Problems within a team can result from personal issues, system issues, or both. Sometimes the source of the problem is obvious. The design team can't complete the final drawings because the software update they need to install first is backordered from the manufacturer. The customer call center can't improve call wait times and dropped calls because there are too few lines to handle the volume of incoming calls. The production department is ready to roll, but the templates were cut wrong and the manager had to send them back to the supplier. These are clearly system problems. The people are ready and eager to do what needs to be done, but they don't have what they need to move forward.

Sometimes the part of the system that's not functioning optimally is its people. Personal issues may arise from personality conflicts or performance problems. Employees may not understand their job responsibilities, or they may not like them and so attempt to pass them off or simply not do them. People have personalities, and personalities sometimes rub the wrong way. Counterproductive behaviors can destroy even the strongest teams, sometimes in a surprising manner.

Sometimes people simply don't get along with each other. Though we like to believe that adults can put aside their differences to work toward common goals, this doesn't always happen. The challenge is to isolate the personalities that are clashing — not always as easy as it sounds — so they can try to work out their differences. In other situations, people might get along fine (or even too well) but lack the skills or the competence to do the job.

In general, ruling out system problems points the finger at people problems. Sometimes it's difficult to tell where the lines are drawn. In fact, it might be a combination of the two that is causing issues. Consider the following example.

Wacky Widget's customer call center had a telephone tree that routed calls, no matter what time of the day or night, to an extension where a “live body” could answer the phone. The sophisticated switching circuitry relied on computerized records that identified employees as they signed onto their computer terminals. The telephone tree identified them as “live” and routed calls according to a priority structure based on job function.

For months, the customer service desk fielded complaints about calls not being answered between 8 A.M. and 11 A.M. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Technicians checked all the wiring, circuits, and connections. Systems analysts checked all the computer algorithms to verify personnel routings. Finally a consultant from the telephone company helped set up a process for tracing call paths. This narrowed the problem to a phone in the middle of the callforwarding sequence. Although technicians were unable to find any equipment problems in the office or with the phone, they replaced wiring and installed a new telephone that tracked all calls that rang to it, whether or not they were answered.

Astonishingly, the phone logged no call activity on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, even though the customer service desk continued to receive complaints. So a technician decided to sit in the office and observe. After an hour or so of sitting in silence, the technician asked the employee working in the office if the phone was always so quiet. “Of course!” he said. “I unplug it as soon as I sign in, so I can work without interruptions.”

The rest of the story quickly unfolded. The employee was a temporary filling in for another employee who was on maternity leave. Although he had his own log-on ID, the computer station itself was registered to the employee who usually worked there. So when the temporary employee logged onto the computer, the telephone tree routed calls through the office's number because the computer showed it as manned. But the temp using the office was doing special assignments, not filling in for the employee who was on leave. He worked in three different offices during the course of a week, but this was the only one with a direct-ring phone. So he did what he thought made sense to keep calls that he couldn't handle from interrupting his work: He unplugged the phone.

So, is this a system problem or a people problem? The answer, unfortunately, is both.