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Titre de l'article : Winning Ways: Does it Pay to Be Competitive in the Workplace?

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Judging how competitive we should be in today’s workplace is one of the most difficult problems for job-starters, according to Sue Cartright, an organizational psychologist. “We’ve inherited the values of the eighties, in which individualism and greed were rewarded,’ she points out, ‘yet the nineties encourage collaboration and cooperation.’

In fact, says Angela Baron of the Institute of Personnel and Development, a surprising number of people damage their career prospects on entering a new office because they misjudge how competitive they should be. There are solutions, however. ‘The first step is to find out about the environment itself,’ she suggests. ‘Too often, secretarial staff forget that, while you may not be a cut-throat sales person yourself, the chances are that if you are working among them, it’s a value likely to spread to the entire office.’

Watch how people work, she advises, because attitudes are not always predictable. For example, increasing number of organizations are attempting to create a non-hierarchical atmosphere. Among these is London-based ad agency St. Luke’s. ‘Nobody has a desk; they can sit and work anywhere,’ explains marketing manager Juliet Soskice. ‘There’s a collaborative atmosphere, with everyone encouraged to put forward ideas.’ A secretary trying to prove herself by any means possible would hardly be welcome.

According to organizational psychologist Judy Rose, you are less likely to be competitive if you are female. In fact new research by Peter York concludes that pushy women do not tend to make it to the top anyway. The study found that in very competitive environments, female staff could be anxious and intense. ‘It sounds like a stereotype but research shows women’s style tends to be one of cooperation rather one of competitiveness,’ Rose explains. ‘Even as young children, boys are brought up with a focus on competitive sports, whereas girls are brought up to share and play in groups.’ This, she believes, puts women at particular risk of being taken advantage of by more merciless colleagues.

Careers adviser Susan Jeffcock disagrees. ‘Another recent study by Tuvia Melamid found that most successful female managers exhibited ‘macho kick-ass’ characteristics. One of the reasons for this difference is that the York research focuses on managers who are mostly in their twenties and thirties. This shows how much age has to do with competitiveness – the latter group are 1980s children whereas the older women weren’t raised with such hard values.’

From the Guardian