The Competition Cage

Abstract

The interest afforded competition once we move it out of the sporting arena is scant, and what interests me is how many of us subsume competition into our lives without question. The trouble with such a passive transaction from sport to society is that competition is likely to be stuck in one’s own experiences, which can feed the stereotypes that seek to reconcile those processes and outcomes. For some these experiences are from childhood where the world was rationalised in terms of black and white. The central stereotype I want to dissect is that competition is simply about winning and losing and, as a result, a raft of opposing emotions for example fear and aggression, disappointment and elation, anxiety and excitement. Getting stuck in this emotionally driven quagmire of winning and losing can stifle broader experiences of competition which provide some individuals with challenges, satisfaction, motivation and pleasure.

Management makes organizations possible; good management makes them work well and management’s real genius is turning complexity and specialization into performance.

Magretta, 2002