1.1 Background Information
The success of any organization is dependent on human resources – neither money, nor technology or infrastructure can deliver excellence without the requisite human resource bank. Nor money buy human resources – for this is one resource which develops and appreciates over time, while other resources depreciate. Thus, it is being realized globally that an organization can have competitive advantage by leveraging its human resources
Coordinating and managing human resources is very important for any organization to survive. Maintaining them effectively requires a lot of effort on the part of the organization. People in organizations cannot be regarded as human capital in reality until and unless their contribution to their organization can be measured with the same confidence as any other organizational asset.
Burnout is a state of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion that often results from a combination of a very high expectations and persistent situational stress. It describes a state of depletion of a person’s resources, particularly energy due to excessive demands made on him/ her and as a result, individual becomes impassive towards his / her work and other aspects of life. Sometimes the cause is the work environment. Stressful jobs, lack of support and resources, and tight deadlines can all contribute to burnout. Other times, burnout has more to do with employees’ expectations of themselves or their personal circumstances (Author, 2009). It has been found to have dysfunctional repercussions on the individual and adverse effects on the organization. It may reflect in a continued dissatisfaction with the situation, ranging from mild boredom to severe depression, irritation, exhaustion and physical ailment. The experience of high pressure and too few sources of satisfaction can develop into a feeling of exhaustion leading to burnout.
1.2 Introduction
Purpose:
The purpose of this report is to study the concept of Burnout amongst the people employed in IT sector, its reason and consequences and how it can be countered.
Objectives of the Project:
♣ To study the cycle of stress – burnout – attrition.
♣ Finding the causal relationship amongst the trio.
♣ To study the main players of IT/ITES industry, which is the most volatile industry
terms of attrition analysis.
Methodology:
A. Fundamental Study (Secondary Data)
♣ 3600degrees study of the main areas of study – Stress, Burnout and Attrition and their causes, consequences, impact, effects etc.
♣ To know more about the IT/ITES industry – its evolution, growth, strategies in recessionary times.
♣ Reading the literature to ascertain how the past studies have been done and analyzing the trends.
B. Data Collection and Capturing (Primary Data)
♣ Collecting the data by using the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory questionnaire.
♣ Capturing the data from the sample size of 50 and tabulating the same in the excel sheet.
♣ Verification of the data entered to check upon any entry error.
C. Analysis, Interpretations and Conclusions
♣ Data collected will be analyzed using MS – Excel to understand their impact in the quantitative and qualitative aspect.
♣ Based on the analysis, interpretations and conclusions will be drawn.
Limitations of the Study:
♣ The sample size may not adequately represent the macro view as methodology followed will
random sampling.
♣ Biased, incomplete and incorrect responses to questions while collecting the primary data
because study will be more of an off – field primary study.
1.3 Concept of Burnout
The symptoms are thought to be caused by work-related or other kinds of stress (PubMed Health, 2017). Burnout is a job related stress syndrome that has three components:
♣ Emotional exhaustion – lack of energy and the feeling that one’s emotional resources have been used up at work. Commonly employees feel dread at having return to work with beginning of every working day
♣ Depersonalization – is characterized as viewing co – workers and clients as dehumanized objects
♣ Feelings of diminished personal accomplishment – evaluating work performance negatively and feel a decline in job competence and achievement.
Burnout is a result of exhaustion due to overwork. It generally affects professionals that have more responsibilities related to people and who pursue objectives, which are difficult to attain. The nature of Indian IT industry is prone to cause such exhaustion. Risky situations are those where there is a misfit between the tasks and the means allocated to accomplish them and if there is an ambiguity and / or role conflict.
Freudenberger (1974) defines burnout as “to fail, wear out, or become exhausted by making excessive demands on energy, strengths or resources”
Maslach and Leiter (1997) says “burnout represents an erosion in values, dignity, spirit and will – an erosion of the human soul. It is a malady that spreads gradually and continuously over time, putting people into a downward spiral from which it’s hard to recover”
Burnout is categorized into two types:-
♣ Physical Burnout – is experienced with excessive physical exhaustion. It is most commonly reflected by injury or fatigue and is normally seen among sports persons.
♣ Mental Burnout – is an accumulated state where the nature of work which used to be exciting earlier no longer excites the person.
Burnout is described as a state of depletion of a person’s resources and energy resulting in apathetic and impassive behavior towards others, having dysfunctional repercussions on the individual and adverse effects on organization.
With technological advancements, workplaces have undergone drastic changes and many executives work in situations which require very little people contact, implying that the construct of executive burnout is qualitatively different and needs to be evolved for better understanding of this pivotal problem.
The phenomenon of burnout, a debilitating stress syndrome, was observed and studied in US and European countries in the 1980s when these countries faced globalization.
