From the Outside in: Burnout as an Organizational Issue

Abstract

Most of us know the parable of the blind men and the elephant: Depending on the version of the story, there were 3-8 blind men who encountered an elephant. One approached the elephant's leg and concluded that the elephant was like a tall tree; another encountered its trunk and concluded that it resembled a snake; and the third approached it from behind, grasped the tail, and said it was similar to a rope. When the men were asked to present their conclusions, each used the evidence he'd gathered, and presented definitive but radically divergent conclusions about the reality of the elephant. According to one version of this story, each of the men insisted that his conclusion represented the truth about elephants and dismissed the conclusions of the others. Eventually they came to blows over whose truth would go on the record as THE truth. In another version of the story, the raja who arranged this scenario and introduced the elephant to the men took great pleasure in their conflict because it confirmed his argument that scholars often studied reality from different vantage points and then insisted that only their conclusions were accurate and objective. The raja knew that all observations were incomplete and that the production of knowledge ultimately required that scholars come together to synthesize their research and conclusions to create a fuller, more meaningful understandings of reality. As I think of the discussions of burnout in this issue of JIS, I imagine that Maureen Weiss, who brought Gould and Whitley, Cureton, and me together, is the raja who wants us to discuss the elephant of burnout in college sports. But I'm quite certain that none of us claims to possess the truth about burnout generally, or burnout among college athletes. So it's unlikely that we'll come to blows. In fact, each of us is here because we're willing to listen and learn with those who have different perspectives and vantage points than we do. My hope is that we'll work to synthesize various perspectives on burnout and create a fuller and more meaningful understanding of it. Gould and Whitley provide a useful overview of the research and theory on burnout among athletes ranging in age from early adolescence though young adulthood. Nearly all these studies and the theories used to guide them are The author is an independent scholar and lives in Ft. Collins, CO.