BURNOUT IN A LARGE FEDERAL AGENCY: PHASE MODEL IMPLICATIONS FOR HOW EMPLOYEES PERCEIVE LEADERSHIP CREDIBILITY

Abstract

This article reports the results of a survey questionnaire implemented in the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) during the spring of 1994. Using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and the MBI phase model, front line professional employees for the NRCS district conservationalists (DCs) were found to experience substantially higher burnout rates when compared to national norms. In part, this may be attributable to dramatic changes in the DC job role from that of helpful friend to the grassroots farmer to regulator of complex environmental legislation. DCs have the authority to deny federal benefits to those farmers who refuse to comply with the new Farm Security Act (FSA) Conservation Title requirements. The difficulty DCs experience in implementing this more complex job role is compounded by their negative assessment of agency leadership. Generally, two leadership factors measuring leader credibility and change motivation were found to be significantly related to higher levels of DC job burnout. Perceptions of low leader credibility and change motivation, at all levels within the agency, are related to higher levels of job burnout among the DCs. This raises serious questions about the capacity of the NRCS to implement a