Abstract
Job burnout can have serious personal consequences for individuals, including broken relationships, problematic alcohol use and suicidal ideation. At an organizational level, it is related to reduced productivity, increased absenteeism, job turnover and early retirement. Unfortunately, burnout is noteworthy in that interventions to address it have been largely unsuccessful. Typically, interventions are either person-directed or organization-directed, or a combination of both. Even interventions that are initially successful see positive effects diminish over time. However, the accumulated evidence strongly suggests that the conditions that contribute to the development of burnout are more related to the characteristics of organizations than those of individuals per se. The most probable reason for this is that burnout represents a symptom of organizational dysfunction, not a bona fide outcome per se. In the following chapter we will locate the “real” place of burnout within the organizational system, review the reasons why interventions to address burnout have failed, identify the process and content mechanisms as to why they fail, and argue that Action Research has significant potential to address burnout in organizations.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Anderson, V. L., Levinson, E. M., Barker, W., & Kiewra, K. R. (1999). The effects of meditation on teacher perceived occupational stress, state and trait anxiety, and burnout. School Psychology Quarterly, 14(1), 3–25. doi:10.1037/h0088995.
Awa, W. L., Plaumann, M., & Walter, U. (2010). Burnout prevention: A review of intervention programs. Patient Education and Counseling, 78(2), 184–190. doi:10.1016/j.pec.2009.04.008.
Chan, D. W. (2011). Burnout and life satisfaction: Does gratitude intervention make a difference among Chinese school teachers in Hong Kong? Educational Psychology: An International Journal of Experimental Educational Psychology, 31(7), 809–823. doi:10.1080/01443410.2011.608525.
Cheek, J. R., Bradley, L. J., Parr, G., & Lann, W. (2003). Using music therapy techniques to treat teacher burnout. Journal of Mental Health Counselling, 25(3), 204–217.
Chiaburu, D. S. (2006). Managing organizational change in transition economies. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 19(6), 738–746. doi:10.1108/09534810610708387.
Cooley, E., & Yovanoff, P. (1996). Supporting professionals at risk: Evaluating interventions to reduce burnout and improve retention of special educators. Exceptional Children, 62(4), 336–355.
Commission of the European Communities. (2008). Green paper on the European workforce for health (COM (2008) 725 final). Brussels: Commission of the European Communities. http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_systems/docs/workforce_gp_en.pdf. Accessed 29 Nov 2012.
Daniels, K. (2011). Stress and well-being are still issues and something still needs to be done: Or why agency and interpretation are important for policy and practice. International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 26, 1–45. doi:10.1002/9781119992592.ch1.
Eurydice Network. (2012). Key data on education in Europe 2012. Retrieved http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/978-92-9201-242-7/EN/978-92-9201-242-7-EN.PDF. Accessed 24 July 2013.
Gilbody, S., Cahill, J., Barkham, M., Richards, D., Bee, P., & Glanville, J. (2006). Can we improve the morale of staff working in psychiatric units? A systematic review. Journal of Mental Health, 15(1), 7–17. doi:10.1080/09638230500512482.
Halbesleben, J. R., Osburn, H. K., & Mumford, M. D. (2006). Action research as a burnout intervention: Reducing burnout in the Federal Fire Service. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 42(2), 244–266. doi:10.1177/0021886305285031.
Hart, F., & Bond, M. (1995). Action research for health and social care: A guide to practice. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Jones, M. C., & Johnston, D. W. (2000). Reducing distress in first level and student nurses: A review of the applied stress management literature. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 32(1), 66–74. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2648.2000.01421.x.
Kanji, N., White, A. R., & Ernst, E. (2006). Autogenic training to reduce anxiety in nursing students: Randomized controlled trial. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 53(6), 729–735. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.2006.03779.x.
Karasek, R. A. (1979). Job demands, job decision latitude, and mental strain: Implications for job redesign. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24(2), 285–308. doi:10.2307/2392498.
Margalit, A. P., Glick, S. M., Benbassat, J., Cohen, A., & Kats, M. (2005). Promoting a biopsychosocial orientation in family practice: Effect of two teaching programs on the knowledge and attitudes of practising primary care physicians. Medical Teacher, 27(7), 613–618. doi:10.1080/01421590500097091.
Marine, A., Ruotsalainen, J., Serra, C., & Verbeek, J. (2006). Preventing occupational stress in healthcare workers. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 4, CD002892. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD002892.pub2.
McIntyre, H. F., Winfield, S., Te, H. S., & Crook, D. (2010). Implementation of the European Working Time Directive in an NHS trust: Impact on patient care and junior doctor welfare. Clinical Medicine, 10(2), 134–137.
McNiff, J. (2000). Action research in organisations. London: Routledge.
Mimura, C., & Griffiths, P. (2003). The effectiveness of current approaches to workplace stress management in the nursing profession: An evidence based literature review. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 60(1), 10–15. doi:10.1136/oem.60.1.10.
Nielsen, K., Randall, R., & Albertsen, K. (2007). Participants’ appraisals of process issues and the effects of stress management interventions. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 28, 793–810. doi:10.1002/job.450.
Petrou, P., Demerouti, E., Peeters, M. C. W., Schaufeli, W. B., & Hetland, J. (2012). Crafting a job on a daily basis: Contextual correlates and the link to work engagement. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33(8), 1120–1141. doi:10.1002/job.1783.
Pisljar, T., van der Lippe, T., & den Dulk, L. (2011). Health among hospital employees in Europe: A cross-national study of the impact of work stress and work control. Social Science & Medicine, 72(6), 899–906. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.12.017.
Randall, R., Nielsen, K., & Tvedt, S. D. (2009). The development of five scales to measure employees’ appraisals of organizational-level stress management interventions. Work and Stress, 23, 1–23. doi:10.1080/02678370902815277.
Tsoukas, H., & Chia, R. (2002). On organizational becoming: Rethinking organizational change. Organizational Science, 13, 567–582. doi:10.1287/orsc.13.5.567.7810.
Unterbrink, T., Pfeifer, R., Krippeit, L., Zimmermann, L., Rose, U., Joos, A., et al. (2012). Burnout and effort–reward imbalance improvement for teachers by a manual-based group program. International Archives of Occupational & Environmental Health, 85(6), 667–674. doi:10.1007/s00420-011-0712-x.
Van Wyk, B. E., & Pillay-Van Wyk, V. (2010). Preventive staff-support interventions for health workers. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 17(3), CD003541. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD003541.pub2.
Wegner, R., Berger, P., Poschadel, B., Manuwald, M., & Baur, X. (2011). Burnout hazard in teachers results of a clinical-psychological intervention study. Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology, 6(37). doi:10.1186/1745-6673-6-37.
Żołnierczyk-Zreda, D. (2005). An intervention to reduce work-related burnout in teachers. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, 11(4), 423–430.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Montgomery, A., Georganta, K., Doulougeri, K., Panagopoulou, E. (2015). Burnout: Why Interventions Fail and What Can We Do Differently. In: Karanika-Murray, M., Biron, C. (eds) Derailed Organizational Interventions for Stress and Well-Being. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9867-9_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9867-9_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-017-9866-2
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-9867-9
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)