Psigologiese uitbranding van MBA–studente : 'n ondersoek na die gedrags–, kognitiewe en eksistensiële komponente

Abstract

The increasing emphasis of the organization's responsibility with regard to the employees' health has currently received widespread attention. The role of stress related problems and the concomitant phenomenon of psychological burnout has been the focus of recent research. A literature survey has indicated very little theoretical conceptualisation in this instance, being mainly applicable to the helping professions. The view that South African managers are regarded as a high stress group has led to the investigation of the phenomena of burnout within this population and an attempt to identify causal psychological variables. Behavioral, cognitive and existential variables that have been identified by literature and theoretically linked to stress and burnout have been utilized. These variables respectively form an inclination toward Type A behaviour, endorsement of irrational beliefs and the degree to which value actualisation is experienced. The degree of burnout, as well as the three variables as indicated above was isolated within a group of 56 MBA students at the PU for CHE. The underlying relationship between the variables and the degree of burnout has been described by means of a correlational study. A step-wise regression was used to investigate the predictive role of the variables in regard to burnout. The research results confirm that psychological burnout may occur within managerial populations. In this regard feelings of inadequate personal accomplishment were prominent. There was a definite relationship between burnout and the degree to which a person endorses irrational beliefs as well as the degree to which the person was able to actualise core values. This phenomenon was explained in terms of the possible resources in regard to effective stress coping facilitated via the presence of the above mentioned variables. Type A behavior, as such, did not indicate a clear relationship in terms of burnout. However, in interaction with the other factors a predictive role was assumed with regard to burnout. The universally high level of Type A behavior for this particular population led to the conclusion that Type A behavior forms an independant adaptation to continuous stress. Further it was postulated that the effectiveness of this mode of adaptation was determined by the contribution of the cognitive and existential variables. It was thus suggested that Type A persons who did not possess this type of protection will experience their adaptation as ineffective and tend to burn out. Proposals were made for the utilisation of Rational Emotive Therapy and Logotherapy in individual, as well as group approaches, in the prevention and treatment of psychological burnout.