Abstract

This study is directed at exploring the relationship between organizational health and teachers’ burnout in selected private schools in Lahore city. The health of an organization could be measured through five determinants, including institutional integrity, academic emphasis, collegial leadership, resource influence and teacher affiliation. These five determinants were studied in relation to three dimensions of burnout which consists of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment. Data were collected through the questionnaire method. A total of thirty-seven questions were asked from three hundred and eighty respondents. The data so collected were analyzed through SPSS. The conclusion was that there is a strong negative correlation between organizational health and teachers’ burnout in private schools. It means that poor organizational health leads to increased burnout of the teaching community and vice versa. Introduction.

Introduction

Education, no doubt, is the engine of development and growth in any society. It is for this reason that development, both economic and social, is driven by a country’s workforce, while the quality and effectiveness of the workforce are dependent upon the quality of education that they receive. Moreover, there is no denying the fact that an educated mind contributes more effectively to the socio-economic development of the country that they live in, as according to Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological System Model, people don’t carry out their responsibilities and duties in isolation. Instead, there are many elements and factors in the surrounding which may have a significant effect on human productivity (T., & Baskan, A. 2015).) In the same vein, corporations and organizations can’t remain uninfluenced from the environment they operate in. The environmental factors may possibly shape the very culture of the organization. Anne-Marie Willis, a design writer, editor, educator, and current professor of design theory at the German University in Cairo, wrote “Everything we design, designs us back”, “we design our world, while our world acts back on us and designs us”, and suggests that progress or regression works reciprocally (Willis, 2006). If this ontological approach is applied to teachers and schools where they work, then we may see a strong connection between the school culture and correspondent teachers’ behavior and vice versa.

It is for this reason that states, especially welfare states, give education a top priority and invest a greater portion of their GDP in educating their citizens. However, it must be borne in mind that the impact and quality of higher education are itself determined and influenced by certain factors, among whom the level of teaching staff’s motivation stands tall and prominent (Kwapong, Opoku, & Donyina, 2015). Empirical data suggests that the ability of educated classes to make a significant socio-economic contribution in national rebuilding is primarily dependent on how well they are taught, especially at higher levels. So it is the teaching staff that plays a major role in ensuring quality in education at every level.

Statistics reveal that the number of teachers quitting their profession is increasing with time. In comparison to other professions of the same nature, teachers are three times more likely to abandon their profession and even more likely to want or plan to quit their jobs. After quitting their profession, teachers try to find jobs in the private sector for better professional opportunities, others opt for early retirement for a number of valid reasons, and still, others are simply dropping out. Ironically, thousands of teachers have been found to have put down their pens largely because of decreased funding, limited personal control over their teaching, and a lack of societal commitment.

Though there are a number of factors that contribute to this trend, positive and good working conditions result in increased productivity; however, devising such a conducive and favorable working environment asks for certain bold initiatives that can help teachers meet their extrinsic and intrinsic needs in the organization. It is strongly believed that motivated and contended teachers would have better performance and delivery, which in return will cause a rise in school's standard, thus attracting highly trained and more qualified teaching professionals.

Though teaching communities are susceptible to a number of socio-economic and psychological issues, it is teachers’ burnout that stands tall. Before moving any further, it

is vital to throw light on what is meant by the term ‘Burnout’. Burnout, to begin with, is a work or workplace related problem. Harrison (1999) defines burnout to be a ‘physical, mental or emotional exhaustion caused by long-term involvement in demanding workplace environment’. It is an occupational or professional hazard and a phenomenon at times caused by distress ( Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001). There are various facets of burnout, of which emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and loss of the sense of personal accomplishment are more acute and severe. Emotional exhaustion may be defined as the consumption or exhaustion of one’s emotional capabilities; depersonalization means a detached behavior towards people in the organization, and the loss of personal accomplishment means a condition of ineffectiveness and inadequacy towards job performance and the situations faced at the workplaces. Among the three, the most problematic dimension of burnout is emotional exhaustion because it results in losing the motivation to continue the job. The term itself is strongly related to stress, fatigue and frustration are undergone by people at the workplace, especially by those who are in constant contact with other people.

