Date Capstone Completed
4-2022
Document Type
Capstone Paper
Degree Name
Masters of Science in Leadership Education: Organizational Leadership
Department
Leadership Education - Graduate Studies
Advisor
Theresa Waterbury
Location
Winona, Minnesota
Abstract
Organizations experience high rates of burnout amongst their staff. Whether it be team productivity, staff deadline completion pace, work engagement, staff turnover rates, or other relevant areas of a leader’s team, burnout has shown to cause a significant decrease in satisfaction and functionality in a staffer’s workplace (Maslach & Leiter, 2016). The purpose of this study was to identify the organization’s role in supporting their leaders to reduce staff burnout. Theories that support this study are the Job-Demands Resource Theory, the Conservation of Resources Theory, and the Valuation Theory of Organizational Change. Each of these theories present a need for organizational change regarding burnout in employees (Esaki et. al., 2013). This qualitative study focused on a leader’s perspective. An anonymous survey was sent to 10 participants from varying organizations in the Midwest region of the United States. The principal researcher used thematic coding to identify themes for conclusions and leadership implications. Results of this study reflected significant training gaps and incongruence of protocol, each of which is a precursor for burnout. A consistent message throughout each explored theory, is the notion that burnout poses incredible problems and challenges for public health (De Hert, 2020). This study’s findings framed ways in which organizations currently lack preventative burnout measures, have limited statistics regulating workplace stressors, and how organizations can better engage leadership.
Recommended Citation
Evenson, Aixa E., "Reducing Employee Burnout: The Role of Organizations" (2022). Leadership Education Capstones. 78.
https://openriver.winona.edu/leadershipeducationcapstones/78
Included in
Educational Leadership Commons, Leadership Studies Commons, Organization Development Commons
