Management & Soft Skills
Problem Solving and Decision-Making
A programme in solving operational problems with a structured method: defining the problem, analysing its root causes, evaluating options, and taking, documenting and following up the decision, with examples from recurring failures and quality problems in plants, laboratories and field sites.
Overview
About the programme
Duration
2 days
Training hours
10 hours
Delivery
Training hall · Virtual · At your premises
Language
Arabic or English
Objectives
Training outcomes
- Define a problem precisely and measurably, and distinguish it from its symptoms.
- Use root cause analysis tools: the five whys, the fishbone diagram and the Pareto chart.
- Generate options and evaluate them with a decision matrix that weighs impact, cost, risk and effort.
- Distinguish the immediate fix from the corrective action that prevents recurrence.
- Document the decision, its rationale and its implementation plan, and follow up its effect.
Content
What the programme covers
Day 1: defining the problem and analysing its causes
- The problem-solving steps and the plan-do-check-act cycle.
- Defining the problem: what, where, when and how much; the gap between the expected and the actual condition.
- Collecting data: check sheets, Pareto charts and run charts.
- Root cause analysis: the five whys, the fishbone diagram and verifying the cause with data.
Day 2: options, decision and documentation
- Generating and evaluating options: the weighted decision matrix, risk analysis and effort against impact.
- Decision modes: individual and group decisions, deciding under time pressure and common biases in judgement.
- Immediate, corrective and preventive action, and the implementation and follow-up plan.
- Documenting the decision in a one-page report, and an integrated case study from an operational setting, followed by the assessment.
Who it is for
Target audience
Engineers, technicians, supervisors and quality and maintenance staff in plants, operating stations, laboratories and field sites.
Method
Delivery method
Group exercises on cases of recurring failures, quality deviations and operational incidents, in which participants apply each tool to the case data. The organisation can bring a real problem from its own work to analyse on the second day.
Questions
FAQ
Can we work on a real problem from our own work?
Yes. The organisation can choose a current operational problem and send its data to the centre before the programme, and it becomes the case study for the second day.
Does the programme need a statistics background?
No. The tools are used in their applied form; familiarity with simple tables and percentages is enough.
A programme tailored to your organisation
The duration and topics of the programme are adjusted to the organisation's needs, and it is delivered at its site, in a training hall arranged by the Center, or virtually.