This issue of burnout is more serious for the teaching profession than problems such as early retirement, quitting jobs or job change. It damages a teacher’s coping capacity, though the teacher may remain attached to his profession but passively. Existing literature suggests that those in the teaching profession are most vulnerable to burnout for the reason that it is one of the stressful professions. Only in the US, as available data suggests, one-fourth of total teachers feel burned out at a given time. And this costs dollars 3.5 billion a year ( Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001).

Burnout syndrome may appear for teachers in a number of different ways. Anyone who is exposed to the problem of burnout feels that what he has got to offer to the organization where he works is either not received well or is not wanted at all. At times they may feel unrecognized, unappreciated for what they do, and unimportant in the organization. They often perceive the system to be oppressive and the institution where they work more demanding. A real problem of burnout syndrome is that it can feed off itself so that victims feel more and more isolated and deserted. The result is that the victim fails to mix up with his colleagues and establish a support system.

Burnout mostly results from an interaction between individual psychological characteristics and the environment one is exposed to at any given time (Bousquet, 2017). Anthony Cedoline (1982), in Job Burnout in Public Education: Symptoms, Causes, and Survival Skills, enumerate seven reasons for burnout in schools. He says that the lack of control of teachers’ over their destiny, work overload, lack of occupational feedback and communication, contact overload, role ambiguity, individual factor, training deficiency, and a number of miscellaneous factors contribute to job burnout (Cedoline, 1982). Though he talks in a comprehensive manner about the factors that contribute to burnout, there can be so many others reason such as poor students’ performance, lack of cooperation from administration, shortage of resources, and importantly poor organizational health can cause job burnout.

According to Hoy, Tarter, & Kottkamp (1991), organizational health is a general term that refers to ‘teachers' perceptions of their work environment; it is influenced by formal and informal relationships, personalities of participants and organizational leadership’ (Tarter, C., Kottkamp, & Hoy, 1991). In other words, it is a tool or descriptive scale that assesses or measures a school’s climate and interpersonal relationship between teaching staff, students and administration. The construct of organizational health provides for an integrative framework to explore the individual and organizational level influences on outcomes necessary for effectiveness (Hayat, Kohoulat, Kojuri, & Faraji, 2015).

Healthy schools are expected to draw out more and more organizational commitment because teaching communities are protected from unwarranted and unnecessary interference; principals provide structures, resources, and positive reinforcement; subsequently, teachers get along well with each other and set high but attainable academic standards for students to achieve.

According to the 5 dimensions was measured by a subtest of the OHI-E. Institutional Integrity, Collegial Leadership, Resource Influence, Teacher Affiliation, and Academic Emphasis.

Research Hypothesis

• Organizational health doesn’t have any effect on the occupational burnout of the teaching community.

• Institutional integrity doesn’t have any effect on the emotional exhaustion of the teaching community.

• Institutional integrity doesn’t have any effect on the depersonalization of teachers.

• Institutional integrity doesn’t have any effect on the reduced personal accomplishments of the teaching community.

• Collegial leadership doesn’t have any effect on the emotional exhaustion of the teaching community.

• Collegial leadership doesn’t have any effect on the depersonalization of the teaching community.

• Collegial leadership doesn’t have any effect on the reduced personal accomplishment of the teaching community.

• Resource influence doesn’t have any effect on the emotional exhaustion of the teaching community.

• Resource influence doesn’t have any influence on the depersonalization of the teaching community.

• Resource influence doesn’t have any effect on the reduced personal accomplishments of the teaching community.

• Teacher affiliation doesn’t have any effect on the emotional exhaustion of the teaching community.

• Teacher affiliation doesn’t have any effect on the depersonalization of the teaching community.

• Teacher affiliation doesn’t have any effect on the reduced personal accomplishment of the teaching community.

