Connection Between Burnout and Emotional Intelligence

Contents

1.0 INTRODUCTION        2

1.1 Research Background        2

1.2 Research Objectives        2

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW        3

2.1 High Performance and Burnout        3

2.2 Emotional Intelligence and Burnout        3

2.3 Hypothesis        4

3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY        4

3.1 Sampling Characteristics        5

3.4 Instrumentation        6

3.3 Data Collection Procedures        6

4.0 RESULTS        6

4.1 T-Test        6

4.2 Anova        8

4.3 Multiple Regression        11

5.0 DISCUSSION        12

REFERENCES        14

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research Background

According to O'Boyle et al. (2011), in any social interaction, emotional intelligence plays an important role in valuing an individual's abilities and skills. Lack of emotional intelligence indicates an inability of a person towards skills resulting in the lack of understanding of emotions. Moreover, emotional intelligence is essential for controlling the emotions and rashness in various situations in order to solve conflicts. On the other hand, Hallsten, et al. (2011) explained burnout as a dysfunctional and unpleasant condition that an individual would like to change. Burnout in an organisation is the result of perceived disparity between the availability of the resources and the demand of the job. The study by Saadati, Nikbakhsh and Afarinesh (2014) emphasised on the relation between emotions and performance of an individual resulting in the display of feelings. For example, emotions that were in the alignment of successful performance indicated happiness, vigour, and calmness of a person. In contrast, feelings correlating with poor performance resulted in depression, burnout, or fatigue.

The reason for carrying out this study is to determine whether burnout influences the performance of a person, or the job performance leads to burnout of an employee.

1.2 Research Objectives

Following are the research objectives of the current study:

• To study the relation between job burnout and emotional intelligence
• To identify different theories and models in relation to job burnout and emotional intelligence
• To study the impact of job burnout on performance of employees
• To highlight the relation between job performance and emotional exhaustion in an organisation

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 High Performance and Burnout

In the current competitive environment, pressure from the global organisations has emphasised the importance of high-performance work to attain an advantage. Various companies ensure that employees are displaying a high-performance work so that organisational efficiency is achieved. This concept refers to the process of skill enhancement, the increase in participation, etc to motivate the employees (Bartram, et al. 2012). However, Jensen, Patel and Messersmith (2013) highlighted that constant high performance from the employees can result in serious strains and stress leading to job burnout. Therefore, in various cases, the demand from employees to continuously perform better in the company can lead to intense stress. Demerouti, Bakker and Leiter (2014) studied that the workers are required to adapt the new and the fast ways of performing tasks due to the economic turmoil of 2008. Although the economic crises began in the year 2008 however the pressure among the workers has increased related to increasing efficiency, lowering the cost and introducing new ways of working.  

2.2 Emotional Intelligence and Burnout

EI is defined as the ability of an individual to control and manage emotions, whereas, the emotional control comprises of the skills that can improve and refined. It is also stated that increase in the level of EI can provide better measures of coping up with the stressful environment (Chan, 2006).  

Bartram, Casimir, Djurkovic, Leggat, and Stanton (2012) stated that burnout is a disease arising from negative experiences faced at a workplace, burnout involves both physical as well as mental stress. The researcher further added that burnout usually arises due to slow progression in career, lack of opportunity and demotivation which leads to the feeling of lack of control. On the other hand, Hallsten, Voss, Stark, and Josephson (2012) stated that burnout is similar to depression, therefore, the technique of emotional management can be helpful in reducing the rate of burnout. The study conducted by Petitta and Vecchione (2011) also revealed that coping with emotions can help in handling work-related stress.

Saadati, Nikbakhsh, and Afarinesh (2014) explained that EI helps individuals in understanding and controlling emotions which can help in reducing stressed behaviour and can also provide assistance in managing conflict and ethical concerns. Furthermore, Jensen, Patel and Messersmith (2013) explain the relationship between EI and burnout by stating that EI allows a stressful employee to comprehend the emotions and to correctly respond to negative emotions. In the same manner, Saadati, Nikbakhsh, and Afarinesh (2014) reviewed that EI is also found to be helpful in managing and mitigating the workplace and the organisational stress. Thus, the researcher reported that a negative relationship exists between the burnout and EI.  

The study by Chan (2006) has the highest contribution towards the relationship between emotional intelligence and job burnout. The study resulted that burnout’s three different components were highly influenced by various elements of EI. These three components were emotional exhaustion, reduced personal accomplishment, and depersonalization. As per the study, an employee's burnout can take place due to emotional exhaustion and constant work pressure. This indirectly affects the personal accomplishment of the employee who feels depersonalised.  

2.3 Hypothesis

The hypotheses developed for the current study are:

H1: There is a significant impact of high performance on emotional intelligence.

Ho: There is no impact on high performance on emotional intelligence.

3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This section of the report defines the sampling characteristics, instruments used to gather the data and the procedure used to gather the data in regards to the research question. The approach used in the research is explanatory in nature because the research aims at explaining the impact of one variable on other variables.