Workplace attitude towards competitors (owner, jobs, companies, pay)

[gwilliger]

I’ve worked a handful of jobs and one of the many things that I don’t understand is...Why are my co-workers so hostile, negative, angry, judgmental, etc against competitors?

I can understand bad blood between two companies if one company split from the other or legitimately screwed the other over. However that isn’t the case here.

My co-workers seem to ‘puff up’ when they see or hear how our competitor does something different...nothing wrong but just different. I hear comments like “those idiots, they don’t know what they are doing, that’s garbage...” I’ve even heard co-workers talk down competitors to clients; but it isn’t always in the best taste. I understand telling an existing or potential client what we do differently and how it’s better than what our competition does, but trash talk is where I get uncomfortable. When I say trash talk (in front of clients) I don’t mean hardcore slander or detailed dirt stories. More like unnecessary comments “Yah, ABC company got rid of them (competitor) because they ‘dropped the ball’.

But in the office behind closed doors its “ABC has a bunch of losers working who thought it would be a good idea to ‘do this differently’ which resulted in ‘this’ because some dummy over there is a ‘****’. (Off the wall exaggerated speech that is only spoken to increase ego...?).
I guess maybe I don’t get too jacked up about it because I’m not the business owner. There is usually more work then we can handle as it is, why get heated up about it?

Have you observed this at work? What can I say next time a co-worker’s start trash talking competitors at the office to make them understand that they sound like idiots?
Maybe I should encourage it in order to increase ego and confidence so that they do a stellar job?

One of the many things I don’t understand......

[nj01]

I think people bash the competitor because they think this is what everyone else wants to hear. It's as though they think it makes them seem like a more dedicated employee....a good little soldier. The funny thing is I've known a lot of people like this over the years and they're usually the first ones to jump ship when they get a better offer from the competition. Not that I blame them for pursuing a better offer -- it's just funny when they do it after all that trash talk.

[D. Scott]

Those who have experience know competition is a plus and should be motivation to be the best. I have seen people behave like high schoolers in regards to competitors. Lack of experience usually is a factor in this.

[GravityMan]

Yeah, competition is a good thing.

At my job, we don't worry too much about our competitors. Of course we pay attention to them, and generally treat them with respect...but we mostly just focus on our own company and projects.