The article called “Burnout and Retaliatory Behaviour Intents in the Workplace – An Exploratory Study” by Mamidenna and Viswanatham (2014) targets misbehaviors and retaliatory behaviors as a vital group of workplace behaviors that harm the managers and employees. The exploratory study is based on the results provided by such research instruments as the Maslach Burnout Inventory and Retaliatory Intent Measure after testing a sample of 127 female service providers working at various health care affiliations.
In this study, burnout was identified as depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, and lack of sense of personal accomplishment that occurs in professionals involved in work with people and undergoing a lot of close encounters resulting in high levels of stress (Mamidenna & Viswanatham, 2014). The results of the study show different levels of retaliation intents among health care service providers based on burnout. The lesson is valuable because it points out the level of burnout among health care workers whose emotional exhaustion and depersonalization is likely to result in medical errors, malpractice, and flawed health care service delivery that will affect the patients directly.
The article by Childs and Stoeber (2012) called “Do you want me to be perfect? Two longitudinal studies on socially prescribed perfectionism, stress, and burnout in the workplace” was conducted in the UK; it explores the impact of individual differences in socially prescribed perfectionism. This study targets the individuals’ perceptions that the surrounding people have perfectionist expectations of them, which results in higher levels of stress and burnout.
The study is composed of two types of research, one of which researched socially prescribed perfectionism and its correlation with burnout among health care service providers, and the other one focused on the same phenomenon among school teachers. The results showed that individual differences in socially prescribed perfectionism contribute to emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy. This study is valuable because it identifies a new cause of burnout that creates role stress and reduces the productivity of health care employees and teachers.
The study by n Diestel, Cosmar, and Schmidt (2013) titled “Burnout and impaired cognitive functioning: The role of executive control in the performance of cognitive tasks” researches the impact of burnout and emotional exhaustion, namely on the cognitive control abilities of the participants who were the German nursing home employees. The study showed that employees with higher levels of emotional exhaustion and burnout made more errors performing professional tasks that required executive control.
At the same time, less demanding tasks were fulfilled successfully by the employees with both high and low burnout rates. The study is valuable because it identified the particular danger of burnout in the employees with greater professional responsibilities as emotional exhaustion, loss of attention and focus may lead to serious executive errors and result in damage of reputation, loss of revenues, or harm the clients.
The article called “Avoiding Burnout” by Guillot is an explanatory work that educates the reader about the causes of burnout and provides guidance to the managers and employees who work in the sphere of audit concerning the measures that could help avoid burnout at work. Guillot (2013) lists the symptoms and signs of burnout and mentions how crucial it is to spot the threat in time to address it successfully. Besides, the author mentions a number of studies researching burnout and ways to avoid it in the workplace. The work is valuable because it provides clear instructions concerning the measures helping to prevent burnout and mechanisms according to which this phenomenon develops.
The work called “Testing whether reduced cognitive performance in burnout can be reversed by a motivational intervention” by Dam, Keijsers, Eling, and Becker in the Netherlands examines the effect motivational intervention has on cognitive performance. The study relies on previous findings, which note that burnout physiological changes that effect the individuals’ motivation and cause indifference towards work (Dam, Keijsers, Eling & Becker, 2011).
The test conducted by the researchers involved two groups of participants – those suffering from burnout and healthy employees. The promise of a monetary reward affected only the performance of the latter group, whereas the former remained indifferent, which proved that motivational intervention does not influence the cognitive performance of burnout patients. This study is valuable because it provides practical proof that motivation is powerless against burnout and eliminates it as a possible treatment opportunity.
In their work “Safety at Work: A Meta-Analytic Investigation of the Link Between Job Demands, Job Resources, Burnout, Engagement, and Safety Outcomes,” Nahrgang, Morgeson, and Hofmann (2011) identify the correlation between job requirements and resources and burnout, safety and engagement outcomes using meta-analytical research. The study finds that higher demands and hazards at the workplace increase burnout rates.
At the same time, improved resources result in higher engagement and lower burnout. Besides, higher burnout resulted in lower working safety, which was related positively to job resources. This way, the study researches a scope of characteristics of burnout patients such as their disregard of safety, reactivity to high job demands, and positive response to the improvement of job resources. The latter aspect may be viewed as a potential field for research in the reduction of burnout rates.
Reference List
Childs, J. H. & Stoeber, J. (2012). Do you want me to be perfect? Two longitudinal studies on socially prescribed perfectionism, stress, and burnout in the workplace. Work & Stress, 26(4), 347-364.
Dam, A., Keijsers, G. P. J., Eling, P. A. T. M., & Becker, E. S. (2011). Testing whether reduced cognitive performance in burnout can be reversed by a motivational intervention. Work & Stress, 25(3), 257-271.
Diestel, S., Cosmar, M., & Schmid, K. H. (2013). Burnout and impaired cognitive functioning: The role of executive control in the performance of cognitive tasks. Work & Stress, 27(2), 164-180.
Guillot, C. (2013). Avoiding Burnout. Internal Auditor, 70(2), 44-49.
Mamidenna, S., & Viswanatham, K. N. (2014). Burnout and retaliatory behavior intents in the workplace – An exploratory study. ASCI Journal of Management, 44(1), 54–65.
Nahrgang, J. D., Morgeson, F. P., & Hofmann, D. A. (2011). Safety at Work: A Meta-Analytic Investigation of the Link Between Job Demands, Job Resources, Burnout, Engagement, and Safety Outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(1), 71-94. Web.