1.5 - About University

Step ➌ Every problem leaves a distinctive fingerprint. Compare the Is Happening with theIs Not Happening. What is unique or distinctive about these two columns?What changes, if any, have taken place related to these distinctions?Step ➍ List the potential causes that could explain much, if not all, of the data.Step ➎ Test each potential cause against the data, trying to rule out those causes that donot satisfactorily explain the data.Step ➏ For the most probable cause(s), gather additional data that would confirm or disconfirmthe cause before taking action.Charles Kepner and Benjamin Tregoe, in their groundbreaking book, The New RationalManager, summarized the process this way:Reprinted with the permission of Kepner-Tregoe, Inc. All rights reserved.H OW TO USE THIS LEADERSHIP TOOL“One kind of problem that taxes our ability to ask the right questions is the problem that drifts inlike fog, very gradually, until visibility has dropped to near zero. Some gradual change in conditions hasoccurred, and by the time the situation has become serious enough to gain everyone’s attention its criticalelements may be lost to view.”—Charles Kepner and Benjamin Tregoe, THE NEW RATIONAL MANAGERBy way of example, the leader of a Corporate Services group recently negotiated a new contractfor photocopiers. People had liked the previous name-brand copiers, but the cost savings onthe new copiers were just too attractive to pass up! Recently, more and more complaints havesurfaced about the new copiers. The leader chalked up the first few as “just the usual complaints,”but the complaints have kept coming. A series of technicians have adjusted the most208 SECTION 7 TOOLS FOR PROBLEM SOLVING, DECISION MAKING, AND QUALITY