RIVALRY AND COMPETITION VERSUS COOPERATION

Elizabeth Heilman (1998) pointed out that the idea of bitter competition among women is ingrained in much of Western literature. She points to the story of Cinderella as a prime example of such tales. While rivalry and competition are present in interpersonal relationships among women, cooperative and collaborative behaviour characterizes most interpersonal relationships among women. Some professional women, such as Judith Briles (1999) and Tara Madden (1987), make careers out of promoting the idea that competition among women in organizations is rife to the point of being out of control. Schaef (1995) argues persuasively that women tend to pursue objectives in organizational with behaviours that are markedly different from those of competitive and aggressive males. The accurate characterization of the behaviour of most women in contemporary organizational environments lies at a point somewhere along the continuum connecting these polar extremes.

This literature review is in support of a thesis that explores the interpersonal relationships and behaviours of women in the Canadian military forces. The behavioural focus of the thesis is on interpersonal behaviours that are characterized by rivalry and competition among women in the Canadian forces.

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openness and change are more suited for transformational leadership and the inclusiveness of a diverse employee population. Kohn (1986) argued, however, that competition is (a) unnecessary, (b) unhealthy, and (c) contrary to human nature. Kohn (1986) identified two forms of competition. The first form is structural competition wherein success is mutually exclusive [e.g., there is a winner and there is a loser]. Within an organizational environment, structural competition pits person against person. If one person wants to succeed, her or his rival must fail. The second form is attitudinal competition. In this form, the structure of the organization does not require competition. Rather, competition derives from the attitudes of some individuals whose life goals are to be better than other people are. Attitudinal competition may or may not focus on organizational advancement or formal power. A person may compete to be the most fashionable, or the wittiest, or some other factor not directly related to the functioning of the organization (Kohn, 1986). Kohn (1986) identified three paths to the attainment of organizationally related personal goals ù working independently, working competitively, or working cooperatively. He c
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Approximate Word count = 3602
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page)

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