Introduction
The study on the impact of interpersonal environment on burnout and organizational commitment is of particular importance to managers and human resources professionals and scholars in the service industry because by nature services have to be delivered through people.
To effectively deliver services, service workers must have several characteristics such as high level of empathy, willingness to listen, be accommodative to clients and be aware of their role in solving clients’ problems.
The irony of service industries such as healthcare, communication, finance and banking, utilities, security and emergency services is that most workers display negative attitudes, apathy and unwillingness to assist the people who so much need their help.
This research study helps managers understand why workers exhibit such negative behavior, what causes them, how they progresses and the consequences of this problem in the organization. The major aim of this study is to prescribe what actions are to be taken to avoid such behaviors from occurring in the first place.
Conceptualization
The major issue that comes out in this research is whether the nature of interpersonal relationships at work place among employees does indeed contribute to burnout and whether in turn that level of burnout does affect the level of organization commitment.
These concepts have been clearly identified and explained by the authors in this study who have also greatly collaborated their theories by use of other literature review written on the subject such as Maslach & Jackson 1984b, Burke, Shearer & Deszca,1984 and Golembiewski & Scicchitano, 1983 among others.
The nature of interpersonal relationships is the main determinant of whether a worker will experience burnout. The interpersonal relationships contribute to the progression of burnout which is described by the authors to occur in three stages; emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and finally the final stage where the worker experiences a diminished sense of personal achievement.
The authors have explained that when burnout occurs the employee is likely to withdraw from work and identify less with the organization and its objectives.
According to the authors, interpersonal relationships between employees are greatly determined by the factor of communication and are seen to occur at two levels between fellow co-workers and between co-workers and their supervisors.
The nature of the communication can either be positive, such as instrumentation, support, empathy, guidance or commendation by a supervisor or by a co-worker. It can also be negative such as a reprimand by a senior personnel or disagreement over work with fellow co-workers.
Burnout is explained to occur in three stages progressively; the first stage is emotional exhaustion where a worker feels emotionally extended and drained by their contact with other people. The second stage of burnout was identified as depersonalization where there is feeling of apathy and callousness toward contact with people especially those who need the worker most.
Diminished sense of personal accomplishment was identified as the last stage and this is where the effects of the burn out can be recognized by observing the work output of the employee which usually plummets.
This article also tackles the concept of organizational commitment which is defined as the desire of an employee to continue working with an organization as a result of satisfaction with the job and the work environment.
Another important issue identified was role conflict which was identified as a major contributor to stress. It usually occurs in workplace where there are disagreement issues on how work should progress, who should do the work, issues that involve personal principles and so on. Theoretical Framework
The hypotheses of this study have been clearly stated in a way that all users can understand. There is no ambiguity in the hypotheses, the variables are clearly stated and the expected relations clearly outlined. The work of the researcher is to scientifically get the data that will either confirm or reject the hypotheses.
The hypotheses in this study have been systematically classified and enumerated and have been classified into three set based on the three main thrusts of the study. That is; one, the contact with other employees will determine the probability of occurrence of the three different aspects of burnout.
Two, what are the interrelationships between the three aspects of burnout and finally how the three aspects of burnout affect organizational commitment. These hypotheses allows for coherent flow of information from the research study as various concepts are discussed and how they relate to the final research findings.
The hypotheses can also be described as scientifically valid because they can be empirically tested. They can be verified using findings in the study which can be used to confirm or reject them; they can as well be interpreted. This is very important because the testability of the hypotheses using real life data give credibility to the findings of the research.
The hypotheses stated by the authors cover all the areas of the subject matter adequately. The researchers have stated as many hypotheses as are necessary to examine all possible relationships in the study. They cover all the relevant areas of the study variables and go beyond so as to allow the users to be able to gain more insights into the subject matter.
There are also broad enough to allow the users to find out the major objectives of the study and enable generation of new knowledge which eventually contribute to the pool of knowledge on the subject. This is well demonstrated in the study thro the many instances where ad hoc analyses were made and conclusions were arrived at. These new revelations were not in the objectives of the original study.
The main variables of the study had been appropriately stated and their interrelationships well described. In this case interpersonal contact was the predictive variable in the study. The relationship between these variable is that role conflict and interpersonal contact are the predictive variables.
Burnout and organization commitment are the subjective variable and are determined by the former. Interpersonal contact affects directly the three levels of burnout independently.
All the above mentioned variables can be tested, and their results interpreted. The best measure for these qualitative variables would be the use of scale such as the Lickert’s Scale amongst others. Variables such as organization commitment can be determined by looking at the statistics on staff turnover or retention rate. A high turnover rate would signify low organization commitment.
Research Design
Operationalization is the process of assigning quantifiable values to qualitative variables. According to Babbie and Mouton (2001) operationalization is the process of constructing actual, concrete measurement technique that will enable the researcher to find the desired information. An operational definition therefore is a procedure for classifying, ordering or quantifying something especially if it is a qualitative variable.
In this research the variables have been clearly and adequately operationalized. Each key variable has been explained and a quantifiable definition given either directly or by breaking the variable into components that can be measured or assigned numerical values. For example interpersonal contact was operationalized as either being pleasant or unpleasant.
It was possible to assign a numerical value to the nature of the contact by specifying if the contact was very (extremely) pleasant or very (extremely) unpleasant or just plainly pleasant/unpleasant.
