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Root Cause Analysis
Now that you have completed a Gemba Walk and have gathered information about the organization and identified opportunities to eliminate inefficiencies, reduce waste, improve a product, or streamline a process, it is time to take a closer look at these problems and get to the root cause of why they are happening.
Additional Resources
For more information about how to use 5 Whys or a Fishbone diagram to conduct a root cause analysis, check out the following links:

5 Whys: Getting to the Root of a Problem Quickly
Cause and Effect Analysis: Identifying the Likely Causes of Problems

Assignment Instructions
Create either a 5 Whys or a Fishbone diagram for each of the two short-term opportunities and the one long-term opportunity you identified during your Gemba Walk. Work through each step of the 5 Whys or Fishbone processes to find the root cause(s) of each problem.
Running head: GEMBA WALK
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Gemba Walk
Students Name
Institution Name
GEMBA WALK
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Organization
I work for the Banner Health company, which is a non-profit healthcare system based in
Phoenix. The company operates 28 hospitals and several health-care facilities across six states.
The company is among the largest employer in Arizona with about 50,000 employees. The
company’s mission is to make healthcare easier, so that life can be better.’ Additionally, the
vision of the organization is that the company will be a national leader recognized for clinical
excellence and innovation (owler, n.d).
Gemba Context
My Gemba walk was focused on the company since it is a non-profit organization that
experiences numerous organizational problems that any other organization can face. The reason
for focusing the Gemba walk on the company is because I work there and I would like to make it
more efficient in terms of operations. The organization runs 28 hospitals. Therefore, I decided to
visit 5 of them and note the progress made. The high cost of healthcare has over the years,
hardened the ability of the Banner Health company to provide quality healthcare to patients.
Since the organization is non-profit, it mainly relies on donations and funding from outside
sources (Liker, 2018).
Gemba Observations
The first observation I made while observing each hospital is that they all had a diverse
workforce. This aspect implies that the company is active in employing a wide range of
employees from different ethnical background. Each hospital had advanced equipment that
assisted in offering medical care to patients. However, I also sported numerous challenges in
operations. For instance, there was an inadequate number of beds meaning that each hospital
GEMBA WALK
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could not support the full capacity that they were meant to cater for. The additional problem was
that there was a shortage of doctors and nurses. I mainly observed how employees use the
infrastructure to work and how the employees work with the patients and with each other.
Gemba Objective
The main aim of my Gemba observation was to observe the operations that constitute the
company. With this observation, I can identify problems and assist the company in acting to
solve the problem. Moreover, the Gemba is aimed at enhancing the relationship between the
company and its employees. The Gemba walk is also essential since it allows exploration of the
value stream in detail, thus locate problematic areas through communication.
Analysis of the observation and critical takeaways
Since Banner Health company is a non-profit organization, my observation was mainly
based on how the company can be efficient while using its limited resources. I primarily
observed operations and employee relations. My observation explains why some of the hospitals
were not performing as well as they should in delivering quality healthcare. The observations
made are, therefore, very essential in defining the organization progress. One key takeaway is
that Banner Health company can solve its problems that result from weakness and threats to
improve operations, therefore, improve efficiency.
Application of opportunities.
The first short-term opportunity is that there is an increased number of medical covers that
make medical expenses affordable to patients. This aspect makes the organization able to
improve its services to patients. The lack of a dominant competitor also creates a chance for
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the company to provide efficient services to its patients. Finally, the third short-term opportunity
is that there has been an increased number of patients visiting the hospital, and this is an
aspect that would potentially increase funding, thus increasing the size of the healthcare
company. One long term opportunity is the advances made by new technology. New technology
has assisted in improving services and reduce waste in the healthcare company.
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References
Jeffrey Liker. (2018). Lessons from Toyota: How to do a Gemba Walk and Why You Need To.
Retrieved from; https://theleadershipnetwork.com/article/lessons-from-toyota-how-to-doa-gemba-walk-and-why-you-need-to
owler. (n.d). Banner Health’s Competitors, Revenue, Number of Employees, Funding and
Acquisitions. Retrieved from; https://www.owler.com/company/bannerhealth

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