Motivation and emotion/Book/2024/Rivalry in the workplace

Rivalry in the workplace:
What impact does workplace rivalry have on employee motivation and productivity?

Overview

Figure 1. Workplace rivals discussing their work.

Have you ever gone toe to toe with a colleague? Competing for the same promotion, benefits or project? Is there someone in the office that you just can't stand and you secretly wish for their downfall? This would be described as your workplace rival and depending on the situation your source of production or Achilles heel.

Definition of a rivalry

The Oxford dictionary defines a Rivalry as competition for the same objective or for superiority in the same field. A state of two people or groups competing for the same object or goal as others, outshine others performance and wish to have the satisfaction of victory against another in lasting competition.

Famous examples of Rivals

There are many places where a rivalry can occur some of the most common examples are sport teams, companies with similar products or branding and celebrities. Rivalries can extend past just the people competing and affect the supporters. This is common for political rivalries to spread beyond the political parties the followers.

New York Yankees vs Boston Red Sox

The New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox rivalry is a Major League Baseball (MLB) rivalry between two prominent teams leaving heated tension between New Yorkers and Bostonians for their home teams. Many sport journalists consider this to be the fiercest sports rivalry in America. The rivalry began in 1919 when Harry Frazee owner of the Red Sox sold star player Babe Ruth to the Yankees. Over 100 years later and the rivalry is still strong in the MLB community.

Pepsi vs Coca-Cola

The Cola wars refer to the rivalry between soft drink companies Pepsi and Coca-cola. The rivalry began in the late 1800s when Coca-Cola was first introduced in 1886, three years later Pepsi Cola was invented, sparking the rivalry between the brand. The two drinks are very similar in taste and branding leaving the companies to fight for customers, contracts and popularity. The Cola wars has utilised marketing campaigns on both sides in attempts to gain an advantage in the soft drink rivalry. In the 1970s the rivalry escalated and continues today, although it is claimed to be won by Cola-Cola.

Kanye West "Ye" vs Taylor swift

The Kayne West versus Taylor Swift rivalries is one of the most well known celebrity conflicts in modern pop culture. The rivalry can be traced back ti 2009 when Kanye West ambushed Taylor Swift's acceptance speech for Video of the Year at the MTV VMAs. Kanye publicly apologised the next day on the The Tonight Show and privately the following day. All bad blood was forgiven between the singers until 2016 when Kanye West debuted his new song "Famous" at his Yeezy show with a very direct dig at Taylor Swift. The feud persisted with the addition to Kanyes then wife, Kim Kardashian released an edited video recording of Kanye and Taylor on the phone giving permission to reference her in the song. However in 2020 the full phone call was leaked where it proved Taylor did not lie and was manipulated in her portrayal in Kim's video. In 2017 Taylor Swift released her sixth album Reputation which was filled with music inspired by the rivalry. Although the rivalry does not appear to be currently active the animosity between the opposing fan bases still exists.

Are rivals good or bad?

• depending on the situation a rival can either hinder or assist people in the workforce
• healthy rivalries can encourage peers to work to a higher standard
• hostile rivalries can leave people feeling discouraged and unvalued

Case study = NEED TO MAKE INTO FEATURE BOX ONCE I LEARN HOW

Definition of a workplace rivalry

• a pair of people or groups participating in ongoing competition
• competing for the same promotion, goals of favour in workplace
• person is the company that makes people want to work to a higher standard to beat another

NEED TO MAKE FOCUS QUESTIONS ONCE I LEARN HOW in feature box

Psychological perspectives

The Psychology of Rivalry

• Competition is a fact of life
• The success of one participant comes at the failure of another
• predicted that people will feel more motivated to perform when in competition (Kilduff, 2010)

Personality traits and dark triad theory

• Competitiveness trait is a high predictor of workplace rivalries (Elizabeth, 2016)
• Admiration
• Narcissism
• psychopathy
• Machiavellianism

Threat perception and uncertainty

• Intra-gender conflict, typically between females are often based on feeling threatened by the other (MAHAFFEY, 2013).
• studies found support for a predicted effect of trait anxiety (Chitsaz et al., 2020)
• Competition Shadow
• rivalries continue because of the uncertainty of the opponents actions (Atkinson et al., 2020)

