Search results
1 – 10 of over 7000John Whiteoak, Daniel Abell and Karen Becker
This paper aims to examine the critical question of how to increase productivity without also increasing the burnout risk. A systems thinking framework was applied to explore…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the critical question of how to increase productivity without also increasing the burnout risk. A systems thinking framework was applied to explore individual perceptions of team dynamics and how they relate to morale, work–life balance (WLB) and hours worked.
Design/methodology/approach
Using an online survey, data from 1,222 Australian workers were analysed using hierarchical multiple regression and principal components analysis (PCA).
Findings
Self-reported productivity was found to be predicted by engagement whereas burnout and morale had minimal impact. Burnout risk was not related to hours worked but was reduced when WLB, quality work and trust is higher. Co-worker effort impacted morale and a factor labelled as team “sense of accomplishment” (SoA) was identified.
Research limitations/implications
The results of this research have limited generalisability to wider populations due to sampling methods, being conducted in the Australian context and respondents coming from a diverse range of occupations. The sample being skewed towards younger age groups and the acknowledged use of single-item measures may also restrict drawing broader conclusions from the results.
Originality/value
A socio-technical systems thinking model to diagnose the link between workplace burnout and productivity is applied. The approach involved understanding the importance of trust and how the connection between people and systems can influence morale.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between stress and burnout in high-risk occupations and how leadership moderates this relationship. Thus, the primary…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between stress and burnout in high-risk occupations and how leadership moderates this relationship. Thus, the primary research question addressed within this study is: What is the relationship between stress and burnout in high-risk occupations as governed by transformational leadership behavior?
Design/methodology/approach
An analysis of primary data obtained by survey from 379 police officers from nine southern and southwestern agencies was conducted. Hierarchical regression analysis, multiple moderated hierarchical regression analysis, bivariate correlation analyses and other statistical methods are used.
Findings
Results indicate police stress exacerbates perceived burnout. Transformational leadership influences this relationship such that high levels of perceived transformational leadership attenuates the negative relationship between stress and burnout, but less so under highly stressful conditions. Findings have strong implications for leaders in high-risk occupations where bureaucracy, departmental policy, and life and death decision-making intersect.
Research limitations/implications
This study can be used as a basis for further inquiry into the effects of transformational leadership on individuals' perceptions of performance, behavioral and psychological criterion variables in high-risk occupations.
Practical implications
The assessment of relationships among stress and burnout in high-risk occupational settings potentially allows managers to better understand how to structure supervisor-subordinate relationships in order to minimize the effects of stress on perceived burnout and provides a more realistic view of how individuals in high-risk occupations are influenced by leader behaviors under stressful conditions.
Originality/value
This study is thought to be the only one to evaluate the moderated relationships among stress, transformational leadership and burnout in high-risk occupations characterized by increasingly stressful circumstances. More specifically, the notion that individuals in high-risk occupations perceive burnout differently than those in less-risky occupations is not prevalent in the literature.
Details
Keywords
Gemma Turato, John Whiteoak and Florin Oprescu
This exploratory case study investigated the factors impacting employee morale and burnout risk among allied health professionals operating within a large Australian public…
Abstract
Purpose
This exploratory case study investigated the factors impacting employee morale and burnout risk among allied health professionals operating within a large Australian public hospital. The study aimed to understand what factors may positively influence group morale and reduce burnout risk.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative data was collected using semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 30 Allied Health Managers. A manual thematic analysis and confirmatory content analysis (viz., Leximancer) identified several prominent themes impacting morale and potential burnout risk.
Findings
Key factors impacting allied health morale and contributing to burnout risk were captured in three main themes. The first included processes and relationships between people that were contributing to the culture negatively. The second identified the general lack of management training and limited capability of supervisors and leaders in human resource skills. The third theme identified change, high workloads and ineffective systems that were not supporting managers to be effective in their roles. This was also considered to be stifling internal innovation.
