Competition and Fear

Most companies believe that competition drives employees to improve performance and motivate them. Ranking among employees is widely used in large corporations, like Cisco, General Electric, because they believe this can help improve productivity. Employees in those companies are ranked into levels by their supervisors in every department, in which, employees in top ten percent are rewarded or promoted, those in bottom ten percent are threw out, and thirty to fifty percent of them in the middle will have a feeling of both fear and hope. But this is a common mistake. Competition makes employees, who are under the threats of being laid off, losing incomes, or being publicly humiliated, full of fears even when they are faced with simple tasks, and makes it impossible for inspiration and creation to happen. Many companies, like Cisco and General Electric, implement employee ranking systems to boost performance and productivity. High-ranking employees receive rewards, while low-ranking ones face dismissal. This competition, however, breeds fear rather than inspiration, inhibiting creativity and undermining motivation. Such a system may ultimately be counterproductive for fostering an innovative workplace culture.