It is said that we can't have success as long as there isn't competition; any product loses its value if it's not compared with other and therefore one of the most important business practices to reach the top brings up the competition. And not just business acquaints us with it; a study by a prestigious U.S. university showed that 85% of ways for the award of marks is based on competition: quizzes, games, tests, etc. In other words we are taught to depend on competition as the only source of motivation to get a good result. But up to what point exactly is effective competition?
It is not hard to imagine what would happen in a world where all people would follow than the personal interests of everyone. Such a world would pretty much resemble wilderness ''natural state'' described by Thomas Hobbes (1588- 1679) in his famous book Leviathan. Having a pessimistic view of human nature, Hobbes believes that, through his native heritage, man is being governed by aggressive instincts, anytime minded to attack with extreme cruelty toward peers to satisfy all his desires immediately.
Competition brings out the best in us. Competition builds character; it strengthens our self-esteem. However, the possibility of being humiliated is always present in competition. Losing can be so frustrating that it can bring about aggression.
Psychologist Dr. Robert Anthony said "we are here to create, not to compete," which helps us to understand that to achieve our goals, to truly succeed, you need first of all to cooperate.
What is cooperation? Cooperating means, according to explanatory dictionary, working together with someone, to collaborate, working in common. It implies mutually agreed-upon goals and possibly methods, instead of working separately in competition, and in which the success of one is dependent and contingent upon the success of another.
Cooperation and competition are important forces in today's world and social psychologists are attempting to understand how groups, and even nations, can learn to increase cooperation.
We can choose to cooperate, not compete. I believe that will make you a better competitor, you will perform better, and you will have more fun.
Yet big business, the educational system, the health-care community, and most parents continue to encourage competition, almost totally neglecting the power of cooperation.
Furthermore, researchers have shown that too much competition may cause poor health. And, not surprisingly, cooperation increases creativity. Unfortunately, most people are not taught cooperative skills.
People who are cooperative and help others also experience a type of ''high'', which might better be described as calmness or sense of freedom from stress. They tend to feel good.
Although there's no doubt that a cooperative environment increases the number of ideas, improves the quality of the outcome, and facilitates a better working environment, cooperation must be done in such a way as to protect the integrity of the project at hand.
In conclusion--which works better, competition or cooperation? The answer, without equivocation, is cooperation. Cooperation is ''the royal road to success''.
Read one more article about ''How to deal with competition'' here.
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