Research limitations/implications
This case study took a top-down approach which may have provided a biased viewpoint from the managers perspective, rather than the perspective of all levels. The findings are within one context, hence there is a potential lack of generalisability. A final limitation is that this project collected and interpreted data through processes of social interaction and relied on the individual perception, skill and knowledge of the researchers, which may cause some uncertainty in the findings.
Practical implications
These findings support prioritising the evidence-based development of leadership and management competencies that have a focus on human resource management in hospitals. The study findings support the adoption of the theoretical framework of a systems approach to leadership that encourages the concept of being a learning organisation that creates pod-synergy within teams to enhance healthy personal, organisational and clinical outcomes. Adopting an empathetic leadership style that seeks to understand and support staff could improve staff morale within public health organisations and prevent burnout risk. Training managers with the skills and abilities to support autonomy amongst employees will support employee motivation and satisfaction in the workplace.
Social implications
The findings were discussed using a socio technical system thinking perspective. This involves understanding the people (both leaders and front-line workers) and the systems and how they interact to support positive workplace morale.
Originality/value
Limited research has empirically explored from a socio-technical systems perspective how the systems and structures in healthcare organisations support allied health managers and employees in their role. Furthermore, the results provide new insights that encourage a more empathetic systems approach to leadership, one that supports social relationships and encourages pod-synergy amongst employees. Together these findings delivered strategies that can buffer against low morale and burnout risk among allied health care workers. This is an area that arguably has not yet been adequately addressed in allied health.
Details
Keywords
This chapter is building conceptual background of psychological risk for international tourists. Drawing on Place Attachment Theory, Moral Disengagement Theory, Followership…
Abstract
This chapter is building conceptual background of psychological risk for international tourists. Drawing on Place Attachment Theory, Moral Disengagement Theory, Followership Theory, Job Demands-Resources, Acculturation Theory and Goal Progress Theory of Rumination, this chapter proposes a framework of psychological risks with six psychological risks that tourists could encounter in foreign destination: destination detachment risk, moral disengagement risk, risk of false risk assessment, burnout risk, risk of loneliness and risk of rumination. High destination detachment could lead tourists to behave less environmentally friendly, while high moral disengagement could lead tourists to behave less ethically friendly. Followership to the influencers in social media could lead tourists to engage in risk-taking behaviours and false risk assessment, leading to burnout risk, risk of loneliness and risk of rumination, where negative autobiographical memory is created and forming memory-related distress when they arrive homes. Place detachment and moral disengagement risk local environmental and social health, while burnout, loneliness and rumination pose risks for the tourists' psychological health. Several studies propose suggestions for the destination manager and tourists to manage the risk effectively and adequately, including place attachment and moral engagement campaign, careful travel planning and social support.
Details
Keywords
M. Diez‐Pinol, S.L. Dolan, V. Sierra and Kathleen Cannings
The traditional perspective in the occupational and organizational psychology literature aimed at understanding well‐being, has focused almost exclusively on the “disease” pole…
Abstract
Purpose
The traditional perspective in the occupational and organizational psychology literature aimed at understanding well‐being, has focused almost exclusively on the “disease” pole. Recently, however, new concepts focusing on health are emerging in the so‐called “positive psychology” literature. The purpose of this paper is to test multiple possible linkages (or profiles) between certain personal, organizational, and cultural variables that affect both burnout and vigor. Burnout (disease) and vigor (health) are assumed to represent two extreme poles of the well‐being phenomenon.
Design/methodology/approach
An innovative statistical treatment borrowed from data mining methodology was used to explore the conceptual model that was utilized. A self‐administered questionnaire from a sample of 1,022 physicians working in Swedish public hospitals was used. Standardized job/work demands with multiple items were employed in conjunction with the Uppsala Burnout scale, which was dichotomized into high (burnout) and low (vigor) score. A combination of ANOVAs and “classification and regression tree analyses” was utilized to test the relationships and identify profiles.