Burnout is becoming a major threat to the executives throughout the world and more so in a country like India where they are under pressure to produce higher and higher outputs with minimum inputs.
1.4 History of Burnout
Job burnout emerged as an important concept in the 1970s, and it captured something very critical about people’s experience with work. It continues to do so today, some 35 years since its introduction to psychological literature and to cultural discourse. Both then and now, burnout has been a concept that seems to ring true to a common experience among people (Wilmar B. Schaufeli, 2008). The burnout phenomenon was first described in the context of job related stress by Freudenberger (1974 –1975) closely followed by Maslach (1976) but early phenomenon of burnout was a “case study in the functioning of social systems at defense at anxiety” by Menzies. Freudenberger (1974) was first to characterize burnout stating it as feelings of failure and being worn out. He observed that volunteers entering into the social work experience as phase of more or less wear out and began to use the term burnout to connote with the popular meaning to refer to the effects of chronic psychoactive substance abuse. He presented direct accounts of the process when he and others experienced emotional depletion, loss of motivation, and commitment (Freudenberger, 1975). Applying qualitative methods of interviewing, Christina Maslach (1976) wanted to know how people in emotionally demanding jobs such as doctors, nurses and counselors cope in everyday work and found that coping strategies had important implications for people’s professional identity and job behavior.
Maslach reviewed the literature from 1975 – 2000 and described the history of research in 2 phases:-
1. Pioneering Phase
Several themes emerged from these early interviews in the human services, suggesting that burnout has some identifiable regularities:-
♣ Occupation of service is demanding
♣ Component of depersonalization (cynicism) also emerged as people described how they tried to cope with emotional stress. Moderating one’s compassion for clients by emotional distance from them (detached concern) was viewed as a way of protecting oneself from intense emotional arousal that could interfere the functioning effectively on the job (Maslach et. al 2001:400)
2. Empirical Phase
In 1980’s, the quantitative studies, dominant mode of investigating were on rage. Among this was Maslach’s work to develop an inventory remains a pioneering one (Maslach and Jackson, 1991) which saw its 3rd edition within 15 years (Maslach, Jackson, Leiter, 1996) and is popularly known as Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)
Other scales have also been developed such as
♣ Burnout Measure (Pines, Aronson, Kafry, 1981)
♣ Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI) – provided a measure of burnout that can also be used to measure the opposite phenomenon (engagement and expanded the exhaustion component of burnout and its validity and reliability was tested in English (Halbesleben and Demerouti, 2005)
♣ Copenhagen burnout inventory (CBI) – was developed as a longitudinal study of burnout in human service workers in Denmark (Kristensen et.al 2005)
In 1990’s, more quantitative studies came out with investigation beyond occupations in human services and education to clerical, computer technology and managerial work and MBI – GS (General Survey) was published (Gen, Surbey) in 1996 which allowed burnout to be studied independently from its specific job context. However, most of the burnout studies were cross sectional and therefore did not allow causal reference. Only recently, the methodological rigor of burnout studies has been conducted (Borritz, 2005). One of newer developments in burnout research is extension of burnout concept by positive antithesis job engagement so the full spectrum of workers well-being can be studied (Engelbrecht, et. al 2006; 27)
1.5 Models of Burnout
1. Veninga and Spradley’s Stage Model
Veninga and Spradley (1981) believed that burnout occurred in the form of five distinct stages:
a) Honeymoon Stage:
i. Stage characterized by feeling of excitement, enthusiasm, pride and challenge arising out of new job
ii. Give rise to certain coping mechanisms and strategies which prove to be dysfunctional later
iii. Flip Side – Marks the beginning of depletion of energy
b) Fuel Shortage Stage:
i. General undefined feelings of fatigue, sleep disturbance, inefficiency and job dissatisfaction
ii. Disturbances can result in concomitant behaviors of increased eating, drinking and smoking.
c) Chronic Symptom Stage:
i. Psychological manifestation in previous stage becomes more pronounced
ii. Can lead to occurrence of symptoms like physical illness, anger, irritation and depression
d) Crisis Stage:
i. Over a period of time, symptoms may develop into acute psychosomatic disorders like peptic ulcer, tension headache, chronic backache, high BP, sleep disturbance
ii. Increased tendencies of self – doubt, pessimistic view of life and general feeling of oppression
e) Hitting the wall stage:
i. Total maladaptation due to failure of the person’s coping mechanism to deal with stress
2. Leiter – Maslach Process Model
On the basis of her studies, Maslach (1982) had developed a three –dimensional construct of burnout and had defined burnout as “a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced accomplishment that can occur among individuals who do ‘people work’. It is a response to the chronic emotional strain of dealing extensively with other human beings, particularly when they are troubled or are having problems.”