Social comparison theory

• Envy what others get in comparison to yourself (Han et al., 2022)
• example my colleague received more mentoring than me its not fair
• inherent tendency to compete arises when evaluating and comparing themselves to colleagues (Chen et al., 2024)
• people either react with envy or inspiration

Positive stress

• stress is a powerful motivator to suceed
• short term stress can boost job performance while increasing alertness
• seeing rivals do well can inspire people to do better in performance

Negative stress

• Toxic, long lasting stress can have negative effects on health
• creates a toxic workplace
• divides office into sides
• focus on themselves rather than department or organisation

Impacts on mental health

Burnout

• toxic workplaces lead to burnout
• toxic relationships
• lack of control
• prolonged stress
• lack of impact in the organisation
• lack of support

Anxiety and Depression

• unresolved burnout can lead to anxiety
• low level of employee engagement leads to anxiety

• unresolved burnout can lead to depression

Impacts on the workplace

Culture and impaired work relationships

• close work relationships make work more enjoyable
• close work relationships make work more productive
• rivalries can cause a rift between team members
• cause team to take sides
• limits communications

motivation and productivity

• decreased productivity when experiencing toxic relationships
• healthy rivalry motivates people to put more effort into their work
• can make work more fun
• good outcomes when the rivalry is founded on respect
• satisfaction when you get a victory
• people either feel excitement or anxiety when facing competition

Performance

• workplace rivalry can have negative impacts on performance (Igbadoo, 2021)
• rivalries can lead people to focus on winning so intently that they make mistakes in their work.
• harms and hinders workplace collaboration
• gives you a benchmark for your performance
• sets goals for your career
• behavioural adjustments

How to end workplace rivalries

• leave job
• get promoted
• learn to respect other points of view
• identify common goals to shift focus from conflict to collaboration
• take the first step by offering to help your rival out
• find common ground

Conclusion

• workplace rivalries can either motivate or discourage

See also

Abusive supervision (Book chapter, 2024)

Toxic Workplace (Wikipedia)

References

Atkinson, D. B., Jackson, J., & Williford, G. W. (2020). Rivalry, Uncertainty, and Militarized Compellent Threats. Journal of Global Security Studies, 6((1)). https://doi.org/10.1093/jogss/ogz079

Chen, L., Xu, Y., & He, Y. (2024). Social media use in the workplace: The role of social comparison in negative behaviors. Acta Psychologica, 243, 104144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104144

Chitsaz, E., Etemadifard, S. M., Khoshsoroor, S., & Dapeng, L. (2020). Competition Shadow: Anchoring to Fear Versus Hope in Estimating Rivals in Competition. Advances in Cognitive Psychology, 16(3), 186–201. https://doi.org/10.5709/acp-0296-6

Elizabeth, D. (2016). Exploring the characteristics and outcomes of workplace rivalries. Exploring the Characteristics and Outcomes of Workplace Rivalries; The California State University. https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/concern/theses/zs25xb28v

Igbadoo, C. I. ., Lawal, A. I., Shehu, S., & Ikebuoso, O. B. (2021). Effect of Workplace Rivalry on Employee Performance of Deposit Money Banks, Benue State, Nigeria. International Journal of Public Administration and Management Research , 7(1), 38-49. Retrieved from https://www.journals.rcmss.com/index.php/ijpamr/article/view/562

Han, S., Zhan, Y., Zhang, L., & Mu, R. (2022). You Have Received More Help than I Did and I Envy You: A Social Comparison Perspective on Receiving Help in the Team. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(14), 8351. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19148351

Kildruff, G. (2010). The Psychology of Rivalry [Review of The Psychology of Rivalry]. The Psychology of Rivalry; University of California, Berkeley. https://escholarship.org/content/qt2k10z38x/qt2k10z38x_noSplash_ac6850893d3ceef58e947c9ac70d1d93.pdf?t=mtfbnz#:~:text=rivalry%20exists%20when%20an%20actor,%2C%20reputational%2C%20or%20otherwise).

MAHAFFEY, D. (2013, September). Exploring the lived experiences of women affected and transformed by female rivalry in the workplace - ProQuest. Www.proquest.com; University of the Rockies. https://www.proquest.com/openview/dcaf6489a897fdbeae7416a7fb9ff2c3/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750

External links

Building a Motivational Workplace Culture: Reinventing Compensation (Ted talk, 2021)

What is company culture and how do you develop it (Betterup, 2024)