Many organizations apply scrum methodology into their project processes, as it has proven to be very efficient. In our other course, we have seen that system and application projects, scrum is a generally used method.
One of the characteristics of scrum working is that autonomous and self-reporting teams, rather than hierarchical structured teams, are working in time-based sprints (Rigby, Sutherland & Takeuchi, 2016). The mismatch hypothesis from evolutionary psychology can explain why the current society wants to take more distance from strong hierarchical organizations, and would prefer structures without leaders (Li, Vugt, & Colarelli, 2018). However, the conditions of scrum do not take into account how the employees may react to this new kind of working, especially the implementation of sprints – short periods of time dedicated to finish a particular process goal. In sprints, the team discusses what has to be done within the agreed time framework and everybody gets specific tasks within, so responsibilities. Herein, social control plays a crucial part. Barker (1993), pointed out in his research about Self-Managing Teams that high levels of social control is a causal factor of particular kind of great stress, because it is linked to team commitment and social factors clinging to that. Garton (2017) claims that organizational practices are the area that should improve in order to decrease burnouts. Three main organizational characteristics were found when he looked into organizations with high rates of burnouts: excessive collaboration, weak time management disciplines, and a tendency to overload the most capable with too much work.
Furthermore, agile methodology focuses on optimized speed, quality and stakeholder satisfaction, which can bring undesirable and unforeseen side effects such as heightened pressure on the teams (Hager & Protzman, 2017). Hager, vice president strategic initiatives at Macro Solutions and Protzman, Program manager at Macro Solutions (2017), warn that the fast sprints with deadlines even can make employees fatigue or burnout in a faster pace than in traditional waterfall teams. Laanti (2013) compares sprints to ‘project crisis mode’, where employees have clear tasks and prioritized deadlines under pressure. Traditionally, after such a period employees need some rest; however with scrum sprints the focus is on a constant pace so they are not able to fluctuate in workload pressure. However, this research also found that agile working increases empowerment, which reduces stress levels; nonetheless, this is not primarily based on effects of sprints. Kropp, Meier and Biddle (2016) found contrasting results, where professionals responded that agile practices are not beneficial and lead to more stress and could cause more overwork. Substantial support has been found that overwork is not neutral, and that it can be hurtful for the individual and thus for the organization. Moreover, the stress that is caused by overwork can lead to various kinds of health problems; mentally and physically. This is bad for the individuals’ lives, but also for the companies’ bottom line due to balance sheet costs (Green Carmichael, 2016).
Burn outs is a rapidly growing problem in Western countries, only in the Netherlands the economy suffers around 10 billion a year because of employees forced to stay at home due to a burn-out (Bakker, 2018). Matser (2018) claims persistent stress is damaging brains. There has been much research on how to prevent and treat a burn out (Hakanen and Bakker, 2017). The three characteristics of burn-outs are conceptualized by Maslach, Schaufeli and Leiter (p. 402, 2001) as “exhaustion, cynicism/depersonalisation, and reduced professional efficacy”. In this research, they lay out limited time constraint, role conflict/ambiguity and lack of social support as the three core influences on a burnout.
Taken together all the information regarding sprints and ‘scrum’ working and the rising amount of people suffering from burn outs; do you think that the implementations of “sprints” lead to higher chance of getting burned out in organizations nowadays?
References used and suggested research:
Bakker, A. B., & Costa, P. L. (2014). Chronic job burnout and daily functioning: A theoretical analysis. Burnout Research, 1(3), 112–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.BURN.2014.04.003
Chambliss, D.F., Schutt R.K. (2006) Chapter 5: Causation and Experimental Design in the book Making Sense of the Social World: Methods of Investigation
Garton, E. (2017). Employee Burnout Is a Problem with the Company, Not the Person. Harvard Business Review, 1. Retrieved fromhttps://hbr.org/2017/04/employee-burnout-is-a- problem-with-the-company-not-the-person
Green Carmichael, S. (2016). The Research Is Clear: Long Hours Backfire for People and for Companies. Harvard Business Review, 2015–2017. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2015/08/the-research-is-clear-long-hours-backfire-for-people-and- for-companies
Hakanen, J. J., & Bakker, A. B. (2017). Born and bred to burn out: A life-course view and reflections on job burnout. Journal of occupational health psychology, 22(3), 354.
James R. Barker. Tightening the iron cage: Concertive control in self-managing teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38(3):408–437, 1993
Kropp, M., Meier, A., & Biddle, R. (2016, November). Agile practices, collaboration and experience. In International Conference on Product-Focused Software Process Improvement (pp. 416-431). Springer, Cham.
Laanti, M. (2013, January). Agile and Wellbeing–Stress, Empowerment, and Performance in Scrum and Kanban Teams. In System Sciences (HICSS), 2013 46th Hawaii International Conference on (pp. 4761-4770). IEEE.
Leiter, M. P., & Maslach, C. (2003). Areas of worklife: A structured approach to organizational predictors of job burnout. Research in Occupational Stress and Well Being. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1479-3555(03)03003-8
Leslie Kwoh. (2013). When Job Fatigue Hits the CEO – WSJ. Retrieved November 16, 2018,fromhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323687604578469124008524696?mod=WSJ_mgmt_LeadStoryCollection
Maslach, C. ;, Schaufeli, W. B. ;, & Leiter, M. P. (2001). Job burnout. Annual Review of Psychology (Vol. 52). Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.eur.idm.oclc.org/docview/205845280?accountid=13598
Rigby, D. K., Sutherland, J., & Takeuchi, H. (2016). Master the process that’s transforming management:: Interaction. Harvard business review, 94(7), 2.
Hi Sudevi,
Thank your for this article, it was a very interesting read. I would have to say that I agree with what you suggest in this article. Namely, that sprints contribute to the increasing burnout rate in today’s world. A shorter time-span leads not only to more work, but also to an increased work pressure. I think the latter goes hand in hand with a burnout. However, it makes me think what the big difference is with 10 or 20 years ago? Why did this increase all of a sudden? Would it have to do with increasing work pressure, pressure from society, or did many burnouts just go undiagnosed? It could be a combination of all three. I
Hi Mitchell,
I am glad to read that you found it interesting.
I think you add a very interesting angle to the discussion; namely that most of the burn-outs were not diagnosed in the past. I do fully agree with this perspective. Because news has been focusing on this phenomenon, I am sure more people were diagnosed because more awareness was created. However, I believe that the main reason for the increase in burn outs is the increased pressure. This increased pressure is also seen in the ‘sprint culture’.
Hi Sudevi,
Very interesting and surprising read (at least for me!). Strangely, I experience something completely different than the studies have in the paragraph on agile. At the company which I work for, people do not experience sprints to be stressful and tiring. They actually enjoy their jobs now more since agile and sprints were introduced. Feedbacks are generally very positive and people even want to stay longer on some days to work more because they feel more engaged and don’t consider work only a ‘means of making money’, but also a ‘purpose’ and a source of fun. I am not saying it doesn’t lead to a burnout, but I don’t experience this phenomenon which I read in the article. But maybe it also has something to do with the type of job and the attitude of the people. If you like what you’re doing, you are less likely to experience a burnout just because there is higher pressure. At least I believe so. I am wondering what my peers think about this.
Hi Franciska,
For me, it was also very surprising that there is research backing the fact that agile working can increase work stress and presurre. For me, I started looking into it because I just thought about the possibility of correlation. Agile working has become a very popular way of working the past few years, and burn-outs numbers are also rocketing! However, I can not say it is actually caused by agile working. It would be a very interesting (and actual) research to carry out though. Maybe as an idea for thesis?