For
at least 5000 years, mankind has used the notion of causation to
express happenings. Unfortunately we have failed to differentiate the
immense power of the Cause and Effect
Principle
from the simple notion of causation. Causation tells us that everything
that happens has a cause, while the Cause and Effect Principle provides
four basic characteristics that allow
us to develop effective problem solving tools. The four characteristics are as follows:
· Causes and Effects are the same thing,
· Causes and Effects are part of an infinite continuum of causes,
· Each effect has at least two causes in the form of actions and conditions, and
· An effect exists only if its causes exist at the same point in time and space.
Knowing
that Cause and Effect are the same thing only viewed from a different
perspective in time, helps us understand why people can look at the same
situation and see different causal
relationships.
In an injury accident, I may see the cause as a fall, while the next
person sees the fall as an effect that needs understanding. We are
actually perceiving different time segments of
the same thing, and we can put them together causally to achieve a better understanding.
Knowing
that Causes and Effects are part of an infinite continuum of causes
helps us understand that no matter where we start on our problem, we are
always in the middle of a
chain
of causes. This helps us understand that there is no right place to
start. Like the jigsaw puzzle, we can start the problem solving process
anywhere and still end up with a complete
picture. This avoids the usual arguments over who is right.
Probably
the most profound characteristic of the Cause and Effect Principle is
that each effect has at least two causes in the form of actions and
conditions. This teaches us that every
time
we ask “why,” we should find at least two causes and for each of these
causes we should find two more resulting in at least four causes, and
from each of these four causes we may find
two
causes, resulting in at least 8, and on to 16, 32, etc. With this
understanding, we see that there is an infinite set of causes for each
effect, limited only by our lack of knowledge. It is this
element
of the cause and effect principle that is responsible for our pursuit
of simpler strategies. We never knew how to deal with an infinite set
of causes before now.
Cause
and Effect relationships exist with or without the human mind, but we
perceive them relative to time and space. From observation, we see that
an effect exists only if its causes exist
at
the same point in time and space. An open fire exists because of three
conditional causes: Oxygen, Oily Rags, a Match, and one momentary action
cause: a Match
Strike.
If these four causes did not exist at the same time and space, the fire
would not exist. For example, if the oily rags where stored in a closed
can, or if the match was struck at a
different
time, a fire could not exist. Understanding this characteristic helps
us determine the validity of causal relationships.
From
these four characteristics we can see that everything that happens is
built upon an elemental set of causes consisting of conditional and
action causes coming together to cause an
effect
at a common place in time and space. By understanding causal
relationships we can devise some simple tools that will enable us to tap
the awesome power of the Cause and Effect
Principle and break away from the ineffective strategies we use today.
This is what the Apollo RCA™ problem solving method is all about.
