What drives competition ?

Have you considered for a second what drives someone to be more competitive then others? Well for some reason I have never done that because I always thought that I was competing with myself and I had to better myself at the game. So obviously this thought process does not get me to the top of the class but it does definitely keep me happy. 

I am guessing competition if its to a decent level ,is healthy because it eggs people to work harder but this is normal when you are pitted opposite each other. When competition occurs in an office situation where you are supposed to work as a team, it just leads to trouble. All of a sudden you get a situation where meetings are being scheduled without you or emails are being sent without you being copied on it even if you are a part of the team and sometimes the project lead. Now this kind of territorial behaviour, I think stems from insecurity that the other person is better and will either move ahead of them or, will take over their job. Who knows what drives this competitive streak, but whatever it is, it most definitely is not conducive to work with.