Cognitive Dissonance Case Studies

4. Briefly describe the elements of the formal and the informal organization. Give examples of each.

Classical organization theory evolved during the first half of this century. It represents the merger of scientific management, bureaucratic theory, and administrative theory.

With an increase in business, the firm recruited widely. The firm, which had employed 2,000 people in 1982, tripled to 6,000 people by 1987.” Due to excessive focus on generating revenues, one insider put it as, “competing fiefdoms replaced interconnected businesses.” and “Making money was mostly what mattered.”

The intended audience for this piece of writing is struggling entrepreneurs. These employers or owners can belong to either big business or

After reading chapter five I noticed cognitive dissonance throughout a large portion of the book. Cognitive dissonance was described in class as being a situation involving conflicting attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors. A good example of this was found on page 182 where the author writes about how we all tell our self that African Americans “deserve” all of this even though we know, but do not want to acknowledge that white Americans are less likely to be convicted of the same crime done by blacks. Cognitive dissonance applies here because we know that this mass incarceration is not fair or morally right to do, however, our behavior does not try to stop it from happening. Instead of doing what our beliefs say is right we try to convince ourselves that it is the African Americans fault that they are

Cognitive dissonance is a physiological conflict resulting from out of place beliefs and attitudes held at the same time (Webster, n.d.). In layman’s terms this means having thoughts and attitudes that are not always the same as the general public’s thoughts. In this essay you will be given one example of cognitive dissonance from the media.

People can display themselves outwardly in a certain manner although on the inside be completely different. A person’s attitude and behavior can influence each other; a person’s surrounds will also have an impact on how the person is. An example of this can be seen in a person committing a crime such as shoplifting, the person knows this is illegal and not moral but in the right situation the person may forget his or her moral upbringing and commit the crime any way. Influences on the individual can be overpowering, causing the person to behave or act in an attitude different from the person’s normal action and behavior. People tend to suffer from

Organizational behavior is the study on how organizational structures affect behavior of its employees within the organization. Organizational systems is the structure that an organizations uses to organize its functions and assign responsibility to its employees. Organizational behavior in any criminal justice organization is how the superiors and the employees relate

This is an introductory course intended to provide the student with a mix of theoretical and practical knowledge about managing service operations in businesses such as financial services, retail hospitality, healthcare,

There has to be an understanding of the complexity of services before one can begin to determine what challenges face the service industry and the most efficient means of facing those challenges to maintain success. A service organization provides intangible services for a monetary value as perceived by the consumer (Lovelock & Wirtz, 2011). A simple definition is that there are no physical items exchanged in a service transaction as opposed to retail where an item is given in exchange for a predetermined price point. This paper will provide

Cognitive dissonance impacts attitudes and behavior negatively in the workplace in a variety of ways depending on the position you are employed. Being in management as an administrator you are faced with many challenges and situations that cause cognitive dissonance. For example, if my director asks me to perform a task and the way in which he wants me to perform the task, goes against my beliefs, I am forced to decide whether to follow his directives or risk termination for insubordination. The stress factor is making the correct decision. I can remember an instructor sending a student to me for conduct issues and wanted the student terminated from her program. The documentation that she provided to me was not sufficient to suspend the student,

employees will only refer individuals they trust are qualified for the job. Another plus is that referral programs help organizations save costs because search firms and advertisements cost more (Kreissl, 2010).

Leon Festinger created the cognitive dissonance theory as an attempt to explain why people desire to have consistency between their behaviors and actions. Cognitive dissonance is the distressing mental state people feel when they find themselves doing things that don’t fit with what they know, or having opinions that do not fit with other opinions they hold (Festinger, 1957; as cited in Griffin, 2009). Thus, people are motivated to change either their behavior or their belief when feelings of dissonance arise.

The first major opportunity that seemed to satisfy his various requirements was the acquisition of a former supplier, a plastics company whose primary market was not defense-related. The company’s owner desired to sell his operation and retire. At the time, Wallace’s debt structure was such that he could not manage the acquisition and so he had to attract equity capital. He was able to gather a relatively small group of investors and form a closed corporation. The group established a Board of Directors with Wallace as Chairman and President of the new corporate entity.

The theory of cognitive dissonance states that people want to behave in accordance with their attitudes and usually will take corrective action to alleviate the dissonance and achieve balance. At Oticon, fundamental attitudinal change was achieved relatively quickly because management and employee recognized the need for change and saw why new vision is the only hope for the company's survival.