Job Structure and Organizational Burnout: A Study of Public School Bus Drivers, Bus Aides, Mechanics, and Clerical Workers

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between job structure and the different dimensions of job burnout. The study has two related empirical components. First, the authors administered Karasek's job control inventory to workers across four occupational categories at multiple sites in one organization to explore how different positions in a single organization vary systematically in terms of job demands and decision latitude. This analysis confirms that different occupational groups are distinguished by different levels of control and job latitude. In the second phase of analysis the authors relate these differences to distinct submeasures of Maslach, Jackson, and Leiter's organizational burnout inventory, finding that individuals in distinct occupational categories experience different forms of burnout. These results suggest the need to address the conditions of specific occupations in organizational development efforts to mitigate the risk of worker burnout and its associated costs.

KEYWORDS:

• bus drivers
• burnout
• job demands
• job structure
• occupational stress