????在鏡頭前，參賽者分成幾組，運營商場里一個生意紅火的店面，交換著從事翻動如意卷、處理顧客投訴和分發樣品等工作。這段視頻模仿了真人秀電視節目的風格，不僅有充滿戲劇性的停頓，選手采訪環節，還出現了一位不速之客：公司創始人安妮?貝勒假扮顧客的模樣，點了一份如意卷。

????“比賽過程扣人心弦。選手需要在較短的時間內，在鏡頭前對剛剛發生的事情做出反應，”比賽獲勝者克萊森特?查普曼說。“我的心一直跳個不停。”查普曼是密歇根州格蘭維爾市一家分店的經理。

????這段視頻也讓A&E TV電視臺產生了靈感，它在一個名為《我要當老板》（Be the Boss）的全新系列劇中專門為安緹安如意卷公司制作了一期節目。參與這期節目的如意卷分店經理有機會贏得一個屬于自己的如意卷店面。

????這類電視競賽節目現在還出現了另一個主題：團隊建設。一家名叫Canadian Outback的加拿大公司根據《極速前進》（The Amazing Race）、《頂級廚師》（Top Chef）和《飛黃騰達》等備受歡迎的真人秀節目，為eBay、雀巢（Nestle）和通用磨坊（General Mills）等客戶組織團隊建設活動。

????但對于組織而言，這種模仿真人秀的比賽是否肯定有益？《不要比賽：反對競爭的理由》（The Case Against Competition）一書的作者阿爾?菲科恩說，幾十年來在工作場所和課堂進行的研究表明，這種比賽不僅不起作用，其實還會產生適得其反的結果——特別是一些需要創意或者需要解決更復雜問題的任務。

????“表面看起來，這是個不錯的主意，但最終贏得比賽的，往往是大傻瓜，你肯定不希望在工作場所看到這一幕，”專門從事職場幸福感研究的荷蘭咨詢師亞歷山大謝呂爾夫補充道。他說，與大多數人的認識恰恰相反，一旦參與比賽，我們大多數人的表現都比平時糟糕。

????在Aflac公司，《美國偶像》式的競賽并不一定能夠體現出31歲的合規分析師布倫娜?斯基恩最擅長的一面。2010年，她之所以站在了評委的面前，是因為她想獲得一份更有挑戰性的工作，但她卻把這次經歷描述成為一起“火車事故”。當評委看著她，幾乎一句話也不說的時候，斯基恩放棄了最初擬定的腳本。她說：“那一幕太可怕了。”

????這次比賽經歷讓她知道，她更適合后端數據處理工作，而不是擔任銷售部門的領導。讓她心存感激的是，這場比賽讓她有機會表明自己想多做點工作的心愿，因為自那以后，這家保險公司合規部門的管理層提升了她三次。

????On camera, contestants divided into teams and ran a busy store inside a mall, swapping jobs rolling pretzels, handling customer complaints, and handing out samples. The video mimicked the style of realty TV with dramatic pauses, contestant interviews, and a surprise visit from the company founder Anne Beiler, who ordered a pretzel in disguise.

????"They kept you in suspense and would take you aside and get you to respond to what just happened on camera," says Crescent Chapman, a Grandville, Mich. store manager who won the contest. "My heart would be racing."

????The video prompted A&E TV to feature Auntie Anne's in a new series called Be the Boss. In the episode, pretzel store managers competed for the chance to win their own pretzel operation.

????TV competition themes are playing out in yet another way: team-building exercises. A Canada-based company called Canadian Outback puts on team-building events based on popular shows like The Amazing Race, Top Chef, and The Apprentice for clients like eBay (EBAY), Nestle, and General Mills (GIS).

????But is that kind of reality TV competition necessarily healthy for organizations? For decades, studies in workplaces and classrooms have shown that competition isn't just ineffective but actually counterproductive -- particularly on tasks that require creativity or more sophisticated problem solving, says Alfi Kohn, author of No Contest: The Case Against Competition.

????On the surface, it sounds good, but usually it's the biggest jerk who wins, which is what you don't want in the workplace," adds Alexander Kjerulf, a Dutch consultant who focuses on happiness at work. He says that contrary to what most people think, most of us perform worse when we're competing.

????At Aflac, the Idol-style competition didn't necessarily bring out the best in Brenna Skeen, a 31-year-old Aflac compliance analyst. In 2010, she stood in front of judges because she wanted more challenges in her job but she describes the experience as a "train wreck" in which she veered away from her intended script as judges looked at her and said little. "It was terrifying," says Skeen.

????The competition taught her that she is better suited to handle back-end data jobs rather than a sales leadership position. She was grateful for the chance to make it known that she wanted more in her job because managers since promoted her three times inside the insurer's compliance department.