Chapter 11

Cooperation is defined as when individual efforts are ‘systematically integrated to achieve a collective objective.’ Most people think that competition brings out better results, but it may not necessarily be the case. If two teams are put against each other to be competitive and finish a project, it might hurt later ties to cooperate together on a big project. Cooperation also reminds me of the starfish analogy that Dr. Lucy used when I interviewed her. Each limb of a starfish has a specific role and strength which affects the rest of the limbs. If one of the limbs keeps moving ahead without cooperating with other limbs to get tasks done, the starfish’s movement will be slower and not as effective. When all the limbs of a starfish cooperate and work together, they are all moving forward simultaneously, making progress more smooth and effective.

On the website, ‘WORLDSHAPERS!: Social Entreprenuers “Rebalancing” Society,’ cooperation’s definition also includes that the success of one team is dependent on the success of another. Although competition is the opposite of cooperation, competition is sometimes the motivation for teams to cooperate in order to become a more effective unit. However, there are some forms of cooperations that are illegal in certain areas, such as, cartels and price-fixing. In the Prinsoner’s Dilemma, it showed that we humans act more cooperatively because we are naturally socially cooperative and can’t survive without it. There are four conditions that are necessary for cooperation: common goals, opportunity to cooperate with same individuals again, memories of past cooperations with same individuals, and a value associated with future outcomes. This website points out important details that cooperation has, such as, competition is a motivation for cooperation. Reading this article helped to gain a better understanding of cooperation.

Works Cited
Cooperation vs. Competition. 20 March 2010 .