A frequent cause of system sub optimization is:

Question

Options

• Aoptimizing individual processes
• Bfailing to draw a system flow chart
• Cusing data with outliers
• Dfailing to consider the normal distribution

• A
  84% (41)
• B
  10% (5)
• C
  4% (2)
• D
  2% (1)

Explanation

Optimizing individual processes in isolation - without considering how they interact within the larger system - is the classic cause of system sub-optimization: a department hitting its own targets while inadvertently hurting overall system performance (e.g., a factory maximizing machine throughput but creating inventory bottlenecks downstream). Options B, C, and D are distractors: failing to draw a flow chart is a documentation gap, not a structural cause of sub-optimization; outliers are a data quality concern unrelated to system design; and the normal distribution relates to statistical analysis, not systems thinking. The key concept here is that local optima ≠ global optima - a system performs best when optimized as a whole, not as a sum of individually tuned parts.

Memory tip: Think "silo mentality" - when each silo (department/process) chases its own metrics, the whole system suffers. A = Apart (optimizing apart from the system breaks the system).

No community discussion yet for this question.