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Define Cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is a psychology theory that describes the reason and behavior when human have inconsistence thoughts. According to Cooper & Fazio (1984): "Cognitive dissonance occurs when a cognition that a person holds follows from the obverse of another.". Personally, I understand it's like a conflict of interest with yourself. However, the theory goes further and describes that when we have cognitive dissonance implies two things: first, we are responsible for the conflict; second, that when an individual has cognitive dissonance, it causes physical implications, either pain or discomfort. An example of cognitive dissonance is when a smoker thinks: "Smoking is bad for me" yet "I smoke regularly", each though in physiology is known as cognition, the dilemma is known as dissonance. The essential of cognitive dissonance is two or more inconsistent cognitions.
Furthermore, what physiology studies in cognitive dissonance is how people deal with dissonance. According to Social Psych Online (2016):
There are a few common ways in which people try to resolve their dissonance:
  1. Change the belief or opinion so it's more consistent with the other cognition or behavior (e.g., 'Smoking isn't actually that bad for you.').
  2. Change behavior to help restore consistency (e.g., quitting smoking).
  3. Add another belief or opinion that helps restore consistency (e.g., 'But I do eat lots of healthy food.').
  4. Reduce the importance of the inconsistency (e.g. 'I enjoy smoking, so who cares about the health consequences?').
 Cooper (1984) described that the more inconsistently, the dissonance is bigger and therefore the more the urge to resolve it. The conflict itself is harmless for either, but it becomes problematic based on the reactions of the individuals. "Dissonance makes people feel uncomfortable and is bothersome under any circumstance, but it is most painful to people when an important element of their self-concept is threatened" (Tavris & Aronson, 2016, p.29). Therefore, cognitive dissonance is not good or bad for and organization nor individuals. Instead, cognitive dissonance it is inevitable but it understanding is crucial and could help the organization to understand the staff behavior and why and how to interact.
Cognitive dissonance could indirectly harm the workplace because it rises stress in the workplace. Besides, organizational culture could impact the dissonance among the employees, especially if the culture is not aligned with an individual's belief. For instance, if a company has established that the working hours are from 9 AM - 5 PM yet the culture, mainly the underlying assumptions, expect long working hours or and work in the weekends, it could cause a large dissonance with people that value work-life balance which could affect the performance of the person or even influence others.
Furthermore, Cooper (2007) found "The more important the discrepant cognitions, the more cognitive dissonance I will experience. The more important the consonant cognitions, the less will be my cognitive dissonance." There are many ways to reduce cognitive dissonance, however, Cooper emphasis the following: changing attitudes or beliefs, acquiring new information (dissonance reduction process) and reducing the importance of cognitions (internal reasoning and justification) (Cooper, 2007). The first approach: a change of attitude is something personal, thus, only the person itself could be resolved but usually influence by its surrounding. The second and third approach is where leaders could (and should) persuade to resolve the conflict in a manner that benefits them and the company.
 According to the book Cultural Intelligence for Leaders (2012):
"leaders can, and should, explore the dissonance by asking themselves the following questions":
What are my organization's beliefs about culture?
What dissonance is present in our beliefs and our behaviors?
What gaps (in recruitment, within a policy, and in intrapersonal interactions) are created because of the dissonance?
How is this dissonance stopping us from truly understanding culture?
The questions aim to rise the self-concept and understand the organizational culture to alleviate discomfort. The failure to acknowledge the importance of dissonance could escalate and spread conflict in the organization. "It is the leader responsibility to help others recognize their self-concept and the role it plays in intercultural interactions" (Cultural Intelligence for Leaders, 2012).

References:
Cooper, J. (2007). Cognitive Dissonance: In the Beginning. Cognitive Dissonance: Fifty Years of a Classic Theory, 1-27. doi:10.4135/9781446214282.n1
Cooper, J., & Fazio, R. H. (1984). A New Look at Dissonance Theory. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology Advances in Experimental Social Psychology Volume 17, 229-266. doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60121-5
Cultural Intelligence for Leaders (2012). Chapter 6. Saylor Academy. Creative Commons by-nc-sa 3.0.
Tavris, C., & Aronson, E. (2016). Mistakes were made (but not by me): Why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions, and hurtful acts. London: Pinter & Martin.

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