Z. this was used to guide them with analysis of direct and indirect symptoms. Later on, this was contributed to prioritizing the problems that are most pressing for them or their peers.
Jess Baron
Guitars in the Classroom
User Rating: 3
This is an excellent straightforward tool. The video is helpful, short, I got it right away. The different formats of the worksheet are great, too, for different parts of the discussion process. Our overarching problem has been parent engagement in musical activities taking children off campus to share their music at public events. The direct symptoms are non-attendance at school music functions or even principal meetings, lack of understanding of outreach andopportunities. The underlying causes are the language barrier with the principal, lack of availability of time during the day, a need to bring and feed siblings in order for parents to participate and a need to provide free transportation since most do not have cars. We can raise funds to manage all these needs to increase parent engagement and thus student participation. There is a deeper underlying problem of depression and substance abuse that would take an outside social service agency partnering with the school to address.