JOB BURNOUT

INTRODUCTION
Burnout is a prolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal
stressors on the job, and is defined by three dimensions of exhaustion,
cynicism and inefficiency (Maslach,C; Schaufeli, W. B.; and Leiter, P. M.
2001 p. 397)
It is the accumulated stress on the job that brings about burnout. The
burnout individual feels extremely fatigued and a loss of idealism and
passion for their job.
The term burnout was first used in the 1970’s in the USA. It was presaged
by Greenes 1961 novel “A Burnout Case” where’ a spiritually tormented
and disillusioned architect resigns from work and withdraws in the jungle
of Africa.
As a concept, burnout was initially derided as ‘non-scholarly pop psychology’. This
has since changed and now burnout is accepted in response to chronic interpersonal
stressors on the job. It has long been acknowledged that the relationships that
people have with their work and the difficulties that arise, when it goes awry are
significant especially in this day and age.
People respond to this relationship gone awry by:
1. Overwhelming feeling of exhaustion
2. Feelings of cynicism and detachment from the job, e.g. being callous, negative
and excessively detached in a number of aspects of the job.
3. Feelings of reduced efficacy e.g. feeling incompetent, lacking in achievement and
productivity at work.
These three are also referred to as the dimensions of burnout (Meslach, et al 2001).
Early writing on burnout involved experienced
individuals in the human service and health care
professionals (Freudenbergs, 1975 and Maslach 1976).
The core of such jobs was the relationship between
providers and recipient. So, burnout was studied as an
interaction between individual and his/ her work
place. How the individual got stressed out in relation
to what she or he did at work.
From the early research on the burnout phenomena, a number
of themes emerged:
1. Caregiving and providing service can be very demanding and
involving. As such, emotional exhaustion is not unknown to
such job overload.
2. Depersonalization -cynicism was common as a way of
coping. It involved moderating ones compassion for clients
by emotionally ‘distancing’ (detached concern). This helps
protect one from emotional arousal which could interfere
with job performance.
3. A heavy caseload, scarcity of resources and negative
feedback from clients exacerbated the burnout.
ASSESSMENT
Three assessment tools are available. The first was developed by Maslach and Jackson
(1981) and has been used widely by researchers. This is the Maslach Burnout
Inventory (MBI). This was originally designed for people in the human service
occupations. Other versions have since been designed as follows:-
1. MBI Human Service Survey (MBI-HSS) for people in health care and human
services.
2. MBI –Educators Survey (MBI-ES) for people working in educational settings.
3. MBI –General Survey (MBI-GS) for general version of MBI for other occupations.

Burnout was found to be related to anxiety and depression during the research that
was conducted as the MBI was being developed. Subsequently a number of
researches were done to investigate this (Barkker et al 2000, Glass & Mc Knight 1996,
Leiter & Durup, 1994). This research established that burnout is a problem that is
specific to work context whereas depression pervades every domain of a persons’ life.
Further support of this distinction is borne out by an analysis of various
conceptualization of the phenomena of burnout (Maslach and Schaufeli, 1993).
They identified five elements of burnout as;
1. There is a predominance of dysphoric systems such as mental or emotional
exhaustion, fatigue and depression.
2. The emphasis is on mental and behavioral symptoms more than physical
ones.
3. Burnout symptoms are work-related
4. The symptoms manifest themselves in ‘normal’ people who did not suffer
from psychopathology before.
5. Decreased effectiveness and work performance occurs because of negative
attitudes and behaviors (p 404).
DEVELOPMENTAL MODELS
A number of models have been proposed to explain burnout. Some of
these models include;
1. The best and most idealistic workers are the ones that experience
burnout. “You have to have been on fire in order to burn out”.
2. Burnout is the end result of long exposure to chronic job stressors.
3. The debate on whether burnout results from overload (i.e. too many
demands with too few resources) or from underload (i. e. tedium and
monotony)
In general, research on burnout has established the sequential link from
exhaustion to cynicism. This supports the notion that burnout is a
prolonged response to chronic job stressors.
Burnout also affects job performance. It leads to job withdrawal,
absenteeism intention to leave the job and actual turnover. Burnout is
also ‘contagious’ People who are experiencing burnout can have a
negative impact on their colleagues by causing greater personal conflict
and by disrupting job rates.
 ACTIVITY

1. What kind of work situations can cause burnout? Give examples

and say why you think so.
2. What can one do to ameliorate burnout?
JOB CHARACTERISTICS THAT CAUSE BURNOUT

1. Quantitative job demands (work loads) too much work for the available time.
Research supports the notion that burnout occurs as a response to overload.
2. Role conflict and role ambiguity; lack of information and control; little
participation in decision making; responsibility exceeding ones authority;
insufficient authority to pursue the work the way one believes is best; all have a
high correlation with burnout.
3. Lack of social support. Social support acts as a buffer and helps people cope
better. Say a nurse who is able to go share with her supervising matron, etc.
Where supervisors do not offer any support then burnout is likely to occur. E.g.
losing a sense of positive connection with others in the workplace.
4. Fairness; Fairness communicates respect and confirms people’s self-worth. This
can occur through; equity of work load or pay; when there is cheating; when
evaluations and promotions are handled inappropriately.
5. When there is a conflict between your values and the organization’s values, it can
lead to burnout. E.g. sales persons who are required to lie or not be forth coming
with the truth.