Finding out what you and your organization are

Excerpted from Transcompetition, by Harvey Robbins & Michael Finley, McGraw-Hill/Business Week Books, 1998

(c) by Harvey Robbins & Michael Finley

Before you can change your competitive behaviors you have to know what they are. This is true whether you are a 100,000 employee multinational organization or a sole proprietor with a mustard and pretzel cart. This chapter provides you with a typology of competition, and tests to see where you and your organization fit in that typology.

Personalities and organizations

Organizations don't have personalities. Or souls. They have something worse, called cultures. Cultures are like personalities, only less changeable. Most organizations get their culture from their top leader. Organizations that have competing leaders have multiple cultures -- one thing one moment, another the next. Young businesses have many traits of brutes and tricksters. Established businesses often take on a hermetic cast, as the Not-Invented-Here ethic takes hold ("If we didn't do it, it isn't worth knowing about.") Nonprofits are often pawns. A brute nonprofit is like a hostile takeover by a charity -- rare, but not unthinkable.

To describe organizational competitive style, we suggest the taxonomy that we developed for Why Change Doesn't Work: Pummel, Push, Pull and Pamper. These types run the gamut between maintaining control (Old Age management) and distributing control (New Age management):

• The supercompetitive organization. This is the Pummel kind of company that rules by terror: "Achieve these objectives or do not bother coming to work." The organization seeks to win at any cost, and can be used to force either change or non-change. The worker is a slave. Nike on a bad day qualifies as this kind of company.
• The competitive organization. This is the Push competitive company that seeks advantage, but only for the furtherance of its stated mission. It percolates on its own stress, using the desire to do well and stay ahead of the competition to wring the best from its people. The worker is a rat in a Skinner box. over the past 15 years no big company has better typified this approach than General Electric.
• The collaborative organization. This is the Pull organization, whose mission is the fulfillment of all the constituents gathered under its roof. It motivates through the companywide vision. The manager is a human being with no power to coerce; the worker is a human being with free will. United Airlines, bought out by its own workers in 1996, is a great example of a company whose culture is driven by people at the bottom.
• The supercollaborative organization. This is the Pamper organization which exists for its own immediate comfort, long-term survival to the contrary notwithstanding. This description fits many civil service organizations, old-line unions, and cash-cow companies that have lost their hunger to succeed, and are feasting on inherited markets until they die.

The organizational questionnaire

We all have both a competitive and collaborative side to our nature, although one side is usually our instinctual or preferred style. Some organizations, based upon their cultures or the personality of their leaders, only call on one side. If that side isn't your natural style, you are going to be one frustrated individual -- drafted to make war when your heart cries out to you to make love.

The closer to the center your social score is, the easier it is to override these instincts with logic or open-mindedness. The closer you score to the far left of the left column, or the far right of the right, the more powerful these instincts become, and the harder it is for you to override them. Supercompeters and supercollaborators are like addicts, in the grip of something more powerful than a transient instrument like a questionnaire can get at.

Take a look at how you and others scored each of these questions. You can total the score to see how your organization rates as a whole. Note that some of the scores go from 1 to 7 while others go from 7 to 1.

STRONGLY DISAGREE

DISAGREE

MILDLY DISAGREE

NEUTRAL

MILDLY AGREE

AGREE

STRONGLY AGREE

1) It is very important that our company gain the upper hand in every situation.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

2) It is important to our organization to assure that it hear, understand, and meet workers' needs while getting work accomplished.

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

3) Our company has a practice of following boss's decisions without question up and down the hierarchy.

.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

4) Our organization believes it is crucial to exploit its competitors' weaknesses. (1-7)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

5) Our company does not consider it a "win" if it can't help its competitor win/save face as well. (7-1)

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

6) The best organization usually wins. (1-7)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

7) Our company believes it is more important to help the customer win than to win itself. (7-1)

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

8) Our organization does not consider it a win unless we crush our opponent in the process. (1-7)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

9) Not winning is the same as losing. (1-7)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

10) Our company believes that you win together or not at all. (7-1)

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

11) In our organization, we believe that you never get a second chance to take first place. (1-7)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

12) Our culture believes it is important to involve others in the accomplishment of outcomes. (7-1)

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

13) A glory shared is not as sweet. (1-7)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

14) When we win, we have been known to rub our competition's nose in it. ( 1-7)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

15) Our organization believes that there are enough resources out there for everyone to get what they need. (7-1)

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

16) Since there aren't enough resources available, only the strong will get what they need. (1-7)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

17) Our organization believes in survival of the fittest. (1-7)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

18) Our organization survives by helping one another. (7-1)

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

19) We believe everyone has something to contribute to a successful outcome. (7-1)

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

20) At our company, it is a moral obligation to help others when you can. (7-1)

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

21) We don't believe in burning bridges at our organization -- we remain civil even in the thick of competition. (7-1)

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

22) Our culture is such that we believe it is important to show others who is in charge. (1-7)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

What It Means

Count up the numbers you have circled. The higher your score, the more competitive your organization is by nature; the lower your score, the greater the tendency to seek collaborative solutions to problems.

