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| Criterion |  Operations Causal Factor Analysis |  Business Strategy Strategy Map |  Operations Barrier Analysis |  Systems Thinking Current Reality Tree |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | For an event with a complicated course, the method breaks down the contributing factors along the timeline. It shows how conditions, decisions, and reactions together produce a course of events. | A Strategy Map translates strategy into a few connected objectives across perspectives such as finance, customers, processes, and learning. This makes visible which capabilities and activities are meant to drive which results. | For a risk that can only be managed through multiple layers of protection, the method examines the effectiveness of each barrier. It shows where safeguards are missing, too weak, or fail under real conditions. | A Current Reality Tree condenses many symptoms into a few causal chains. The method makes visible which core problems drive several negative effects at once. |
Complexitydifferent | High | Medium | Medium | High |
Timedifferent | 2-6 h | 2-4 h workshop plus review | 2-4 h | 2-6 h |
Participantsdifferent | 3-10 | 4-10 | 2-6 | 3-8 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Event Timeline, Causal Factor Chart, Cause List, Corrective Actions | Strategy Map, Objective Set, Cause-Effect Hypotheses | Barrier Inventory, Failure Analysis per Barrier, Action Backlog | Current Reality Tree, Core Problems, Intervention Ideas |
Tagsno overlap | CausalityIncidentRoot causeTimeline | AlignmentExecutionGoalsCausality | Root causeSafetyIncident | Systems thinkingRoot causeConstraintsCausality |