“Why are we having more incidents?” Causal loops in reactions to unwanted events (Steven Shorrock, 29 January 2024)

Summary

One way to understand the links between unwanted events, conditions and interventions is via causal loop diagrams. These represent how situations perpetuate in 'causal loops'. They are depicted as words and phrases for events and conditions, and arrows with a plus or minus sign to indicate the direction of causal influence. Causal loop diagrams can assist a conversation via the gradual building of each loop. They can otherwise represent data from research and practice. 

Steven Shorrock illustrate the progressive build of a causal loop diagram concerning reactions to unwanted events, including fixes that fail, based on practice and research. This might be useful to professionals seeking to understand why unwanted events continue to occur despite, or because of, interventions. The diagram is not ‘complete’ and would be drawn differently for different purposes, contexts and situations.

Content