Leiter and Maslach (1988) posited that there is a sequential development of different dimensions of burnout. It is the emotional exhaustion that first appears as a result of the excessive demands at work. In order to cope with the drainage of energy, the individual distances himself from his work and others as a defensive strategy, and this manifests as depersonalization or cynicism. Finally, as a sequel to this depersonalization, the ability of individual to work effectively decreases and when the realization that his present accomplishments do not match with his original expectations and ideals set in, it leads to a sense of reduced personal accomplishments or inefficacy. But this developmental sequence of exhaustion – depersonalization – reduced accomplishment has been modified in the light of later empirical findings. The revised model (Leiter,1993) proposes a mixed sequential and parallel development of the burnout dimensions. In the new model, burnout starts off with exhaustion and is sequentially followed by the development of depersonalization. There is a parallel development of the feeling of reduced personal accomplishment (renamed as ineffectiveness or reduced inefficacy) independent of other two dimensions, and this happens due to the work environment. Thus, while in the earlier model, burnout was entirely internal process in which exhaustion was triggered due to environmental stress, in the latter model; environmental stressors affected the entire process of burnout by influencing all the dimensions of burnout.
Building on Maslach’s model, Leiter suggests a distinct relationship among the three dimensions of burnout (Dirk van Dierendonck, 2001). Firstly, emotional exhaustion is found to cause a decrease in personal accomplishment when depersonalization acts as the mediating variable between the two. Secondly, an inverse relation exists between job satisfaction and burnout dimensions. Thirdly, the correlation between burnout and two types of social interpersonal relations indicates that if an employee has a large network of informal social contacts at the workplace, he is expected to have lower exhaustion and lower depersonalization along with higher personal accomplishment. Conversely, if an employee has a large network of work contacts, he will show higher levels of emotional exhaustion as well as personal accomplishment due to the existing positive relation between these variables. As per this framework, the person who experiences emotional exhaustion is likely to have many work contacts but relatively few informal contacts.
In his later model, developed in 1991 from a study of mental health workers, Leiter (2001) presents a framework of burnout exploiting the impact of both the work context factors as well as coping styles on burnout. The model was refined by Maslach, Schaufeli and Leiter (2001).
3. Cherniss’ Transactional Process Model
Cherniss (1980) views burnout as a three stage process involving job stress, strain, and defensive coping. He considered burnout to be a transactional process, experienced in the form of self – perpetuating and self-reinforcing vicious cycle whereby one reaction feeds into another till this established pattern is difficult to break. There is an underlying assumption that stress might not be permanent or total in its impact; rather it is contingent on a number of factors which are all specific to each situation. However, it is generally felt that the higher the level of stress experienced and more overwhelming the situation, greater are the chances of occurrence of burnout and its severity.
Reviewing various definitions of burnout related to a change in attitudes and behavior caused due to the stress of excessive demands from the job, Cherniss (1980) came to view burnout as a state of withdrawal from work or a change in motivation due to excessive stress. Burnout is seen as a complex socio – psychological phenomenon, which is characterized by the reduction in motivation and enthusiasm. Deducing from his Transactional Model of Burnout, Cherniss posits, “Burnout can now be defined as a process in which a previously committed professional disengages from his/her work in response to stress and strain experienced in the job.” The model is qualitative and descriptive in nature.
4. Pines and Aronson’s Existential Model
In this model, burnout is defined and subjectively experienced as “a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion caused by long – term involvement in situations that are emotionally demanding.” Pines and Aronson (1988) see it as severe hampering of one’s coping ability caused by the chronic presence of extremely high expectations and situational stress.
From their clinical and research experience, Pines and Aronson (1988) came to conceptualize burnout as an experience as physical, emotional and mental exhaustion characterized by the feeling of tiredness, low energy, a sense of helplessness, and hopelessness, disenchantment and disillusionment from work, formation of negative self – concept, and a negative and dehumanizing view of others in situations when excessive demands are made on the person and he gets caught between high expectations and chronic situational stress. They have developed a one dimension measure called BURNOUT MEASURE, which unlike the MBI, yields a single burnout score. Shirom (2003), posits that in their development of this measure of burnout, Pines and Aronson (1988) have moved away from their operational definition of burnout.
5. Meier’s Model of Burnout
Meier (1983) presents a framework patterned on the work of Bandura (1977), which views burnout from an interactionist perspective, suggesting that burnout is a result of not just the organizational factors; rather it develops from interplay between the environment and the individual factors. Burnout is defined as “a state in which individuals expect little reward and considerable punishment from work because of the lack of valued reinforcement, controllable outcomes, or personal competence” (Meier, 1983). The four elements are:-
a) Reinforcement expectations
b) Outcome expectations
c) Efficacy expectations
d) Contextual processing
To elaborate, burnout occurs when an individual, due to his repeated work experience, has low expectations or little hope of receiving positive rewards or reinforcements. Also, the person feels a lack of control over the existing reinforcers, being unable to exert control over the reinforcement along with a high expectation of punishment being present in the work environment (Sharma, 2007). The model has not received much support in later researches.
