Cognitive dissonance is an unsettling feeling that one gets due to two conflicting thoughts or due to performing an action that is in direct conflict with one’s beliefs or ideals. The American social psychologist, Leon Festinger proposed the theory in 1957, in which he noted that “inconsistency among beliefs cause an uncomfortable psychological stress leading to people to change their beliefs to fit to their behaviour instead of changing one's behaviour to fit their belief, as conventionally assumed.” It is also often associated with the tendency of individuals to put a mental block to a thought or philosophy which makes them give away their comfortable habits. In recent times, companies have understood the impact of cognitive Dissonance among its employees and thereby take actions to manage it. This article explores the management of cognitive dissonance for the benefit of an organization in the knowledge industry.

The work in a knowledge industry is very demanding, physically as well as mentally. One has to be alert and put in long hours of work. Thus preventing dissonance is extremely important in projects where people work under heavy stress. It was noted by Festinger that people avoid information that is likely to cause dissonance. People tend to hang out with others of ‘their kind’. If an individual doesn’t have an opportunity to mix with others of his kind, he gets alienated in the organization pretty soon and is on the way out. Thus it is an extremely useful practice to organize something like a ‘Birds of a Feather’ events. Such events organized based on professional and extra curricular interests build camaraderie amongst the group.

Another application of Cognitive Dissonance theory that is normally practiced in most organizations is avoidance of debate on political or religious issues. Invariably political or religious debate takes people to heated arguments and thus is very likely to create dissonance. Some organizations even have a policy which expects the employees not to get into a religious or political debate at work.

In the aforementioned examples, we discussed how to avoid dissonance. In some cases creating a dissonance can be an effective tool for policy implementers. One example can be to create awareness on ethics. Often, people tend to overlook their small time unethical behaviour during the course of work. Such might not amount to the seriousness of bribery or fraud, but nevertheless creates a bad culture in the company from an ethics stand point. Specifically, in case of a particular IT company, the HR observed that some of their employees were submitting bills that were probably incorrect or fake. Implementing a check for every bill submitted would result in a colossal waste of time for the organization and delay in servicing employee’s reimbursement. Also, it could frustrate employees submitting genuine bills. Thus, to create a dissonance, the HR team of the particular IT Company in discussion, went on a campaign to create awareness. The campaign not only created awareness, but also dissonance in minds of employees who were presenting false claims. Thus, in this case they effectively used cognitive dissonance theory as a deterrent.

Cognitive dissonance can be an effective tool for policy makers and HRs to create a healthy and fun environment in an organization. It should be used carefully and in a well thought out manner such that it has the desired effect, i.e. avoid dissonance where needed and use cognitive dissonance as a deterrent.