Introduction
Since prehistoric times, competition has remained a central aspect in human lives illustrating the fact that people are not equal. The structuring of social, economic and political relations in different world cultures creates a framework upon which competition thrives. It identifies winners and losers in every event by measuring performance levels and creates the feeling that one person or group is better at something compared to other parties.
In this regard, individuals and organizations struggle to outdo each other in various ways since no one wants to become a loser. Competition in human activities such as sports, business and education continue to provoke controversies on whether competition is negative or positive considering the fact that it promotes the theme of humans being unequal. Opponents and proponents of competition seek to substantiate their views on this trend by presenting evidence on the impacts of competition on humankind.
Positive outcomes of Competition
Proponents of competition assert that throughout history, the growth and development of human societies has always been a factor of competition. Rivalry between individuals, families, clans and kingdoms played a central role in the revolutionary change that created today’s cultures and global states. To compete for declining resources, people had to improvise tools and develop strategies that would give them advantage over rival groups.
In this regard, competition was a tool for developing knowledge and ideas that created opportunities for the growth of human civilization. Rival groups could learn from each other and increase their chances to competing effectively. Without competition, inventions and discoveries that laid the basis for modern societies would have been unattainable causing the world to stagnate in a single era.
The need to preserve knowledge and remain competitive led to the establishment of schools. Schools provide a framework for imparting knowledge to younger generations, and safeguard the future of a region or country in terms of leadership and innovation. Creating channels for accessing knowledge is advantageous to a country since the greatest portion of its population remains informed. Formal education, which largely began in Saudi Arabia, spread rapidly to other parts of the world as people realized that developed countries pegged their development agendas on education.
The need to attain a level playing field led to the adoption education systems similar to, or greater than the Saudi Arabian system. Since their emergence, schools have always promoted competition. Irrespective of the level of study, teachers regard students who score highest grades in a class as the brightest. Since progressing to higher levels of study is dependent on one’s grades, competition in schools is a constant process, which begins in the early stages of learning.
Analysis of moon landings by various nations shows that competition was a major influence in these events. Landing on the moon was a sign of science and military might and each nation sought to protect its pride. America and Russia were the main competitors as evident by the fact that as soon as one nation landed on the moon, the other followed suit (Gregor, 1996).
Because of this competition, sophisticated space technologies and the GPS developed. To date, competition drives space science and technology as evident by sophisticated space expeditions in most developed countries in the attempt to demonstrate their masterly of science. Space science has expanded to include the study of cosmos using satellites. Despite the huge financial requirements, the number of nations undertaking cosmological studies has been on an upward trend.
Creativity and innovation are key elements of competition, as people have to come up with advanced and effective methods that give them advantage over their rivals. Evaluation of the First World War, Second World War and Cold War illustrate the fact that without competition, the advancements in military technology as witnessed in the world today would have remained a fantasy (Bernholz, 1998).
Leaders of fighting nations used all means, including intimidation of scientists and military personnel, to acquire tools and technologies that would guarantee victory. Apart from the development of tools and technologies for warfare, world conflicts led to the advancement of industrialization as they served as a means of testing the effectiveness of machines built in pervious eras. Experimentation with different concepts provided deeper insight in the operations of machines and identification of flaws.
Creativity is evident in the business world as people take chances and explore unfamiliar zones. It creates goal orientation as rivals companies have to come up with distinct and appealing products to retain the largest market share. The action by businesses to invest heavily in development of aggressive marketing strategies to attract more customers compared to rival firms, illustrates the role of competition in shaping the corporate world.
Sports predominantly thrive on competition. Irrespective of the nature of the sport, there are always winners and losers. A referee can never pronounce two winners in a tournament. Sports illustrate the fact that competition is a key element in human interaction. The rewards involved in sports are a source of encouragement and highlight the fact that completion is healthy.
Negative Outcomes of Competition
Opponents of competition argue that it has adverse effects on people’s self-esteem. Evidence shows that the society evaluates one’s worth by his or her ability to compete. In this regard, the old and young have become embroiled in a vicious cycle meant to test their abilities and competency. While winners become celebrated heroes, the society pays little attention to losers.
Overtime, this group becomes increasingly alienated and develops social and psychological problems. The significance of the negativity attached to losing in a competition is evident by the fact that when reigning champions lose in one match, their fans react angrily irrespective of the number of previous wins (Simon, 2004).
