Problem Solving and Decision Making: Structure Before Speed
What you must know
Questions here test structured diagnosis and defensible choice. Know root-cause tools - five whys, fishbone, Pareto, process mapping - and when each fits. Understand the difference between a symptom and a cause, and between corrective and preventive action. For decisions, know how to frame criteria and weights, distinguish reversible from irreversible choices, and recognize sunk costs as irrelevant. Be familiar with capacity and bottleneck logic: system throughput is set by the constraint, and local efficiency elsewhere does not help.
Traps
Expect distractors that jump to a solution before diagnosis, or that treat a Pareto chart as a root-cause proof - it prioritizes, it does not explain. Watch for sunk-cost reasoning ("we've already invested") and for optimizing a non-bottleneck. Another trap is choosing the option that satisfies the loudest stakeholder rather than the weighted criteria. Also beware treating a one-off special cause as a trend.
Worked example
Late deliveries rose 12%. Pareto shows 70% of late orders shipped from one DC. Five whys on that DC: late picks → picks start late → replenishment arrives late → supplier ships late → no lead-time buffer on that SKU. The fix is a buffer and supplier terms, not more pickers. Rule of thumb: use Pareto to find where, then root-cause tools to find why - never skip the second step.