ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS
Prof. Urmil Shah
BBA (GLOBAL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT)
WHY ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS?
Root cause analysis tools help organizations uncover the real reasons behind
recurring issues, prevent failures, and improve long-term performance.
7 COMMON ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES
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CAUSE AND EFFECT DIAGRAM
PARETO CHART
5 WHYS TECHNIQUE
FAILURE MODE AND EFFECTS ANALYSIS (FMEA)
PROACT RCA METHOD
AFFINITY DIAGRAM
FAULT TREE ANALYSIS (FTA)
CAUSE AND EFFECT DIAGRAM (ISHIKAWA
FISHBONE DIAGRAM)
• The Ishikawa Fishbone Diagram is a visual root cause analysis tool that organizes potential causes of a problem
into categories. Shaped like a fishbone, it helps teams brainstorm systematically by grouping causes under
headings like Methods, Materials, Machines, People, and Environment.
Best for: Complex problems with multiple potential causes.
Pareto Chart
• Based on the 80/20 Principle, the Pareto Chart helps prioritize the most significant causes of a problem. In most
cases, 80% of failures come from just 20% of causes. By charting causes by frequency or impact, teams can focus
on the biggest drivers of failure first.
Best for: Identifying which issues deliver the highest ROI when solved.
5 Whys Technique
• The 5 Whys method is a simple but effective tool that digs deeper by repeatedly asking “why?” (usually five times)
until the root cause is uncovered. This method works best for straightforward issues but requires discipline to
avoid guessing and instead base answers on evidence.
Best for: Quick investigations of recurring, surface-level issues.
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
• FMEA is a proactive root cause analysis tool that anticipates where and how a process might fail. Teams rank risks
by severity, occurrence, and detection, allowing them to prioritize corrective actions before problems escalate.
Best for: High-risk industries where prevention is critical.
PROACT RCA METHOD
PR – Preserving failure data
The 5 P’s of data collection
• Parts, People, Position, Paper, Paradigms
O – Ordering the analysis
• Select an analysis team
• Team should be diverse in knowledge and personality and should comprise of 3-5 people led by
expert of RCA process.
A – Analyzing the data
• Effectively define the problem
• Determine failure events and failure modes
• Determine and verify hypothesis
• Determine all root causes.
C – Communicating findings and recommendations
• Prepare a report and implement corrective actions
T – Tracking for results
• Ensure effectiveness of actions, use data systems to identify effective actions and link to KPI for
making necessary adjustments
AFFINITY DIAGRAM
The Affinity Diagram organizes large amounts of qualitative data into clusters based on natural
relationships. It’s especially useful for turning brainstorming notes, survey feedback, or stakeholder input
into structured insights.
Best for: Finding themes and connections in complex or ambiguous problems.
FAULT TREE ANALYSIS (FTA)
Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) is a top-down, deductive RCA tool used in safety-critical industries like aviation,
nuclear energy, and healthcare. By mapping events in a tree structure, teams can see how multiple smaller
issues combine into major system failures.
Best for: High-risk, high-consequence problems that require exhaustive prevention.
Technique
Key Advantage
Typical Tool Used
Limitation
Fishbone Diagram
Visualizes complex
relationships
Whiteboard / Visio
Static, hard to share
Pareto Chart
Prioritizes key drivers
Excel
Manual setup, no context
5 Whys
Simple, fast analysis
Paper/Word Doc
Easy to oversimplify
FMEA
Proactively prevents failure Excel
Time-consuming, errorprone
PROACT RCA
Comprehensive & ROIdriven
Spreadsheets, and
diagrams
Time- and resourceintensive without a
structured process
Affinity Diagram
Organizes large data sets
Sticky Notes/Miro
Data gets lost over time
Fault Tree Analysis
Maps cascading failures
Diagram Tools
Hard to update & link
actions
THANK YOU
Prof. Urmil Shah
BBA (GLOBAL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT)
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