In this contemporary society, competition or cooperation in social life remains a bone of contention. While one camp maintains that competition at work, at school and in daily life is advisable, others argue that individuals should attempt to work in teams more instead of competing. The following essay will thoroughly discuss the underlying culprits behind both views and give reasons for my belief that individuals should strike a balance between teamwork and competition.
On the one hand, rivalry against others does have numerous merits. To commence with, it boosts individuals’ motivation to enhance themselves. To further elaborate, the inherent drive to outperform peers, accompanied by potential rewards and recognition, significantly contributes to individuals’ ambition and desire to go beyond their limits. As a result, this ambition makes individuals more hardworking, improving their skills and knowledge. Furthermore, rivalry can increase people’s sense of independence. This is because when people compete against each other, they have no one to help or count on and they have to learn and do everything by themselves. Consequently, their independence and abilities to be self-sufficient can be considerably enhanced, providing long-term benefits such as when they have to compete for promotion or when students have to work on a project independently.
On the other hand, cooperation can also enhance people’s qualifications. First of all, cooperating and working in a group can boost people’s teamwork abilities and their sense of responsibility. This is because individuals have to work, understand and discuss with each other a lot while teaming up; thus, it escalates their awareness of responsibilities since their slightest carelessness or reluctance may adversely impact the quality of the whole team. Another merit of teamwork is that people can gain diverse knowledge from each other. Given that each group member has distinctive abilities and insights, when working in a team, individuals can learn from others’ abilities and ways of thinking. As a consequence, their own wisdom and experiences may be boosted significantly.
In conclusion, there is no doubt that rivalry and cooperation have their own benefits for individuals. While friendly competition boosts people’s motivation and independence, cooperation enhances their teamwork skills, sense of responsibility and opportunities to learn from others. Hence, I am in favor of the notion that people should strike a balance between both strategies.