Academic Nancy Katz (
@Kennedy_School) had views on this. From our notes:
internal competition is necessary to create winning teams, to keep members challenging each other on a regular basis. The absence of competition leaves open the opportunity for competitive streaks to be expressed elsewhere, through covert actions and the inclination to outperform teammates through impairing the other’s performance. Aside from this negative aspect, Katz also claims that without competition during team practices, “the energy, the spark, the drive to keep improving” goes amiss. For Katz, teams that practice in an intensely competitive environment and perform in game situations in a relaxed, cooperative dynamic tend to be more successful than those that do not include effective competitive thresholds in their training regimes.