Thus, competition is a radical aspect of evaluating human performance, which the society should discard for the more practical approach of cooperation. Cooperation, rather than competition, breeds positive self-esteem since it does not distinctively identify winners and losers. In cooperation, individuals and groups work together, rather than against each other, and thus there is a uniform platform for defining performance.
Competition has negative effects on tasks that require collaboration. Reward schemes that acknowledge individual performance rather that attainment of overall goals and objectives aggravate the impacts of competition. Analysis of the behavior of students and employees shows that competition creates a self-centered approach in tackling various tasks (Gilbert et al., 1998).
Thus, instead of employees working towards the realization of organizational goals, they focus their efforts on attaining outstanding performance that will guarantee rewards such as a promotion. On the other hand, students will focus on the attainment of good grades that will allow them to enroll in preferred institutions of learning. In this regard, there is little focus on the nurturing of individual interests.
Psychologists cite competition as a major source of the high level of anxiousness witnessed in performing various tasks as the participant’s main concern is winning. Anxiousness reduces concentration levels leading to poor performance. In a less competitive environment, people with lesser abilities can perform satisfactorily because a cooperative environment reduces the significance attached to individual achievements and emphasizes on the overall outcome of an event.
Competition is a source of conflicts as evident by instances of violence in various events throughout history. Cases of fans turning violent against athletes who failed to perform as expected have been a source of security concern in stadiums. Defeat is shameful and often triggers aggression and violent emotions, which promote acts meant to counter the perception that one is a loser.
Conflicts among competing employees have been a major setback in the realization of organizational goals in most business entities. A violent and unsupportive working environment negatively affects employees’ performance and discourages collaboration between individuals and departments in an organization (Johnson, 2000). The outcome is a general decline in performance and output
Historical analysis shows that some conflicts between nations have often been due to competition for limited resources. Wars in African countries such as Congo began due to competition over the control of minefields. Rather than sharing the proceeds obtained from the minefields, rival groups engage in bloody battles that cause unnecessary deaths (Olzak, 1992). Psychologists confirm that there is a close relationship between competition and greed. In extremely competitive environments, people use unorthodox means that give them competitive advantage. Thus, corruption and intimidation are rife in environments where individualization of achievements is the norm.
Conclusion
A comparison of the arguments of both the opponents and proponents of competition highlights the fact that competition is important to the growth and development of humankind. It pushes people to become innovative in their undertakings and explore new territories to safeguard their survival. It is agreeable that competition played a central role in historical changes that transformed the world into its state today. Communism is a clear example of lack of competition in the society.
Nations such as China, which embraced communism, remained relatively poor in comparison to Western countries that thrived on capitalistic ideologies and concepts. Communist principles encourage the sustenance of uniformity among individuals in the society. In this regard, it discourages goal orientation since rewards are the same irrespective of individual input.
Thus, the people of China did not see the importance of engaging in complex activities such as brain surgery since rewards would be similar to those of a janitor. On the other hand, capitalistic ideologies encourage self-actualization through competition. In this regard, rewards depend on the nature of the task, and an individual’s ability to accomplish that task effectively. In a capitalistic society, people have to be ambitious, creative and innovative.
The social and psychological disadvantages associated with competition arise due to inappropriate perceptions about competition. People should acknowledge the fact that in any competition there is always a winner and a loser. What matters are lessons learnt from the rivalry, and the resolve to become a better competitor in future. In this way, humankind will continue to progress towards a world in which there is complete nurturing of talents, abilities and interests.
References
Bernholz, P. (1998). Political competition, innovation and growth: a historical analysis. Berlin: Springer.
Gilbert, D. T., Fiske, S. T., & Lindzey, G. (1998). The handbook of social psychology (4th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill ;.
Gregor, W. J. (1996). Toward a revolution in civil-military affairs: understanding the United States military in the post Cold War world. Cambridge, Mass.: John M. Olin Institute.
Johnson, R. A. (2000). Local government innovation issues and trends in privatization and managed competition. Westport: Quorum Books.
Olzak, S. (1992). The dynamics of ethnic competition and conflict. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.
Simon, R. L. (2004). Fair play: the ethics of sport (2nd ed.). Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.