a. Discuss Jacquie's dilemma in terms of cognitive dissonance.
b. How could this new information on KTI's willingness to fully commit to "going green" affect Jacquie's perception of the company she works for? What impact could this have on her overall performance?
Are her personal values around recycling strong enough to determine who she works for?
c. Do you think Jacquie should ignore the company's failure to address violations in the recycling program or not and just keep doing her job?
Is she willing to walk away from a good paying job with benefits?
Are there other employers who are likely to be more open to recycling programs, and should she pursue opportunities with those companies?
Jacquie Lipscomb was hired at KT Industries (KTI) not only because she had all the technical skills required for the job, but also because she had a personal passion for the well being of the environment. Her boss, Carl Damon, was excited by her commitment to recycling; it's what set her apart from the other applicants.. While environmentalism wasn't something Carl felt particularly strong about personally, he hoped that Jacquie would bring a certain level of awareness to other employees, including himself.
Jacquie came to work at KTI with high hopes of taking an active role in impacting the company's waste minimization strategies. She had been looking for a large organization where she could develop her long-term career goals, and she was encouraged by KTI's interest in becoming a better "green" employer. She educated herself about KTI's manufacturing outputs and figured out four significant ways to reduce the amount of harmful elements they were currently releasing into the atmosphere.
Jacquie's personal interest in pollution prevention dated back to her grade school days when she tracked what happened to all the paper put in the trash in each classroom. After learning it ended up in the landfill along with all the other rubbish, Jacquie implemented a school-wide recycling program. To this day, all "extra" paper or waste is put in a separate trash container which is sent to a recycling factory and used to make reusable consumer goods. Jacquie is proud of this accomplishment.
Jacquie threw herself into her work at KT I. Carl was impressed with both her outstanding performance and how well she got along with everyone. As Jacquie's one year anniversary with KT Industries approached, she uncovered information showing several factory shipments of waste material being sold to another company. Quick research showed that this other company did not "properly" dispose of these types of waste products. Jacquie immediately approached her boss, Carl, with the data and was taken aback when he shared with her how the extra costs that ended up being involved with several of her "greener" approaches had diminished interest in implementing them. Disheartened, Jacquie asked, "Is anything we committed to almost a year ago still in place?"
Carl's nonchalant response about the paper recycling program working in the corporate and regional offices had not reassured Jacquie. She felt like she had been deceived. That night at home, she contemplated her future with KTI She felt torn between her commitment to the company and her personal values of recycling. She wondered, "If they have not been open about the actual, behind the scene steps with the recycling program are there other business aspects that they are not being open about?