Contents

• This report is based on the following requirement -
• Describe and analyse a personal experience of ‘cognitive dissonance’ at work, where your own values and/or perceptions seemed to be in tension with what the organisation expected of you.
• 1. What was the immediate cause of the dissonance? How was the organisation’s expectation communicated to you? What did you think were the options open to you and the likely consequences of each option?
• How did you try to reduce the dissonance?
• 2. In what way was the issue you faced not a ‘once off’’, but the product of the organisational culture? What were the cultural assumptions underpinning the perspective or behaviour of management? What are the implications of your analysis for the organisation’s future?
• In your analysis, make use of relevant theories and models covered in your MCO discussions and reading.

Description

Cognitive dissonance exists when an individual holds two conflicting thoughts or beliefs in the mind at the same time (Cooper, 2007). An individual faces cognitive dissonance when situations arise where individual’s behavior or attitude conflicts with the beliefs, which are integral to his/her self-identity (Woodside, 2010). The individuals many a times change their attitude and behavior to overcome the dissonance. There are many approaches to reduce dissonance and there are many actions, which can create dissonance among the individuals. In organizational context dissonance occurs when employees new or existing feel that the culture followed by organization does not address all the needs and suggest that change is required to accommodate new demands from the employees. This report discusses the concept of cognitive dissonance through one of the experiences had by the author of this report at his workplace. The report also discusses the influence of organizational culture on cognitive dissonance among the employees.