A while back, Roxanne Abbas was queried regarding evidence supporting
her assertion that cooperation was superior to competition. I don't
recall how she responded, but I've come across some evidence that I'll
share with the list.
I recently attended a retreat for the top 70 managers of the company
where I have my "day job" (Educational Testing Service). One of the
presentations was by Ford Rowan, a former NBC news reporter and partner
in the firm of Rowan & Blewitt. He was stressing the importance of
cooperation over competiton and cited the following figures:
108 studies show the advantage of cooperation over individual
work
65 studies show the superiority of cooperation over competition
in achievement and performance
14 studies contradicted these findings
21 follow-up studies found that cooperation, not competition,
leads to higher achievement
The source cited is "Joining Together: Group Theory and Group Skills"
(Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1994) p.106
I suppose the proper thing to do at this point is to ask the proponents of
competition to provide their data and sources in rebuttal.
Who knows? Perhaps we might all learn something.
P.S. My "day job" is as Executive Director, Strategic Planning and
Management Services at ETS. My consulting practice reflects
my inability to let go of my former life. :-)
Any opinions expressed are mine, not those of ETS.
Regards,
Fred Nickols
The Distance Consulting Company
nickols@worldnet.att.net
http://home.att.net/~nickols/distance.htm
"The Internet offers the best graduate-level education
to be found anywhere."
--Fred Nickols <nickols@worldnet.att.net>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>