26 ◾ A Guide to Lean Six Sigma Management Skills
from the perspective of common causes, he realized his disagreements with his
boss were not unique events (special causes); rather, they were a repetitive process,
and the reasons for the disagreements could be classified into common cause cat-
egories. He was surprised to see that the 70 reasons collapse down to four basic
reasons (poor communication of a work issue, a process failure causing work not
to be completed on schedule, unexcused absence, and pay-related issues), with one
reason — poor communication of a work issue — accounting for 75 percent of all
disagreements. Armed with this insight, he scheduled a discussion with his boss to
find a solution to their communication problems. H