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| Criterion |  Decision Making Delphi Method |  Operations 5 Whys |  Systems Thinking Current Reality Tree |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When knowledge is distributed and direct dominance should be avoided, groups quickly fall under the sway of their opinion leaders. The Delphi Method gathers assessments iteratively and gradually brings expert judgments closer together. | For a single, hard-to-explain deviation, the method exposes the causal chain behind the visible symptom. It keeps the cause open until a controllable condition emerges instead of a mere description. | 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. | When a problem keeps recurring and the cause stays unclear, the method exposes the underlying mechanism. It separates symptom, guess, and robust explanation from one another. |
Complexitydifferent | High | Low | High | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-4 Wochen | 15-30 min | 2-6 h | 1-4 h |
Participantsdifferent | 6-30 Experten | 2-6 | 3-8 | 3-8 |
Formatdifferent | Async | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Expert Forecast, Consensus Range, Assumption Notes | Root cause notes, Countermeasures | Current Reality Tree, Core Problems, Intervention Ideas | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan |
Tagsno overlap | ForecastingExpertsDecisionStrategy | Root causeIncidentLeanProblem solving | Systems thinkingRoot causeConstraintsCausality | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident |