Positive psychology generates scope for productivity, motivation, and satisfaction in the workplace. In this paper, I will discuss the relationship between dissonance and reinforcement theories of psychology and their relation to case study two. The case study is about Parker, who works on a large law firm in downtown New York City. Parker gets reported to be taking personal calls while at work and using his work computer to do online shopping. His behavior makes his colleagues work extra hours to pick up the slack. Also, during group meetings, Parker fails to engage in conversation or team up with others. Parker's relations with his colleagues are hostile, and they are starting to feel the pressure of Parkers failing to meet the company's expectations.
In psychology, cognitive dissonance means the feeling of internal discomfort or stress caused by conflicting beliefs, ideas, values, or practices ( Glavas, 2016 ). It involves the situation in which two or more thoughts lead to psychological distress. Broadly, humans possess an inner drive for maintaining harmony between practices, attitudes, and beliefs. When they encounter internal class or these cognitions, our natural reactions are eliminating or reducing it to keep away from emotional discomfort. The theory of cognitive dissonance establishes three stress reduction options: changing beliefs or attitudes, acquiring new information, plus minimizing the cognition importance.
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Cognitive dissonance is expected in the workplace and is a significant stress source in individuals working in the organization's support functions like human resources and risk management. In the case study, Parker seems to be distracted from work. For instance, he shops online by using office computers, and he is not fully engaged in conversations with workmates, which harms others and the company. Parker is faced with conflicting practices and beliefs and has pressure to tolerate them. He is experiencing deep personal dissatisfaction, permanent tension, and distress, leading to several personal health effects and chronic impairments in his work performance ( Hinojosa et al., 2017 ).
Cognitive dissonance can get influenced by different scenarios in support functions that range from observing inappropriate and poor leadership practices to being asked to do tasks that are not in line with personal values, organizational training, norms, and procedures. In the case study, Parker's actions might have been influenced by a harmful deed that he noticed in the organization. Parker is unmotivated to work; since his body wants to be at harmony, he finds a way to adjust his belief and rationalize his trait ( Hinojosa et al., 2017 ). Nonetheless, to positively counter cognitive dissonance, Parker can shift his attributes to match his thoughts. Parker has to tell the management why he is acting unmotivated at work and the things he looks forward to getting changed in the organization.
The next theory in psychology is the reinforcement theory. The reinforcement theory of motivation aims at acquiring the needed motivation level among workers through reinforcement, extinction, and punishment. The approach of reinforcement can be both negative and positive and gets applied in reinforcing the desired conduct. Punishment acts as a restraining to undesired traits of workers. Extinction means minimizing undesired behavior probability. Reinforcement theory in psychology got proposed by B.F Skinner and his associates. According to Skinner's arguments, behavior that gets reinforced tends to be repeated, plus also the behavior which is not reinforced tends to diminish or get extinguished. There are distinct nuances to manage individuals properly, and different managers possess their approaches and thoughts for acquiring optimum performance. Reinforcement theory in the workplace is a particular management style in every organization ( Krupić, & Corr, 2020 ).
In the case study, Parker's unmotivated behavior at work seems to lead to adverse outcomes like other coworkers, and they work extra hours. In the current world, workers must get a less extreme style of workforce motivation. Different management styles and theories which emphasize different motivation types get incorporated. The law firm should adopt team-building motivation practices to make the film sound more like an American high school than a business company, with several organization songs, cheers, chants, and even voluntary and compulsory hand-out sessions. For Parker to feel motivated and less distracted from work, the company should incorporate reinforcement theory. The theory is based on applying behaviorism theories in boosting employee motivation. It is easier to influence Parker's future traits by constantly exposing the firm employees towards positive feedback for undesired ones.
The primary principle of reinforcement theory is that behaviors and actions that lead to positive outcomes will be positively reinforced and repeated. Also, activities with adverse effects can get met with undesirable consequences and will therefore be less frequent. In the law firm, the administrators might offer money bonuses or time-offs for Parker, which is positive feedback that can boost positive outcomes ( Krupić, & Corr, 2020 ). Other examples that can motivate Parker to get back to work with minimal distractions are; promotions, receiving congratulations from the manager, excellent rating on performance, and increased authority on the job.
In a personal experience, I have encountered low motivation in my line of work. I was working at a bank as a teller, in which the manager was most of the time absent, and I had never seen him since I joined the team. He never interacted with anyone in the firm, and this led to less motivation of employees. I could start using my phone while serving customers, getting distracted by small things like the sound from outside. Everyone in the firm complained about the whole job, which led to customers' dissatisfaction. In the end, we had to complain to the main branch manager. The case got resolved, and our manager got fired. The new manager incorporated the dissonance and reinforcement theory of psychology in bringing in desirable behaviors of employees.
References
Glavas, A. (2016). Corporate social responsibility and organizational psychology: An integrative review. Frontiers in psychology , 7 , 144.
Hinojosa, A. S., Gardner, W. L., Walker, H. J., Cogliser, C., & Gullifor, D. (2017). A review of cognitive dissonance theory in management research: Opportunities for further development. Journal of Management , 43 (1), 170-199.
Krupić, D., & Corr, P. J. (2020). How the reinforcement sensitivity theory relates to self-determination theory. Personality and Individual Differences , 155 , 109705.
