Stress has received much attention since Brady’s executive monkey and the effect of the large red button has been subject to a host of research fields. Physiologically, stress is defined as an environmental change that must be adapted to if health and life are to be maintained. Social scientists have a similar view, operationalizing stress in terms of ‘stimulus’ and ‘response’, a process where stress is seen as a response to a stimulus or a stressor. A stressor is defined as an event or a situation that is perceived to be potentially harmful.
Work has been recognized to be a significant part of an individual’s life. Recognition of this relationship allowed stress researchers to quickly spin the stress concept, applying it to the realm of work and developing the concepts of work (or organizational) stress. However, there has been little agreement in the literature on the definition of work stress. McGrath and Schuler had made a significant contribution to this area by offering the following definition of work stress: “a dynamic condition in which an individual is confronted with an opportunity, constraint, or demand on being/having/doing what one desires and for which resolution is perceived to have uncertainty but which will lead to important outcomes.”
The condition of burnout is defined as a chronic case of work related stress. It has been characterized as a feeling of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion that results from a chronic state of cumulative pressure or stress at work. The most predominantly cited model of burnout, developed by Maslach and Jackson (1981), hinges on three central constructs: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of personal accomplishment. The initial construct, emotional exhaustion, is thought to be the core of job burnout. Maslach posited that emotional exhaustion appears first as a response to excessive work demands that “drain individual’s emotional resources.”
Depersonalization, the second construct of burnout, is defined as being the response to emotional exhaustion and is observed as a defensive coping strategy, and an excessive detachment.
The third and final construct of burnout, diminished personal accomplishment, is believed to be the response to, or result of, continued depersonalization and manifests itself as a decline in one’s feelings of competence and successful achievement. In sum, Maslach and Jackson’s model posits depersonalization and decreased personal accomplishment as consequences of chronic emotional exhaustion.This model was used by Maslach to create Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). This instrument is designed to measure an individual’s experience of burnout on a continuum rather than its mere absence or presence (e.g. high scores on emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, and low scores on personal accomplishment indicate high levels of burnout).