A Peaceful Harmonious Workplace Is Bad For Business

According to the latest issue of the HBR in an hyper competitive world it makes no sense to sugar coat the realities of business or life for that matter. http://ping.fm/a29el

Team work completely devoid of conflict is bad for business. A harmonious work environment adds little or no value to a business. Notions such as alignment can create disengagement and fear of conflict even in the face of very real threats to an enterprise, when alignment if defined and enforced as means of creating universal agreement. Complacency is one of the biggest predictors of poor company performance.  It is best to strike a healthy balance between alignment and competition in order to get the best out of people. Not everything is worth fighting over. Conflict must be fair. Conflict should be around issues that materially affect the future, or game-changing opportunities. Leaders are key to ensuring free, fair, and open conflict that benefits all members of a team.