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Definition
Definition
The process of working through details of a problem to reach a solution. Problem solving may include mathematical or systematic operations and can be a gauge of an individual's critical thinking skills.
Contents
Definition
Problem solving Problem solving is the main and core activity of all management activities. Innumerable problems will mushroom because of these unsolved problems. The way in which the problems are solved depends on the skills which the managers possess their proactivity, responsiveness and their management style There is no definite problem-solving model which has the capacity to work in all given situations and with all management styles
Problem identification
Definition of problem
Symptoms of problem
Causes of problem
What is the problem? This should explain why the team is needed. Who has the problem or who is the client/ customer? What form can the resolution be?
This should explain who needs the solution and who will decide the problem has been solved.
What is the scope and limitations (in time, money, resources, technologies) that can be used to solve the problem? Does the client want a white paper? A web-tool? A new feature for a product? A brainstorming on a topic?
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Contents
Definition
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Brainstorming (1/2)
Brainstorming is a popular method of group interaction in both educational and business settings. Even though there have been arguments about its productivity, brainstorming is still a widely used method for developing creative solutions. Its an area that
Brainstorming (2/2)
There were 4 principles which were formed to reduce the social inhibitions among the members 1 Focus on quantity This rule is a means of enhancing divergent production, aiming to facilitate problem solving through the maxim quantity breeds quality. The assumption is that the greater the number of ideas generated, the greater the chance of producing a radical and effective solution. 2 Withhold criticism In brainstorming, criticism of ideas generated should be put 'on hold'. Instead, participants should focus on extending or adding to ideas, reserving criticism for a later 'critical stage' of the process. By suspending judgment, participants will feel free to generate unusual ideas. 3 Welcome unusual ideas To get a good and long list of ideas, unusual ideas are welcomed. They can be generated by looking from new perspectives and suspending assumptions. These new ways of thinking may provide better solutions. 4 Combine and improve ideas Good ideas may be combined to form a single better good idea, as suggested by the slogan "1+1=3". It is believed to stimulate the building of ideas by a 2008 - 2012association. Copyright process of
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Directed
Guided
Question
This process involves brainstorming the questions, rather than trying to come up with immediate answers and short term solutions. Theoretically, this technique should not inhibit participation as there is no need to provide solutions. The answers to the questions form the framework for constructing future action plans. Once the list of questions is set, it may be necessary to prioritize them to reach to the best solution in an orderly way. "Questorming" is another phrase for this mode of inquiry
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One of the traditional points in the development of strategies is a SWOT analysis. SWOT is an acronym that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The analysis is merely a guide for organizing
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Mission
Weaknesses
Threats
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your competitive stance. The company can outsource its weaknesses to other
companies and focus on what it can do
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EVALUATION 10% 9% 8% 7% 6% 5% 4% 3% 2% 1%
The companys weaknesses also plays a crucial role in the ability to achieve its long term goals, objectives etc. CEOs often can more easily describe their business strength and weaknesses, generally because they dont like to admit that they have any weaknesses. Weaknesses are those skills, capabilities that your company lacks and that prevent the company from achieving its goals and objectives. If the organization does not have a critical skill or capability to achieve a goal, there are 3 options 1 2 3 Modify the goal to something achievable with the skill set the company has Raise the capital needed to acquire the skill or capability you needed Find another company that has the core competency it needs and outsource that need or collaborate through a strategic partnership
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Opportunity
Threats Threats are barriers to the growth. These threats or barriers may be in the form of Threat of new entrants, threat from substitute products, threat from buyers bargaining power, threat from suppliers bargaining power, threat from rivalry among existing industry firms
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Pareto analysis was coined after Vilferdo Pareto, an economist who postulated this theory. It uses statistical methods and techniques to solve various problems and find the optimum solution. Pareto analysis commonly called as 80:20 rule, suggests that 80% of the problems arise because of 20% of the causes. According to this rule, if we address 20% of the issues, it can lead to 80% advantage in overall performance. The underlying idea is that by doing 20% of the work we can generate 80% of the advantage of doing the entire job.
