Improve Living: Root Cause vs. Effects

By Danny S. Villanueva
(A copy for the Ihip Newsletter.)

In our everyday life, we see people to be real busy and concern addressing the malady of the many symptom, indications and signs of their predicaments. The problems do not stop at all, they simply would just rest for awhile and reappear a little later to create havoc once again into the life of these people. This makes life a terrible experience.

Take for instance the following snap shots in a typical neighborhood: Mang Rey has a painful gout problem which repeatedly recurs almost monthly. He dutifully addresses it by taking pain relievers without knowing what causes his gaut problem. He eats a lot and regularly joins his barkada for drinking sprees. He is anxious to see a doctor for his health condition, for he thinks it is just a waste of time and money. He relies on his kumpare’s quackery. Cause vs effect: eating so much foods rich in uric acid (cause); painful swelling of feet and hands (effects).

Rey’s neighbour, Aling Elena has a mounting loan from various creditors around the neighbourhood. Her husband, a security guard at the mall is a minimum wage earner and would drive tricycle after his duty to augment his earning. Aling Elena, who keeps up with her kumares caprices, has fancy for buying wares on instalment from the Bumbay. She resorts to 5-6 loan sharks to be able to pay the Bumbay. The problem spirals and she knows pretty soon she would not be able to cope with all the loan payments. How could she get away from this time bomb predicament? Cause vs effect: envy, jealousy and pride (cause); mounting loans, anxiety, bankruptcy (effects).

Mang Rey and Aling Elena are like many of our folks who must find and resolve the root cause of their problems, and not just deal with their effects in order to escape more lastingly from their difficulties. Effective people believe strongly in dealing with the root causes to bring about the greatest, lasting and sustainable improvement in their life.

Other examples of cause and effect: Experienced several failures, setbacks in the past (cause); low morale and self-confidence today (effects). Addicted in gambling and other vices (cause); involved in crime today (effects). Avid rumor mongerer (cause); poor relationship, quarrel with neighbors (effects). Lack of love of family and friends (cause); unfriendly, feeling of emptiness (effects). Poor set of priority and time management (cause); procrastinates, always late for appointment (effects).

It is understandable why people are inclined to deal with effects rather than causes. Effects are immediately observable and felt, so it is easy to respond to them. Upon temporarily fixing the effects, you get an immediate change that created a feeling of wellness and unconsciously forgo finding the “root cause.” On the other hand, looking for root causes can be wearisome and complicated and sometimes, frightening. This can drive people to run away when they realize the true cause of their problems. Also, some people might not even know how to go about looking for the root cause of it.

5 WHYS. The 5 Whys is an accepted, proven, easy, scientific technique used in the problem analysis in digging for the root cause. It does not involve any statistical assumptions and in many cases can be done without a data collection plan. You should have observed that asking "Why?" is a natural habit of three year old children in their curiosity to understand things. By repeatedly asking "Why" (why not six? five is a good rule of thumb), you can remove away the layers of effects or symptoms which can lead to the root cause of a problem. The technique is to ask the right questions to get the right answers. Wrong questions lead to wrong answers. The following is an example application:

Problem Statement: You are in your car and it stops in the middle of the road.
1. WHY did your car stop? (Answer) Because it ran out of gas.
2. WHY did it run out of gas? (Answer) Because I did not buy any gas earlier.
3. WHY did you not buy any gas earlier? (Answer) Because I did not have any money.
4. WHY did you not have any money? (Answer) Because I lost it all last night drinking with my barkadas .
5. WHY did you lose your money drinking with your friends? (Answer) Because I am not good in avoiding them specially when it comes to drinking spree (root cause).

The solution or corrective action now should address the root cause of “fond of drinking spree with barkadas.”

Choose not to prolong your suffering and improve your life condition. While you have temporarily fixed the “effects,” consciously focus now on the “root cause” and implement a corrective action.
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