6. Smith’s Cognitive – Affective Stress Model
A four stage model of burnout has been presented by Smith (1986) for athletes which looks at the physiological, and behavioral aspects of the process of stress and burnout and how these components are affected throughout by the individual’s personality and his level of motivation. The four stages are:-
a) Situational Demands:-
i. Person’s resources fall short of demands made of him
ii. Initially experience stress which overtime gradually turns into burnout.
b) Cognitive Appraisal:-
i. He reaches his own assessment or valuation of the circumstances
c) Physiological Responses:-
i. Individual’s perception of a situation is threatening and potentially harmful
ii. Serious incapacitating physiological effects like increased tension, anxiety, fatigue, anger, depression, sleep disturbance along with an increased susceptibility to illness
d) Behavioral Responses:-
i. These physiological responses set in motion many coping and task behaviors, which are an attempt to deal with excessive stress
Since this model is based on a research on athletes, it may not be relevant for the executives.
7. Moore’s Attributional Model of Work Exhaustion Consequences
In an attempt to bring together the concepts of work exhaustion (interchangeably used with job burnout) and causal attribution, Moore (2002) puts forth a model of work exhaustion which is largely based on Werner’s 91974) attribution theory of motivation and emotion.
Moore posits that unlike earlier researches, the individual experiencing work exhaustion need not necessarily go through the plethora of attitudinal and behavioral reactions associated with the job. He is more likely to experience some subsets of these attitudinal and behavioral reactions which, in turn, are contingent and are influenced by individual’s perception of the attributed cause of the exhaustion. Moore’s model in elaboration:-
a) Antecedents in work exhaustion:-
i. Situational factors like role overload, role ambiguity, role conflict and lack of rewards are more likely to be antecedents to work exhaustion rather than individual variables.
b) Causal search:-
i. This process looks into ‘why’ or the causes of the occurrence of any unexpected, negative or important situation.
ii. In context of work exhaustion, causal search can be understood as the individual’s search for the causes of his work exhaustion
c) Causal attribution:-
i. Outcome of causal search is perception and understanding of the cause of the exhaustion.
d) Attitudinal reaction:-
i. Two kinds of reaction can be experienced by the individual –
♣ Direct Outcome Attribution Independent attitudinal reaction
♣ Occurring as a result of causal attribution Attribution Dependent attitudinal reaction
ii. One reaction is independent of causal attribution (eg. Decreased job satisfaction), the other is totally contingent on the causal attribution (lower self – esteem at work)
e) Behavior and Action undertaken to alleviate work exhaustion:-
i. A combo of factors attribution independent attitudinal reaction, attribution dependent attitudinal reaction, characteristics of causal attribution and various situational and individual difference factors are likely to determine behavior taken by individual in an attempt to alleviate his work exhaustion.
ii. These are depersonalization, voluntary turnover, attempts to change the work situation and attempts to change one.
8. Golembiewsky’s Phase Model of Burnout
This model is based on Maslach’s (1982) model of depersonalization, personal accomplishment, and emotional exhaustion. On the basis of the responses on MMBI – modified version of original MBI- the individual obtains certain scores on all three dimensions, after which his score on each dimension is coded as high or low as per the available norms from a large population across the eight phases of burnout.
Golembiewsky and Munzenriden (1988), in their proposed model, suggest that progression of burnout in the form of continuum of eight phases – the lower phases indicating lower levels of burnout and the level of severity of burnout correspondingly increasing as one progressed on the continuum, with the eighth phase being the most severe of them all.
Work autonomy and social support were found to be related to exhaustion through role stress (E, 1993). Unlike Maslach, this approach does not give equal importance to each of the three dimensions. Depersonalization is seen to be in ‘initial burnout phase’ and is considered a precursor to the reduction in personal accomplishment with both further generating the more advanced and the most severe conditions of emotional exhaustion. To elaborate, on the basis of the obtained MBI scores, the individual is placed on one of the eight phases. Individuals assigned to Phase I tend to value people, see themselves as doing well on jobs that are socially worthwhile, and cope with added stress factors. In contrast, individuals placed in Phase VIII keep themselves distant from people, lack of information and social support, believe their work is not rewarding psychologically, and we are unable to cope with new stress, (Golembiewsky et. al., 1998). In Leiter’s view (1989), Golembiewsky’s approach lacks sound empirical support; he questions Golembiewsky’s dichotomization procedure of the phases and critiques the whole process of dichotomizing continuous scales’.
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