• 7-44 -- Cistercian or supercollaborative. The organizational mission is predicated upon inner harmony and social satisfaction. It is urgent that you decide, at your earliest opportunity, if you are a business or not. Seriously. Supercollaborative organizations thrive when they occupy exclusive zones where conventional competition cannot get at them -- government, religion, education.
• 45-66 -- The conventional collaborative zone. Your organization shows a natural disposition degree for collaborative effort. Be sure that this knack does not conflict with the organization's mission and operations. Next step: look for ways to broaden the behavioral palette through individual incentives and recognitions.
• 67-110 -- The vast, in-between, wishy-washy, plain-vanilla wasteland. Being in the middle is not the same as being transcompetitive. More likely it is just an organization with no distinct style. The question here is less "Which are you?" than "How conscious is your behavior, and conversely, how much are you on automatic pilot?
• 111-132 -- The conventional competitive zone. Your organization shows a strong degree of competitive bias. You like to win and you aren't apologetic about it. Next step: building in collaborative strategies that strengthen your long-term prospects.
• 133-151 -- Blood and guts or supercompetition. The organization is competitive to the point of cannibalism. You can survive and even thrive in the short term, but the odds are you will piss so many people off they will encircle you and take you down. Option: learn to count to ten before annihilating everything in your path. On second thought, your best bet may be to die young and leave a beautiful corpse.

• Do other team members agree with your assessment of the organization? If not, why not?
• Do you see an across-the-board pattern (high, low or midrange scores) to all your answers?
• What is the relative weight of the opinions of managers and workers?
• How habitual would you describe your organization's behavior? Is it competitive or collaborative by rote, or by careful decision?

now COMES THE TEST FOR INDIVIDUALS. This test looks for evidence of your natural or preferred role for connecting with other people -- the competitive archetypes. Once you know what your habitual role is, you can take steps to combine it with other roles -- restoring creating your own "missing transcompetitive links."

Choose which one answer from each of the following pairs which you agree with most. You may circle it on the page, or jot it on a separate piece of paper. Many questions will seem redundant -- don't worry about that.

1*	A	I feel the need to make certain all the information has been presented in a logical and thorough manner.
	B	I like being in charge of projects to make certain they run according to plan.
2	A	I like to make certain that people's efforts are coordinated.
	B	It is important to let others know what you're working on so their are fewer surprises.
3	A	I am usually thinking about who needs to know what we're doing and how can I get their input.
	B	I like being in charge of projects to make certain they run according to plan.
4	A	It is important to let others know what you're working on so their are fewer surprises.
	B	The correct answer usually lies between two individuals' differing perceptions. The hard part is finding the acceptable middle ground.
5	A	I try to get people to value other's points of view; especially when they're different.
	B	I am usually thinking about who needs to know what we're doing and how can I get their input.
6	A	I feel the need to make certain all the information has been presented in a logical and thorough manner.
	B	I am usually thinking about who needs to know what we're doing and how can I get their input.
7	A	I am best when working alone
	B	I expect people to do what they are told.
8	A	I believe in the credo "Lead, follow, or get out of the way."
	B	Having to deal interpersonally with others while I'm working hampers my ability to be my most productive.
9	A	Being precise is important to me.
	B	I like to make certain that people's efforts are coordinated.
10	A	I believe in the credo "lead, follow, or get out of the way."
	B	I often feel like others are using my talents to advance their own agendas.
11	A	I feel an obligation to do some unimportant tasks to support the rest of the team.
	B	I expect people to do what they are told.
12	A	I feel the need to make certain all the information has been presented in a logical and thorough manner.
	B	I try to get people to value other's points of view; especially when they're different.
13	A	I am best when working alone.
	B	I feel an obligation to do some unimportant tasks to support the rest of the team
14	A	I often feel like others are using my talents to advance their own agendas.
	B	Having to deal interpersonally with others while I'm working hampers my ability to be my most productive.
15	A	Being precise is important to me.
	B	It is important to let others know what you're working on so there are fewer surprises.
16	A	I believe in the credo "lead, follow, or get out of the way."
	B	I don't mind presenting differing points of view in order to get others to agree with me or join my cause.
17	A	I try to get people to value other's points of view; especially when they're different.
	B	I like being in charge of projects to make certain they run according to plan.
18	A	I feel an obligation to do some unimportant tasks to support the rest of the team.
	B	If possible, most people would manipulate the system to get the results they want.
19	A	Having to deal interpersonally with other while I'm working hampers my ability to be my most productive.
	B	I don't mind presenting differing points of view in order to get others to agree with me or join my cause.
20	A	The correct answer usually lies between two individuals' differing perceptions. The hard part is finding the acceptable middle ground.
	B	Being precise is important to me.
21	A	I am best when working alone.
	B	If possible, most people would manipulate the system to get the results they want.
22	A	I like to make certain that people's efforts are coordinated.
	B	The correct answer usually lies between two individuals' differing perceptions. The hard part is finding the acceptable middle ground.
23
		I often feel like others are using my talents to advance their own agendas.
	B	I don't mind presenting differing points of view in order to get others to agree with me or join my cause.
24	A	If possible, most people would manipulate the system to get the results they want.
	B	I expect people to do what they are told.

How to score: Circle the letters that correspond to your answers for each question. Total the number of circles in each column to get your score for each style.

	Analyzer/ Hermit	Orchestrator/ Brute	Communicator/ Pawn	Negotiator/ Trickster
1	A	B
2		A	B
3		B	A
4			A	B
5			B	A
6	A		B
7	A	B
8	B	A
9	A	B
10		A	B
11		B	A
12	A			B
13	A		B
14	B		A
15	A		B
16		A		B
17		B		A
18			A	B
19	A			B
20	B			A
21	A			B
22		A		B
23			A	B
24		B		A

What it means: If one style stands out by having two or more circles than the next highest style, that is your dominant or preferred competitive style. If your scores are all clustered around the middle, that means you are already versatile in the ways you connect with people; either that, or you are wishy-washy. Note that having a well-distributed score does not necessarily mean you are transcompetitive, nor does an unbalanced score mean you are not transcompetitive. It just means this is your current preference. You can be a Brute and transcompetitive if that way of connecting is your conscious choice. The key to transcompetitive behavior is that you choose, not what you choose.

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