Extension Education
University research you can use.
by Aaron Berger, Nebraska Extension Beef Educator www.beef.unl.edu
ASKING ‘WHY?’ WITH SYSTEMS THINKING: A POWERFUL TOOL FOR PROBLEM SOLVING B
March 2020
eef production from conception to consumption is a complex, biological system where cause and effect are often distant in time and space. For example, things that occurred to a calf while it was developing inside of a cow, can impact that animal throughout its life all the way to harvest. This can
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make it challenging to identify and address the actual source of a problem when it is observed. To better understand and address the source of problems, consider asking the question “why?” Asking “why?” can be a very powerful tool in addressing problems. When an issue
occurs in a production system, there is often an effort to fix the problem without fully appreciating the “why” behind the problem. Sometimes “why?” needs to be asked multiple times in order to identify the underlying structure at the source of the problem. The principle of asking
above When an issue occurs in a production system, there is often an effort to fix the problem without fully appreciating the ‘why’ behind the problem. Photo credit Troy Walz.
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