Burnout: Why interventions fail and what can we do differently

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.