Leadership Styles and Burnout - Is There an Association by Zopiatis and Constanti - Case Study Example

Five hypothesis about the connection of different styles of hospitality management (transformational and avoidance/passive styles) and different features of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, diminishment of personal accomplishment) were made by authors. Out of these five hypotheses only two were fully supported: the one - about the positive association between passive leadership style and both depersonalization and emotional exhaustion; the second – about the positive correlation between transformational leadership and personal accomplishment.

The highest achievement of the authors and therefore the best feature of the article is the fact that the article provides a thorough literature review. A lot of sources providing research on the different styles of management as well as the research on different features and reasons of burnout were analyzed. The analysis of correlations between leadership styles and burnout which already exists in the literature is also presented by the authors of the article.

However, the empirical researches as well as the conclusions made in the article contain certain limitations. First of all, taking into account the fact that out of five hypotheses made by the authors of the article only two were fully support with the data, their conclusions about the connections between styles of leadership and burnout as a whole seem somehow overgeneralized. Those hypotheses which were fully supported with the data present just one side of the burnout.

Besides that, there are limitations connected with the sample which is used for the research. Even though the authors of the article argue that the response rate of 26.2 percent is normal for this area of research as it involves sensitive issues, it is still very low and as we don’t know anything about the remaining 73.8 percent of the planned sample, the results of the research may be seriously biased. Such a small number of answers (131) provides doubts about the credibility of research results.

Even though the study contains certain limitations, especially from the methodological point of view, the results obtained are still interesting and provide certain practical advice for the managers in the hospitality sphere. For example, the article suggests that the transformational style of leadership is much more effective than the passive one. If the managers listen to the advice of the authors of the article and use the transformational style of leadership in their day-to-day managerial activities, they not only have much more chances to avoid burnout but also will more likely inspire and motivate other workers better and therefore increase the total productivity of the system as a whole.