The strategy of competing human resources with each other can have limits and dangers

In the world of work competition is a natural and healthy thing, where colleagues try to compete to improve their working, economic and prestige position.

There are more ambitious people who see precisely their goals and try at all costs to reach them, while others try to have stable, routine relationships avoiding clashes and disputes .

The manager's ability to evaluate these character differences within the work team is important to finalize one's goals and to maintain stability and continuity in group.

The first analysis to do concerns the number of elements defined as "ambitious" compared to the others and the quality of their determination, in order to evaluate any repercussions in the team.

In each work group a hierarchical pyramid is naturally formed, even if not declared, where one or more elements drag the team towards the company objectives.

The manager should evaluate the consequences of this or these leaderships, including the productive and relational implications that these elements could create.

To do this it is good to know the character aspects of the team members, as the coexistence between the elements of the team is a factor to be taken into consideration for the results endings.

Employees can gladly accept impositions made by the manager on which they hierarchically depend, officially inserted in the company organization chart, but they may not like the orders communicated by a colleague considered on their own level.

In similar situations we often see managers who follow different collaborator management strategies.

A strategy can follow the ancient motto divide et Impera, which tends to leave more than one leader in the group, with the consequence of seeing increased competitiveness among colleagues , the declared or underground struggles, the creation of factions that are easier to control and that do not affect its power.

In this case, the manager usually intervenes only when the content of the disputes exceed a certain limit or the situation, linked to company results, requires an intervention to encourage the elements.

It is usually chosen by managers, whose ambitions towards business results and personal prestige exceed any need for human relationships, tending to distribute targeted acknowledgments in a parsimonious way to the maintenance of an efficient but conflicting group.

The second strategy instead tends to elect a leader in the group, who is ambitious but not narcissistic, who is concerned about involving colleagues in the successes and prestige of the results , learning to be a manager.

In this way you will have a more cohesive group, perhaps a little less competitive, but more efficient in the long run, with a lower turnover of human resources and less dispersion of knowledge.

The manager who follows this path is humanly involved with the people of his team, he frequents them, he is empathetic and collaborative, correct and reliable.

A climate of mutual trust, clarity and relaxation is created that spurs workers to commit to maintaining an appreciable and valuable working status quo.

Advising the best strategy, among those we have seen, for the management of the workforce is completely personal, as the manager's character will influence the choice .

It cannot be said, as it is believed, that that of Divide et Impera can always be the best, as it is necessary to evaluate the risks that the extreme competition between workers can bring.

The dangers can come from forms of envy that could lead, some workers not considered or excluded from the competition, to forms of retaliation, more or less mild, with impairment of general results.

Another danger is the abandonment of the workplace by some elements who do not tolerate a tense and conflictual environment, with the risk of a high turnover and the loss of the knowledge acquired by the workers who leave, with the company having difficulty in finding valid elements.

Automatic translation. We apologize for any inaccuracies. Original article in Italian.