Leveraging Internal Competition at Organizations

A new study co-authored by Yale SOM’s Prof. Joyee Deb reveals how to leverage internal competition at organizations.

In a situation where a team or organization is looking for the best next steps, the study outlines that pitting teams against each other is effective in clarifying what that way forward should be. Using competition in this manner gives organizations the flexibility to choose the best approach to future challenges that are unclear.

Deb and two colleagues, Aditya Kuvalekar of the University of Essex and Elliot Lipnowski of Columbia University, model a firm that must evaluate two projects as they are developed, and pick one of them before a deadline. While the firm understandably wants to pick the more profitable project, the teams each want their own project to be chosen.

Deb explains the solution and how it’s possible to leverage internal competition at organizations to get a result that covers more ground.