Eduard Aron S.

Dalaza

REACTION PAPER
Article: Organizational Behavior: The Enemy Next Door Author: Robert Sutton
www.cioinsight.com/c/a/Past-News/Organizational-Behavior-The-Enemy-Next-Door

Competition is something that may mean different things to each person. Its a fact of life and it's everywhere we look: in academics, athletics, business politics. We compete institutionally, interpersonally, and intrapersonally. And for Robert Sutton, he defines a type of competition that is most prevalent and potent barrier to organizational action, the dysfunctional internal competition. He is convinced that it is a problem that arises when people within a company or team see each other as enemies. Highlighting CompUSA CEO James Halpins philosophy, Sutton states it that "you should consider your coworker your competition," though insisting that employees still need to have great trust in each other. This was pointed out to give focus that this cutthroat culture was one reason which Sutton sees why Comp-USA got into serious financial trouble and why CEO Halpin lost his job. Sutton was even pointing out that if you were one of Halpin's top ten regional managers and someone in the bottom ten called you for help, why would you do it? It could mean that, at the next meeting, you would be sitting on the "losers" side of the line. In the right setting, competition highlights the strongest performers and helps the company. It has powerful principles for organizing, managing individual behaviors and as a consequence, companies do all kinds of things to encourage rivalry, creating a "race track" where only one person, group, division, or subunit can win. So basically, its

an environment of what one person receives another cannot. This situation actually creates a zero-sum situation where the success or rewards of one person or department must come at the expense of another. There can be only one No.1, so for someone to be first, others must be ranked lower. There is no doubt that this kind of game can inspire people to work hard, and that the individual winners of these internal competitions benefit from their victories. However, I would agree with Sutton that the costs of such individual victories were borne by those people, groups, and units that lost the contests. And these internal competitions didn't just harm the losers. They harmed everyone who had a stake in the organization. And just to add to what Sutton mentioned, when employees have the notion that surpassing others is more important than doing a good job, they lose focus and start putting out low-quality work. I believe that organizations can achieve so much more when they channel the same energy that drives competition into work that requires collaboration and shared objectives. Citing CompUSAs organizational situation during Halpins term is really relevant in todays business positions. It was of great help that Sutton made use of these examples to well highlight things that didnt work well for the company. I am just delighted that Sutton clearly pointed out that cooperation, creating that support system and synergy should be valued over competition coz teams are far more powerful than

individuals. And I think the suggestions he raised to minimize the problem were also interesting points to consider. Sutton wants us to realize that whenever a star employee consistently basks in the spotlight, the motivation and determination of other staff members also suffer. In this situation, everyone loses. A team environment counts on individuals working for the good of the group. This means that the superstars who love hoarding praise will just spoil a team environment.

Organizational Behavior: the Enemy Next Door is an article packed with

challenging scenarios, clear tasks to do and suggested plan of actions that could be of help to the confronted company. Sutton was so realistic with things that are really happening in most organizations of today, even highlighting on the effects of dysfunctional employee competition on company performance and the removal of the star system. Its a great article that offers suggestions to manage dysfunctional internal competition in companies and promoting the incentive system that rewards employees for their contribution to the success of their coworkers.