A systemic problem is a problem due to issues inherent in the overall system,
rather than due to a specific, individual, isolated factor. Contrast with pilot error

Pilot error

Pilot error is a term used to describe the cause of an accident involving an airworthy aircraft where the pilot is considered to be principally or partially responsible...

, user error

User Error

A user error is an error made by the human user of a complex system, usually a computer system, in interacting with it. Although the term is sometimes used by Human Computer Interaction practitioners, the more formal human error term is used in the context of human reliability.User Error and...

 or mistake

Mistake

A mistake is an error.Mistake may also refer to:*Mistake , or 'Honest mistake' an excuse for non-performance of a contract*Mistake , or mistake of fact, a defense to criminal charges on the grounds of ignorance of a fact...

.

A change to the structure, organization or policies in that system could alleviate the systemic problem. On an Ishikawa diagram

Ishikawa diagram

Ishikawa diagrams are causal diagrams that show the causes of a certain event -- created by Kaoru Ishikawa . Common uses of the Ishikawa diagram are product design and quality defect prevention, to identify potential factors causing an overall effect...

 (fishbone diagram) of cause-and-effect links, the source of the problem can be said to be a common cause

Common Cause

Common Cause is a self-described nonpartisan, nonprofit lobby and advocacy organization. It was founded in 1970 by John W. Gardner, a Republican former cabinet secretary under Lyndon Johnson, as a "citizens' lobby" with a mission focused on making U.S. political institutions more open and...

, rather than a special cause.

See also

• systematic error
  Systematic error
  Systematic errors are biases in measurement which lead to the situation where the mean of many separate measurements differs significantly from the actual value of the measured attribute. All measurements are prone to systematic errors, often of several different types...
  
   -
• systemic bias
  Systemic bias
  Systemic bias is the inherent tendency of a process to favor particular outcomes. The term is a neologism that generally refers to human systems; the analogous problem in non-human systems is often called systematic bias, and leads to systematic error in measurements or estimates.-Bias in...
  
  - an unbalanced issue due to the system rather than to individuals