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<p>Preface ix</p> <p>1. The Current Crisis 1</p> <p>2. How You Experience Burnout 23</p> <p>3. What Causes Burnout? 38</p> <p>4. Why Do Anything About Burnout? 61</p> <p>5. Crisis Intervention to Stop Burnout 79</p> <p>6. Preventing Burnout and Building Engagement 102</p> <p>7. Promoting Human Values 128</p> <p>Afterword: Moving Toward a Better Future 148</p> <p>Appendix: Assessing the Work Environment 155</p> <p>Endnotes 171</p> <p>For Further Reading 173</p> <p>About the Author 177</p> <p>Index 179</p>

"As the original researcher who first identified and described burnout, Dr. Maslach now digs to the roots of alienation and loss of community in many large organizations." (T. George Harris, editor, <i>Spirituality & Health</i>)<br /> <br /> "Full of important lessons for those who experience burnout and those who are in positions to prevent it from occurring...it's a road map to the design of workplaces that will restore the vitality and the promise of fulfilling work." (Wayne Cascio, professor of management, College of Business and Administration, University of Colorado at Denver)<br /> <br /> "The proposed solutions reach well beyond simple-minded, individual stress management to the core challenge of redesigning the work environment." (David S. Sobel, director of patient education and health promotion, Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program)<br /> <br /> "A welcome corrective to much of the writing I see on burnout. The authors show convincingly that the causes and solutions?are to be found primarily in the organization, not the individual." (Cary Cherniss, professor of applied psychology, Rutgers University)<br /> <br /> "RecommAnded for business collections." (Steven Silkunas, DCO SEPTA/FRONTIER, <i>Library Journal</i>)

<b>CHRISTINA MASLACH</b> is professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the creator of the widely used psychological test instrument The Maslach Burnout Inventory and the author of <i>Burnout: The Cost of Caring</i> (1982). <p><b>MICHAEL P. LEITER</b> is dean of the faculty of pure and applied science and professor of psychology at Acadia University, Nova Scotia, Canada. He is also director of the Centre for Organizational Research & Development.</p>

Today's workforce is experiencing job burnout in epidemic proportions. Workers at all levels, both white- and blue-collar, feel stressed out, insecure, misunderstood, undervalued, and alienated at their workplace. But what can be done to offset the devastating effects of organizational downsizing, outsourcing, and restructuring? <p>This original and important book debunks the common myth that when workers suffer job burnout they are solely responsible for their fatigue, anger, and "don't give a damn" attitude. <i>The Truth About Burnout</i> clearly shows where the accountability often belongs . . . squarely on the shoulders of the organization. Burnout is shown to be a sign of a major dysfunction within an organization, and says more about the workplace than it does about the employees.</p> <p>Written by Drs. Christina Maslach and Michael Leiter leaders in the study of job burnout <i>The Truth About Burnout</i> challenges the accepted thinking about burnout and focuses on how to describe, predict, and alleviate this problem. The authors give workers, managers, and company leaders guidelines and strategies for eradicating the underlying problems within an organization that are the true source of burnout. They propose a new paradigm for organizational health and offer specific prescriptive measures. These measures—both for assessment, goal-setting, and techniques of crisis intervention, and for preventing burnout in the future—demand both collective initiative from employees and substantial cooperation from management.</p> <p>The organizational change that is required will not only alleviate this problem--it also offers management the promise of greater profitability. For it is only engaged and committed employees who can remain functional and productive for the long run.</p>

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