How to use it List the causes for problems you face, or the options you have available. Group options where they are facets of the same larger problem. Go through the list and apply an appropriate score to each group. Work on the group with the highest score, or the group whose score adds up to 80%.
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Intuitive method
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Contents
Definition
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Problem-solving process
5 1
4 2
1
This is the most important step in the process because it drives the analysis Deal with facts, what is known to
4 2
be true about the problem you are dealing with . Challenge assumptions Separate symptoms from actual problems Develop a main question . Questions are most useful way to 3 Analyze potential causes structure problems
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1
We want to take our main question and identify more specific questions Each of these questions can be
4 2
further broken down into more granular questions . These questions can then be analyzed A mutually exclusive , collectively exhaustive should be used for completeness purposes
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Once the questions are formulated, pick one or more of the subordinate questions to address Identify the list of data sources
4 2
Draw conclusions
5
4 2
interpreted Team members need to develop a common point of view regarding their research findings so they
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Make recommendations
5
1
The data summary should be paired with the question The main questions should be
4 2
addressed using the findings from step 3 (Analyze potential causes) Where gap exists, make assumptions but be sure to
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Contents
Definition
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Premium Membership at ManagementStudyGuide.com is a Lifetime Membership wherein you can download all the Power-point Presentations on Various Academics, Soft Skills and Management Topics. All these Presentations are customized to meet the needs of Management Students and Corporate Learners.
Few of the Topics are: Human Resource Management, Functions of Management, SWOT Analysis, Time Management, Team Work, Facing an Interview, Positive Attitude, Business Writing Skills, Public Relations, Virtual Teams, Recruitment Skills, Personal Goal Setting, Improving Productivity, Job Hunt Strategies, Negotiation Skills, Change Management, Portfolio Management, etc. Check the list of all the Presentations: http://www.managementstudyguide.com/powerpoint-presentations.htm
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Plan-Do-Check-Act
New thoughts implementation If something goes wrong, need to be changed, need to be fixed and delivered? If you are 100% confident that your solution to the problem would be right not once but every time How are you going to approach the situation? A process that will ensure to identify, develop, test and implement . . . Plan: Identify and working on the problem Do: Developing a potential solution Check: How effective and efficient the solution, whether it can be improved? Act: Implement final solution
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Plan Identify exactly what problem is Use cause and effect diagrams to know the root of the problem Then Structure your process at the root of the problem List down all the information/data you need that will help start sketching out possible solutions
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Do Think and generate possible solutions Select the best solution from all the listed solutions Implement a trial project with a small group Generate a trial design which is appropriate to the nature of the problem
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Check Measure how effective the pilot solution has been so far List down all learning and analyze which section can be done even better Repeat do and check tools after implementing additional improvements
Once you got the final sketch and benefits for your problem, move to final phase
CHECK
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Act Implement your final solution Use Kaizen approach for continuous improvement Identify new solutions and improvement that are repeated frequently Look back to the Plan phase and find out if whole PDCA cycle need further improvement
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PLAN
DO
ACT
CHECK
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Appreciation Inquiry
Appreciation and Inquiry combined together we get a valuable tools to solve present situation and learn Copyright 2008 - 2012 the ways to effective positive change for the future
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Define what you are looking at Implementation phase requires lot of planning and preparation ensuring dream (vision) is the focus point. It should support and sustain the dream Look at the practicalities needed to support the vision. Start focusing on processes and strategies
Design Phase
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Design Phase
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Existing problems will make you have opportunities for change and improvement and makes problem finding a valuable skill
This is the first step in Simplex model and below are the few questions that will come across: What would our customers want us to improve? What are they complaining about? What could they be doing better if we could help them? Who else could we help by using our core competences? What small problems do we have which could grow into bigger ones? And where could failures arise in our business process? What slows our work or makes it more difficult? What do we often fail to achieve? Where do we have bottlenecks? How can we improve quality? What are our competitors doing that we could do? What is frustrating and irritating to our team?
