Some Effects of Multiple OD Interventions on Burnout and Work Site Features

Abstract

An organization development effort using theory-driven interventions was undertaken with a human resources (HR) staff of 31 of a corporation, and this article notes how this effort reduced the HR staffs level of burnout and improved its group properties and turnover rates. Using an eight-phase model to estimate burnout level and 10 Work Environment Scales to describe the work setting, the authors gathered data over a two-year period, administering a survey five times. The level of burnout, initially high among the HR staff diminished and remained reduced for at least four months after the last planned intervention, although this improvement decayed somewhat following nine more months and a major reorganization. The improvements in group properties and the turnover rate, however, persisted and were even enhanced The authors find that personnel changes do not explain the improvements, and that the research design probably generated a conservative estimate of effects They caution, however, that this effort focused on persons in an "active" mode with respect to approaching their work even though they were in advanced phases of burnout. Therefore, orthodox, high-stimulus OD designs might not prove as effective for those in a "passive" mode.