The Role of Production Control in the Development of Burnout

Abstract

Burnout is an increasingly important problem in modern work organizations. Few studies, however, have explicitly applied an adequate theoretical understanding of the performance of modern organizations. This article aims to initiate both a discussion of this phenomenon and higher-quality research into the emergence of burnout based on an understanding of the economic-technological rationalization and control (management control) of production and service processes. In applying production control, both technical and bureaucratic, group and attitudinal control systems are increasingly integrated. This so-called systematic control strategy is one of the major causes of burnout. The cumulative effect of an increasing workload combined with reduced resources due to economic considerations and technocratic implementation of production control is assumed to be relevant to the development of burnout. The authors' propositions apply to service workers in human service organizations and to key workers in enterprises using flexible specialization combined with self-directed work groups.