Findings
Results show an architecture that predicts 59 percent of the explained variance and also reveals four “tree branches” with distinct profiles. Two configurations indicate the determinants of high‐burnout risk, while two others indicate the configurations for enhanced health or vigor.
Originality/value
In addition to their innovative‐added value, the results can also be most instrumental for individual doctors and hospitals in gaining a better understanding of the aetiology of burnout/vigor and in designing effective preventative measures for reducing risk factors for burnout, and enhancing well‐being (vigor).
Details
Keywords
Thomas Lechat and Olivier Torrès
Entrepreneurial activity is particularly rich in affective events, but these affective events are still underexplored compared to salaried work. Nevertheless, in small…
Abstract
Purpose
Entrepreneurial activity is particularly rich in affective events, but these affective events are still underexplored compared to salaried work. Nevertheless, in small organizations, the running of the whole business may easily be impacted by the owner’s negative experiences.
Methodology/approach
To characterize these emotional lows, we undertook a mixed methods research study using a panel of 357 French small business owners. We collected their monthly work events 10 times and semantically categorized the negative ones. We weighted each category on its probability of occurrence and its emotional intensity of stress. Finally, we assessed the contribution of the cumulated events to the risk of burnout.
Findings
The findings of this study comprise a set of affective event categories applicable to business owners and entrepreneurs. Tables are ranked by times cited and intensity. Results of a regression analysis show that intensity of negative events is related to burnout, especially for younger and female employers.
Research implications
The findings of this study extend the affective events framework to self-employed, supply a rigorous and predictive inventory for future surveys
Practical implications
The results offer small business owners as well as carers an “emotional stressometer” to benchmark the aversive events of the entrepreneurial activity.
Social implications
Employer burnout caused by the experience of negative affective events affects the lives of employers and can carry across to non-work life.
Originality/value
This is the first study to develop a comprehensive list of negative affective events specifically for small business owners and entrepreneurs, rather than salaried employees.
Details
Keywords
Lore Bellemans, Geert Devos, Melissa Tuytens and Eva Vekeman
Work-related stress is a significant occupational health issue. Stress cannot be viewed separately from the perceptual or interpretive act by the individual. Self-efficacy is a…
Abstract
Purpose
Work-related stress is a significant occupational health issue. Stress cannot be viewed separately from the perceptual or interpretive act by the individual. Self-efficacy is a personal characteristic that explains a high proportion of variation in the performance of school principals.
Design/methodology/approach
The current study examines if the COVID-pandemic is related to burnout among school principals. Additionally, the study analyzes if the self-efficacy of school principals plays a mediating role in the impact that the COVID-19 crisis had on their burnout level. To explore this, the authors used survey data of 981 Flemish school principals.
Findings
The findings indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic is related to feelings of burnout among Flemish school principals. In addition, self-efficacy mediated the relationship between the COVID-19 scale and the four core subscales of burnout: exhaustion, mental distance, emotional impairment and cognitive impairment. No mediating effect of self-efficacy was found for the secondary symptoms of burnout, psychological distress and psychosomatic complaints.
Originality/value
This paper emphasizes the importance of school principal's self-efficacy experiences for crisis management. Implications for school leadership training and support are discussed.
Details
Keywords
This study was designed to examine burnout in US emergency medical services (EMS) providers. It examined burnout scores measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) on a…
Abstract
Purpose
This study was designed to examine burnout in US emergency medical services (EMS) providers. It examined burnout scores measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) on a convince sample of US EMS providers as well individual variables associated of burnout in this population.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a convince sample, recruited using social media, of EMTs and paramedics and engaged them in an online survey to obtain information on burnout in this population. The responses were analyzed using stand statistical approached in order to determine MBI burnout scores, as well as which individual variables were influential in contributing to burnout in EMS.
