How Competitive Are You?

Previously I discussed different gamer types and whether successful entrepreneurs might be "killers". We often talk about how competitive the economy is or an individual company but how competitive are individuals and what impact does that have on their personal life, their participation in teams and their roles in their workplace.

What is individual competitiveness?

For individuals, competitiveness is the desire to win in interpersonal situations. The interpersonal element is important because individual competitiveness here requires one or more individuals or groups who act as a benchmark for some measure of performance. Because it involves individuals, culture and gender play important roles. Similarly, there are highly competitive and less competitive occupations.

What is the impact of individual competitiveness?

Unsurprisingly, individual competitiveness can have constructive and destructive outcomes. It can be used as a personal (or group) motivation to excel or increase performance but it can also be destructive in conflicts, narrowing available decision ranges. Interestingly, highly competitive people may be more predictive than less competitive people in conflict situations as the former may narrow their strategic options due to their competitiveness. They tend to operate within a narrow range of competitive responses in tests. This has huge implications for decision making.

Are you competitive?

A common test for individual competitiveness is the Houston and Smither Competitiveness test. While this original test has been revised, completing it may prove interesting and worthy of reflection.

Below are 20 questions, take a piece of paper and answer each question True or False.

1. I get satisfaction from competing with others
2. It’s usually not important to me to be the best                                          
3. Competition destroys friendships                                                           
4. Games with no clear cut winners are boring                                             
5. I am a competitive individual                                                               
6. I will do almost anything to avoid an argument                                         
7. I try to avoid competing with others                                                        
8. I would like to be on a debating team                                                       
9. I often remain quiet rather than risk hurting another person                     
10. I find competitive situations unpleasant                                                    
11. I try to avoid arguments                                                                    
12. In general, I will go along with the group rather than create conflict         
13. I don’t like competing against other people                                              
14. I don’t like games that are winner-take-all                                                
15. I dread competing against other people                                                   
16. I enjoy competing against an opponent                                                    
17. When I play a game I like to keep scores                                                 
18. I often try to outperform others                                                            
19. I like competition                                                                           
20. I don’t enjoy challenging others even when I think they are wrong                      

Score 1 point each for the following:

True = Items 1, 4, 5, 8, 16, 17, 18, 19
False = Items 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20

Apparently, the mean for males is 12.06 with a low score being 7 and a high score 15. For females, the mean is 9.52 with a low score of 6 and a high score of 14.

Is being competitive good or bad? Like all things, it depends on perspective and context. There is positive competitiveness and negative competitiveness.

Don't turn to the dark side!