• The academic emphasis doesn’t have any effect on the emotional exhaustion of the teaching community.

• The academic emphasis doesn’t have any effect on the depersonalization of the teaching community.

• The academic emphasis doesn’t have any effect on the reduced personal accomplishment of teaching the community.

Theoretical Framework

Motivational and emotional stability is best suited for organizations or workplaces like schools because it helps a great deal in exploring why some teachers feel motivated and encouraged for some reasons while others don’t work for the same reasons. One of the best-suited theories is The James-Lange theory of Emotions. This theory suggests that teachers feel emotionally good if appreciated for what they do. If they receive good feedback for their work, this helps them grow and progress in their workplace. In order to frustrate job dissatisfaction among teachers, it is recommended to treat them well by allowing them a favorable conducive working environment and a feeling of fair play. Moreover, it is important that the administrators must extend support to their team and try to develop good working relations with them. There is no doubt that workers come from different socio-economic backgrounds and so having different natures, thus requiring varied motivating features. In other words, one-size-fits all doesn’t work in this case here. So there is a need for tailored solutions to the problems they come across at workplaces.

Herzberg's Two Factors Theory (Hygiene-Motivation Theory), Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory (Turabik, T., & Baskan, A. 2015). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory was proposed by psychologist Abraham Maslow in his article in 1943, “A Theory of Human Motivation”. This theory has wide acceptability across the world and is applied

within organizations, especially susceptible to job dissatisfaction and consequent burnout. The hierarchy is composed of five levels:

• First, physiological- these are needs that must be fulfilled for an individual to survive. These include shelter, food and water.

• Second, safety- encompasses economic benefits and security along with health, education and other wellbeing features.

• Third, love and belongingness- these two include needs such as friendship, family terms and other relationships.

• Fourth, esteem and respect which includes recognition and respect by others. Fifth, Self-actualization- it is the desire to achieve the maximum one can.

The crux of this model/theory is that an employee most basic needs must be fulfilled so that he may feel motivated and achieve goals that one is supposed to meet in his workplace. However, as teachers’ needs and requirements vary from person to person and time to time and space to space, his needs need to be met in order to retain him and motivate him to deliver according to his capabilities.

In an education system, teachers are the backbone of the organization they work in and play perhaps the most vital role in making the system work. At times, these teachers may feel down, depressed and mentally and physically exhausted for one reason or other. So it is very important for the administration to observe and monitor the behavior of these teachers. Their needs and requirements to maintain their motivation level must be understood and responded accordingly. For example, at times, they may need financial assistance, they may feel motivated if their services are acknowledged or when they are promoted in the organization where they work.

We today live and work in a highly competitive environment. To survive and progress in such an environment, the business community must apply successful business models to better cope with the challenge of employees’ quitting jobs issue. To overcome these issues and problems in an organization, it is important that strongly and friendly relations must be established and maintained between employer and employees. This will help the organization to influence and persuade its workers and employees to fulfil what they have been assigned to accomplish (Manzoor, 2012).

School’s culture plays a very important role in ensuring teachers’ loyalty to the organization as well as influences their performance. Shoen and Tedllie (2008) believe that if a school satisfies the very needs and demands of its teaching staff, it helps in achieving the success not only of teachers but also of students, administration and other stakeholders in the organization. This was confirmed by a survey conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics. The results of the survey showed that school staffing problem doesn’t arise from a shortage of expert and qualified teachers. Rather the issue emerges because a large number of trained and experienced teachers quit their jobs for reasons other than retirement. The study also suggested that teachers leaving their jobs at the age of retirement are quite fewer than quitting for other factors like job dissatisfaction and teachers looking for other jobs in other sectors (Ingersoll, 2001).