Burnout was operationalized as being level of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment. Finally, organizational commitment was operationalized as the employee’s involvement and identification with the organization.
Reliability refers to how the research is able to reflect the actual circumstances of the issue being investigated and provide consistent results when repeatedly done.
Reliability is also achieved through triangulation where a third unbiased party using the same tools and methods will arrive at the same findings as the researcher. It is an indicator of objectivity of the research and that the findings are genuine and are representative of the population.
The other crucial aspect relates to validity of the results which is a measure of how accurate the results findings are.
Reliability and validity was achieved in the study by use of credible and widely used tools of measurement. For each variable under study the researcher used the best tool available. In measuring role conflict, they used the Rizzo, House and Lirtzmann scale which had been confirmed by Van Sell, Brief and Schuller in 1981 as being the best measures available.
In measuring burnout, they used Maslach Burnout Inventory developed by Maslach and Jackson in 1981 which has been widely used elsewhere by other researchers. Interpersonal contacts were measured using a procedure developed by Leiter and Meechan in 1986. Organizational commitment was measured using a short version of the commitment questionnaire which had been developed by Mowday and others in 1979.
To ensure that responses on regular contact between the employees were actually true on those respondents who both separately confirmed contact by the matching of their response were used. It is clear from the research design that the research was done diligently by ensuring that research tools were valid, credible and reliable.
Finally, we can see that the population used in this research study is very appropriate; the researchers used workers employed in the healthcare sector.
The aim of the study is to determine the effect of interpersonal relationships, how they contribute to burnout and its effect on organizational commitment among human resource personnel’s. In the healthcare sector workers are in regular contact with people whom are mostly patients, relatives, doctors, fellow nurses amongst others.
Thus, because of regular interaction with people they are likely to experience emotional exhaustion. Yet in their work, regular communication is vital in ensuring efficiency since they are expected to provide assistance and care to needy patients. Their work entails working during odd hours and holidays.
It also entails working with traumatic patients such as accident and crime victims. As such death, pain and suffering are a constant experience to them. Thus we can conclude that the population chosen is probably the best for this study.
The sample chosen was 52 out of 74 nursing workers in a small private hospital in California. The sample was appropriate for the study because being a small hospital the interaction between the workers was expected to be very high.
The sample was appropriate because the workers selected were employed in the hospital full time and were all exposed to similar stressors. The sample data also involved supervisors such as the director and assistant director of nursing and shift supervisors so they were able to get information on worker-supervisor relationships.
Results
The data was analyzed using appropriate techniques. The two methods used to analyze and present the data were the Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficients Ranking which examines how each of the variables in the study correlates with each other.
These tool were able to show not only the strength of the correlation but the direction as well; whether it was positive or negative. The final results were consistent with the expectation of the researcher albeit with minimal deviation.
Multiple regression analysis was done to show how two or more variable interrelated in contributing to the major phenomenon.
Multiple regression analysis was useful in showing these complex interrelationships as well as the direction and nature of this relationship. For instance multiple regression, confirmed that positive and negative contacts on the job were each separately related to exhaustion.
The tools used in presenting the statistics are credible as they are still widely used in similar studies and are useful in determining whether a hypothesis should be rejected or accepted.
We also realize that the conclusions are aligned with the results and confirm the expectations of the researchers. The results are relevant and useful to the subject matter as they are detailed and had covered all the areas of the study.
The results also considered all possible relationships of the subject matter even those originally not conceived by the researchers. The lack of significant deviation of the results is consistent to the expectation of the researcher as well as current literature review on the subject.
The results of the study confirm what is already known that, interpersonal contact is the main cause of burnout and that burnout negatively affect organizational commitment.
The findings are consistent with what is already known; thus the research findings contribution to the body of knowledge already existing is the demonstration how positive and negative contact on the job each separately contribute to burnout and to organization commitment.
The application of this study is that organizational leaders will ensure that the working environment is cordial and that it fosters positive relationships between workers especially those involved in services provision.
Nevertheless, it is notable to mention that some of the tools used in the research as well as theoretical framework used as the basis of this study were previously associated with the researcher for example the Maslach Burnout Inventory which measures burnout developed by Maslach, and Interpersonal Contacts Measuring Procedure developed by Leiter.
The researchers also frequently referred to past research findings which they had authored. These could negatively affect the objectivity of the study. When a researcher uses tools they have developed in the past or rely of the finding of their past researches as the basis of future research, it is possible that objectivity may be lost since errors committed in the past may not be easily identified during such occasion.
Another limitation of the research is that it was carried out in one location only which would thus limit it generalization. The findings could be more reliable and valid if the research was carried out in several locations using different groups and the results compared.
The researchers also ignored or did not demonstrate the role of the physical working environment to burnout and work commitment. Also the role of reward and compensation was not adequately investigated and how they impact on the factor of burn out.
Conclusion
In conclusion the research has adequately considered the research questions originally outlined. The researchers have also demonstrated how interpersonal contact in organization is the main factor determining burnout by reducing the organization commitment of workers especially those working in human service.
Managers in such organization should use this information to ensure that the nature of interpersonal communication is positive and that the environment is conducive to create and promote helpful, supportive and understanding relations either between co workers or with their superiors.