The Relationship between Hofstede Organizational Culture and Employees Job Burnout in Hospitals of Tehran University of Medical Sciences 2014-2015

OBJECTIVE Organizational culture plays a supportive role in modification of structure and implementation of new management systems. So, the management of organizational culture with cultural elements recognition plays an important role in improving the efficacy and effectiveness of the organization. On the other hand, the health sector requires healthy and motivated practitioners and staff to achieve these goals. Job burnout as a response to environmental stressors causes some changes in attitude and behavior towards work and work environment, and factors such as organizational culture effect on it. This study aimed to clarify the relationship between organizational culture and employee's burnout. MATERIAL AND METHODS This is a descriptive and cross-sectional study. The study population included all clinical staff (physicians and nurses) and nonclinical (administrative and financial) in hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2014-2015. Among them, 387 participants were selected using simple stratified random sampling. In order to collect the required data, the Maslach Burnout Inventory (1981) and Hofstede's organizational cultural questionnaire (1988) were used. Also Cronbach's alpha obtained 0.836 and 0.913 for them, respectively. In order to analyze the data, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, multiple regression, independent t-test and binomial test were performed using SPSS 20. RESULTS Results showed that organizational culture in studied population were masculine, collectivism with high uncertainty avoidance and relatively equitable power distance. Mean score for emotional exhaustion was (31.4) and most of participants 315 (40.6%) had average emotional exhaustion. Mean score for depersonalization was (21.16) and most of participants 315 (82.1%) had high depersonalization. Mean score for personal accomplishment was (30.02) and most of participants 280 (73.2%) had high personal accomplishment. Multiple correlation coefficient showed that there is a significant relationship between the components of organizational culture including masculinity/femininity, individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance and power distance with job burnout (r=0.305, p>0.001). R(2) also showed that 9.3 percent of the variance of job burnout is related to the mentioned factors. CONCLUSION The overall result is that some staff health issues rooted in their culture; so, the organizational culture assessment by hospital managers to plan and goals achievement is essential. If necessary, improving organizational culture, creating a healthy environment, enhancing tolerance and individual adjustment and stress control can help to reduce staff burnout.