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The next stage is to research the problem and below list helps you to: Understand fully how different people perceive the situation. Analyze data to see if the problem really exists. Explore the best ideas that your competitors have had. Understand customers' needs in more detail. Know what has already been tried. Understand fully any processes, components, services, or technologies that you may want to use. Ensure that the benefits of solving the problem will be worth the effort that you'll put into solving it Effective fact-finding confirms the view of the situation and ensure future problem solving has accurate view and reality
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The next stage is to identify the exact problem you want to solve Make sure to solve the problem at right level If questions are too broad, then resources will be short to answer them effectively If questions are too narrow, then you will end up fixing symptoms of the problem, rather than problem itself Make the big problem into many smaller ones. Use techniques like drill down to break the problem into smaller ones. 5 Whys technique, Cause and Effect analysis and root cause analysis helps to get into root of the problem
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The next stage is to generate problem solving ideas Present your ideas to people and ask opinions Have a brainstorm session through creativity tools and thinking techniques Try to look at the problem from another angle/perspective Have a reframing matrix which helps you to concentrate on Dos and Don'ts Get random inputs from people to have new ideas Do not evaluate or criticize in this stage, instead just concentrate on generating new ideas Sometimes some impractical ideas can often generate new ideas
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The next stage is to select the best possible solution Use techniques like Decision Making Techniques, Decision Tree Analysis, Grid Analysis If your idea does not work or does not bring enough benefit, then see if you can generate new ideas or restart the whole process Few Techniques which are helpful include: Risk analysis: Explore things where things go wrong Impact analysis: A framework for exploring consequences of your decision Force field analysis: Explains pros and cons against the change Six thinking hats: which helps you to explore to make valid decision making
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After selecting the idea, then next stage is to plan its implementation Action plans help you to manage simple projects they emphasize on the layout of Who, What, When, Where and Why and how of delivering the work Build project management skills which will be used to deliver implemented project successfully within the given deadline Draw a Gantt chart to plan your deliverables phase by phase and to deliver the whole project in a specified time
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You have almost finalized the plan now and ready for final implementation . . . . In this stage: Test your idea with small team and know if implemented process running smoothly Learn if you can improve your idea at any stage in the process Look at the problem from other perspectives and analyze if it causes any adverse effects at any stage Your implementation has an impact on several people make sure people support your idea
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This is the last stage of the whole process and your creativity and preparation comes into action
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These 8 stages ensure that you solve the most significant problems with the best solutions Copyright to be intensely creative available to you. So, this process can help you2008 - 2012
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Premium Membership at ManagementStudyGuide.com is a Lifetime Membership wherein you can download all the Power-point Presentations on Various Academics, Soft Skills and Management Topics. All these Presentations are customized to meet the needs of Management Students and Corporate Learners.
Few of the Topics are: Human Resource Management, Functions of Management, SWOT Analysis, Time Management, Team Work, Facing an Interview, Positive Attitude, Business Writing Skills, Public Relations, Virtual Teams, Recruitment Skills, Personal Goal Setting, Improving Productivity, Job Hunt Strategies, Negotiation Skills, Change Management, Portfolio Management, etc. Check the list of all the Presentations: http://www.managementstudyguide.com/powerpoint-presentations.htm
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Contents
Definition
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RCA identifies the problem and uses specific steps to find the primary cause of the problem: Investigate what happened Analyze why it happened Draw out what to do to reduce or not to repeat gain
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2 1
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Physical causes Some items failed to work in some way Example failure of power transformer
Human Causes
Organizational causes
People did A system or something wrong or schedule not have done which is worked on properly not needed and this and people ignores gain leads to their allotted work physical causes Example no one Example no one was responsible for filled oil in transformer transformer which maintenance and led to power failure everyone assumed that someone has Copyright 2008 - 2012 filled the oil managementstudyguide.com. All rights
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Root causes analysis looks at all these 3 types of causes and investigates not only one issue but finding hidden flaws and actions that contributing to the problem
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What is the best solution you need to develop to prevent the problem happening again How will you implement? Who is responsible? What are the risks and benefits of implementing the solution
