PH workplaces: Compete or cooperate?

BUSINESS OPTION

- BENEL P. LAGUA

Many leaders in the Philippines grapple with a perennial dilemma: Should work be competitive or collaborative?

The instinct to drive performance through competition is understandable—in business, the best, fastest, and most productive usually win. However, when competition becomes the dominant mode of interaction, it can undermine the very cooperation organizations need to succeed. This is especially true in cultural contexts like ours, where pakikisama—getting along with others—remains a deeply rooted value.

Global research on organizational behavior is emphatic: cooperation is the bedrock of effective team performance in most modern workplaces. Meta-analyses of organizational studies find that when tasks are interdependent—as they are in knowledge work, service delivery, and high-risk environments—cooperative reward structures produce better performance, higher satisfaction, and greater learning than purely competitive ones.

Yet competition, when introduced thoughtfully, can add energy, focus, and urgency. The trick is not to eliminate competition, but to balance it with cooperation and a strong, shared purpose.

Many Western companies have learned this the hard way. Forced performance ranking—the "stack ranking" system that pits employees against one another—has been shown to reduce knowledge sharing, erode collaboration, and stifle creativity. We practiced this in my former organization, and the stress levels were palpable. When employees view colleagues as rivals for scarce rewards, they are less likely to share insights, assist others, or take the relational risks necessary for innovation.