Discussion

Those who educate children well are more to be honoured than they who produce them, for these only gave them life, those the art of living well. Aristotle

Teachers are the mainstay between academic institutions and students at large. Their role is so important that they not only shape or influence the future of students of the whole nation as well. For this responsibility to deliver, teachers must be provided with the best possible favorable environment, which provides the opportunity for teachers’ growth and development. Teachers must be provided all the facilities like another well-paid profession, enjoying special perks and privileges in the state system. This will help raise the social stature of teaching as a profession, thus attracting the best of the lot to the teaching profession.

The data collected, analyzed and tested shows that there is a strong correlation between organizational health and teachers’ burnout in private schools. The results suggest that poor organizational health leads to increased burnout of teachers. It is important to note that there were five determinants of organizational health, consisting of institutional integrity, collegial leadership, resource influence, teacher affiliation and academic emphasis. So long as the teachers’ burnout is concerned, the study was limited to explore only three dimensions, including reduced personal accomplishment, depersonalization and emotional exhaustion. To ascertain the correlation between organizational health and teachers’ burnout, sixteen hypotheses were developed and tested.

The above results show that is a direct but negative strong correlation between organizational health and teachers’ burnout in private schools. Any improvement in the health of organizational health will certainly lead to reduced burnout among the teaching community at the school level. The diagram suggests that the very first determinant of organizational health, which is institutional integrity, has a relationship with all three aspects of burnout in schools. Reduced institutional integrity will lead to increased emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment. Statistics indicate that institutional integrity has a significant negative effect on the emotional exhaustion of the teaching community in the schools studied. Similarly, institutional integrity has a direct but negative correlation with depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment. What may be deduced is that the three dimensions of burnout are

dependent on institutional integrity. Healthy institutional integrity will discourage occupational burnout and vice versa.

The diagram further suggests that collegial leadership is directly related to emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment. The relationship is negative, which means that any improvement in the indicators of collegial leadership will certainly discourage all the three dimensions of occupational burnout of teachers in private schools. If teachers’ burnout has to be countered in private schools, data results suggest that school administrators must have to focus on improving the different parameters of collegial leadership within the organization.

Seven different questions were asked to ascertain the resource influence in private schools. The data suggest that resource influence has a strong impact on teachers’ burnout in private schools. As the data indicates that the correlation is negative, it is very important that teachers must be provided with all kinds of resources in the schools so as to help counter the burnout. If any organization fails to provide the basic resources to its faculty, it certainly results in increased emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment. What may be concluded is that organizations equipped with resources are least vulnerable to occupational burnout.

Teachers’ affiliation with its organization can be ascertained, and any teacher who feels more attached to his organization and identifies himself more actively with it is least vulnerable to burnout. Here again, the correlation is significantly negative. It means that a teacher who feels proud of the school where he works, keeps good terms with other staff and is more enthusiastic about his job responsibilities will be more resistant to the feeling of occupational burnout. On the other hand, if a teacher is short of organizational affiliation will be more susceptible to a crisis of professional burnout. So, the correlation between the two is direct and negative.

Data were collected about academic emphasis through a set of five interrelated questions from respondents. Based on data, it was found that academic emphasis strongly affects the burnout of teachers in schools. Results from the data suggest that if students don’t complete their assigned work in time, if students are not cooperative and don’t put extra effort to get good grades, it results in reduced academic emphasis, thus leading to increased burnout of teachers in private. So it is advised that efforts must be directed at improving the academic emphasis so as not to allow teachers to be exposed to burnout.

The data collected and subsequently analyzed for this research study supports the hypothesis that the work environment that the teachers are provided with and reward/compensation packages as decided upon by the school administration is not enough to draw out optimal performance from teachers. However, this study may be the only starting point that suggests that a detailed study needs to be carried out that must include other important socio-economic factors to reach a definite and generalized conclusion. Such a study will be helpful in making concrete recommendations for making intervention policies for optimal results, beneficial not only for schools and teachers but also for students.

Appendix

• The city schools

• The Crescent school

• Beaconhouse school system

• SCIL

• Roots International

• American Lycetuf

• Educators

• Lahore Allience

• Lacas

• The Smart School

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