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ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR - II
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DR. SUSMITA MUKHOPADHYAY
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, VGSOM, IIT KHARAGPUR
Module 03:
Lecture 03 : Functions of Cooperation and Competition
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR -II
Functions of Cooperation and Competition
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In our previous lecture we discussed about various factors
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leading to competition and cooperation in business
operation and organizational progress. Now we will discuss
on various useful functions of cooperation and competition
in this lecture session.
Functions of Cooperation
Mutuality
Alternative idea & solutions
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Mutual support & reinforcement
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Synergy
Collective action
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Expansion of resources
Functions of Cooperation
Mutuality
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Cooperation tends to limit the scope of conflicting
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interests and keep attempts to influence each other to
search for a solution of problems mutually. In a
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cooperative relationship others capabilities are
strengthened and vice versa.
Functions of Cooperation
Alternative idea & solutions
Feeling of agreement with the ideas of others and a
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sense of basic similarity in beliefs and values, as well
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as confidence in one's own ideas and in the value that
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other members attach to those ideas, are obtained in
cooperative groups. In many cases communication of
ideas are verbal and members pay attention to one
another and accept the ideas.
Functions of Cooperation
Mutual support & reinforcement
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Cooperation helps the members to be generally more
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satisfied with the group and its solutions as well as
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being impressed by the contributions of other group
members through mutual support and reinforcement.
Functions of Cooperation
Synergy
Cooperation is team-work within and between group of
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companies in business surroundings. Base of these groups is
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statement about common vision, goals and activities which are
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common ground for their mutual cooperation interactions. It
follows that for successful cooperation it is necessary to
consider the connection which demonstrates certain benefits
or added value from synergy.
Functions of Cooperation
Collective action
It is to avoid hostile confrontation between different user
groups and to manage competition among groups. This is
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voluntary agreement to facilitate conflict management of a
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disputed resource, as the cooperating user groups extract
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benefits from non-cooperators who may have incurred the
costs of mobilizing and protecting the resources. This is the
result of collective action for achieving a common goal.
Functions of Cooperation
Expansion of resources
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Expansion of resources is a strategy adopted when an
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organization enters into a mutual agreement with the
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competitor to carry out the business operations and
compete with one another at the same time, with the
objective to expand the market opportunity.
Functions of Competition
Competition performs many useful functions -
Sense of identity
Sense of responsibility
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Internal standards
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Achieving excellence
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Individual creativity
Individual autonomy
Source of motivation
Conducive to progress
Functions of Competition
Sense of identity
Organizational identity has been emerged as an important function
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of competition. Managers construct an internal story through
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competencies and intangible identity attributes which they believe
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both legitimates and distinguishes their organization. Members of
the team and organizational employees demonstrate impact of
organizational identity on sense making, strategic issues
interpretation, organizational learning and competitive rivalry.
Functions of Competition
Sense of responsibility
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Competitive conditions affect organizational sense of
responsibility towards society as well to its employees with
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respect to specific dilemmas. Managers have a duty to take
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competitive condition of their farms and staff members
into account for strategic decisions and approach to
relationship building with stakeholders.
Functions of Competition
Sense of responsibility: Specific strategy under different level of organizational
competitiveness
Intensity of
Fierce Strong Weak
competition
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Dominant generic Low cost Product differentiation Low cost or product
competitive strategy strategy strategy differentiation
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Self Compliance with the
regulation spirit of law
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Legal Stakeholder All social
Specific social compliance management responsibility
responsibility strategy Brand reputation strategies are
Reputation management & ethical possible
protection reporting and Ethical
product differentiation
Functions of Competition
Internal standards
An internal standards is built with the specifications and
requirements organization provides for the supply chain it
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works with for the products organization build or services
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it provide. Integrate internal and external standards and
documents to provide interconnectivity resulting in faster
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searches and more relevant results for the task at hand.
Internal standards are the provision of standard use and
adoption benchmarking to compare business processes
and performance metrics to organizational best practices.
Functions of Competition
Achieving excellence
Competition helps mobilize a work group to achieve more
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than it would have because of the pride keeps members
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from wanting to finish poorly in the eyes of their peers.
Whether the incentive is economic--bonuses, for example--
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or simple prestige, competition motivates people
effectively to achieve excellence of their performances
with efficiency, lower costs and greater sense of morale.
Functions of Competition
Individual creativity
Creativity has been described as the organization of
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thoughts in a way that leads to different understandings of
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a situation. Every individual has creativity within himself or
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herself in the form of three components namely: (i)
expertise, (ii) creative thinking skills and (iii) motivation.
Functions of Competition
Three components of individual creativity
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Functions of Competition
Individual autonomy
Autonomy is the ability for employees to control over their work
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which might involve a choice in the selection of projects, roles and
or clients. It is tradition that only employees in upper management
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have much autonomy which can leave lower level staff
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disenfranchised or in competitive sentiment. Employees with more
freedom over their work are also free to come up with innovative
solutions that can make the company more competitive in the
market and operational framework.
Functions of Competition
Source of motivation
Competition between individuals and groups is largely
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towards the objective of preserving or improving their
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respective statuses rather than survival. It furnishes
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motivation in the desire to excel or to obtain recognition or to
win an award. It stimulates achievement by lifting the levels
of aspiration, the individuals work harder if competing than if
working on their own with no thought of rivalry.
Functions of Competition
Conducive to progress
Competition provides the individuals better opportunities to
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satisfy their desires for new experiences and recognition. It is
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the opposite of ascribed status. It believes in achieved status.
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Those who denounce it ask for fixity of status and thus pull
back the forces of progress. It is therefore, assumed that
competition is a pre-requisite to organizational progress.
Other Functions of Competition
Competition also, serves the functions of -
Allocating scarce rewards among competitors
Assigning place to each individual in the hierarchical
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social system.
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Determining who is to perform what function
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Enhancing one’s ego and helps in satisfying it
It creates respect for the rules of the game
It prevents undue concentration of power in a group or
individuals.
REFERENCES
Aswathappa, K.(2014). Organisational Behaviour, Text, Cases Games. Himalaya Publishing
House, Mumbai
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Luthans, F. (2011). Organizational Behavior: An Evidence-based Approach, Published by
McGraw-Hill/Irwin,
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Cherrington, D.J. (1989). Organisational Behaviour, Allyn and Beacon, Boston, USA
White, D.D. and Bednar D.A. (1986). Organisational Behaviour, Allyn and Beacon, Boston, USA
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Cutlip Scott. M , Center, A. H. (1952). Effective Public Relations, Pearson Prentice Hall, USA
Greenberg, J. (2013). Behavior in Organizations, Tenth Edition, Prentice Hall of India, Delhi.
Deutsch, M.(2000). Cooperation and Competition, in The Handbook of Conflict Resolution:
Theory and Practice, eds. Deutsch, M., and Coleman, P. (2000). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Publishers,
CONCLUSION
In the conclusion of this lecture session, we may recap the
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discussion held on various functions of cooperation and
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competition. The learners will be able to obtain
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knowledge on the overall discussions made in this session.
In the next session, we will be discussing about models
and theories of competition and cooperation. Thank you
all.
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