Analyze your cost and effect process, and identify the changes you need for various systems. It is also important that you plan ahead to predict the effects of your solution. Copyright before they By doing this you can identify potential failures2008 - 2012 happen
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7 6 5 4
3
2 1
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5 Whys
WHY WHY WHY WHY
Quickly getting to the root of a problem This is simple problem-solving technique to get in depth of a problem quickly The 5-Why strategy made popular by Toyota Production System in 1970s involves looking at any problem and asking Why? and What caused the problem? Advantages of 5 Whys include: It quickly identifies the root cause of the problem
WHY
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5 Whys Example
WHY WHY WHY WHY
5 Whys Why is our client not satisfied with our work? Because we did not deliver on time Why we did not complete the work on time? The work took much time than expected Why did it took much longer to complete? Because we underestimated the complexity of job Why did we underestimate the complexity of the job? Because we made a quick estimate and did not approach stage by stage Why did not we spot our deadline? Copyright 2008 - 2012 Because we are running behind other projects managementstudyguide.com. All rights
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WHY
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Breaking Problems into manageable parts This technique describes about breaking a complex problem into progressively smaller parts Write down problem in a sheet of paper and list down the points relating to the problem like factors, information, questions and potential solutions that need to create at each stage. This is called Drilling Down For each point listed, repeat the process until you fully understand the factors that contributing the problem
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Premium Membership at ManagementStudyGuide.com is a Lifetime Membership wherein you can download all the Power-point Presentations on Various Academics, Soft Skills and Management Topics. All these Presentations are customized to meet the needs of Management Students and Corporate Learners.
Few of the Topics are: Human Resource Management, Functions of Management, SWOT Analysis, Time Management, Team Work, Facing an Interview, Positive Attitude, Business Writing Skills, Public Relations, Virtual Teams, Recruitment Skills, Personal Goal Setting, Improving Productivity, Job Hunt Strategies, Negotiation Skills, Change Management, Portfolio Management, etc. Check the list of all the Presentations: http://www.managementstudyguide.com/powerpoint-presentations.htm
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List down what exactly the problem is Identify who is involved/ responsible Check out where and when the problem occurs
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Contents
Definition
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Both for corporate and personal life problem-solving and decision-making are considered as important skills. Problem-solving often involves decision-making and decision making is important for leadership and management. Decision making is more natural for few people in management and the only thing they have to learn is the quality of the decisions taken. People that are less natural decision-makers are often able to make quality assessments, but then need to be more decisive in acting upon the assessments made. Problem-solving and decision-making are closely linked, and each requires creativity in identifying and developing options Various process involved in problem-solving and decision-making Define and clarify the issue - does it warrant action? If so, how? Is the matter urgent, important or both. Gather all the facts and understand their causes. Think about or brainstorm possible options and solutions. Consider and compare the pros and cons of each option - consult if necessary - it probably will be. Select the best option - avoid vagueness or 'foot in both camps' compromise. Explain your decision to those involved and affected, and follow up to ensure proper and effective implementation
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Common biases limit our ability to solve problems and make decisions
Bias Availability Description Too much importance is placed on information or data that is recent or available The scope or extent of the analysis is limited to starting point
Anchoring
Commitment
Adherence to a previous decision increases despite the knowledge of information contrary to the prior decision The solution has been decided or if known before any data is collected or analysis is completed The belief that the occurrence of an event or outcome was caused by a previous action that in fact had little to do with the outcome The practice of being overly optimistic often time is the face of data to the contrary The practice Copyright 2008 - 2012 of assessing the likelihood of an event or outcome by drawing parallels to other eventsAll rights managementstudyguide.com. or outcomes that are unrelated
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Confirmation
Hindsight
Overconfidence
Representative
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Premium Membership at ManagementStudyGuide.com is a Lifetime Membership wherein you can download all the Power-point Presentations on Various Academics, Soft Skills and Management Topics. All these Presentations are customized to meet the needs of Management Students and Corporate Learners.
Few of the Topics are: Human Resource Management, Functions of Management, SWOT Analysis, Time Management, Team Work, Facing an Interview, Positive Attitude, Business Writing Skills, Public Relations, Virtual Teams, Recruitment Skills, Personal Goal Setting, Improving Productivity, Job Hunt Strategies, Negotiation Skills, Change Management, Portfolio Management, etc. Check the list of all the Presentations: http://www.managementstudyguide.com/powerpoint-presentations.htm
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