Findings
This study found that most EMS providers had high levels of depersonalization and medium levels of personal accomplishment and emotional exhaustion. Gender differences were found as they were differences based on agency type and response area.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation is the nature of sample recruitment. The use of social media for the recruitment of this type of study has not been done before. Furthermore, it is a convince sample. This issue has limited impact on the results and the ability to apply them more generally because despite the convince nature of this sample, the sample is similar to those used in other studies as well as reflect that national statistics on the make of this population. The second major limitation of this study is that it does not include job specific and organization specific factors that may contribute to burnout. The findings for the variables used in this study suggest that future works should encompass these variables as well.
Practical implications
This study sets a clear foundation for further examination of US EMS providers and burnout. It helps to establish key ideas that can be followed up. Difference and key issues among US EMS providers need to be understood on a more comprehensive level before the assertion that they are similar to EMS providers worldwide. Ultimately, there is a need to develop better screening tools to assess burnout in EMS as well as to develop prevention and intervention programs based on clear empirical data.
Social implications
Burnout EMS provides are a harm to themselves as well as the organization that employ them. The cost of burnout EMS provider crosses over to patient care and provision of care.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first to examine such a large US-based sample of EMS providers using the MBI. Other studies have used smaller sample or other tools to assess burnout in providers
Details
Keywords
Margarietha de Villiers Scheepers, Paul Williams, Vikki Schaffer, Anthony Grace, Carl Walling, Jenna Campton, Karen Hands, Deborah Fisher, Hannah Banks, Jo Loth and Aurora Scheelings
In contrast to prior studies examining burnout in academic employees, this paper explores how academic employee agency mitigates burnout risks in the context of the coronavirus…
Abstract
Purpose
In contrast to prior studies examining burnout in academic employees, this paper explores how academic employee agency mitigates burnout risks in the context of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) and how this agency facilitates research productivity and influences well-being in the face of changes in learning and teaching practices.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use collaborative auto-ethnography (CAE) in the higher education (HE) sector to probe how an employee productivity group supported the group's members during the pandemic.
Findings
Thematic analysis revealed four emerging themes: burnout, beneficial habits for research productivity, blocking-out-time and belonging. The authors' findings suggest that by acknowledging and legitimising employee-initiated groups, feelings of neglect can be combatted. Purposeful employee groups have the potential to create a therapeutic, safe space and, in addition to the groups' productivity intent, diminish the negative effects of a crisis on organisational effectiveness.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature by utilising a CAE approach to provide greater insight into how academics enact agency by creating digital research workspaces, attending to the spatial dimensions of well-being especially during turbulent times.
Details
Keywords
Thuy Thi Thanh Nguyen and Man-Ling Chang
A Chinese proverb states: “Able people should do more work.” Although working hard is a common workplace phenomenon, does it lead to burnout in capable people? This study aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
A Chinese proverb states: “Able people should do more work.” Although working hard is a common workplace phenomenon, does it lead to burnout in capable people? This study aims to examine the interactive effects of superior-perceived capability and subordinates’ self-efficacy on subordinate job demands, job involvement and burnout in frontline employees in the hospitality industry.
Design/methodology/approach
Data on 41 superiors and 161 subordinates from 16 hotels in Taiwan were collected. Hierarchical linear modeling is used to examine the research hypotheses.
Findings
The findings support the hypothesis that self-efficacy leads to high levels of burnout and job involvement. However, superior-perceived capability has no impact on subordinate job demand, job involvement or burnout. While job demands are positively related to the emotional exhaustion of burnout, job involvement is negatively related to depersonalization of burnout. In addition, job involvement partially mediates the relationship between self-efficacy and depersonalization of burnout.
Originality/value
Based on the job demands–resources theory, this study reveals the fresh point of view for the effect of self-efficacy on burnout. This paper explores the dark-side role of self-efficacy for burnout – higher self-efficacy leads to higher burnout – that is contrary to the findings from previous studies and hinges on Chinese cultural values. In addition, the current study provides guidelines for top managers to protect capable employees from burnout by enhancing intrinsic motivation and job involvement.
Details