Ans 1: Hank Abbey had been felicitated with a gold watch and retirement party for completing twenty five years of service with WMEE-TV; however he was feeling burdened as he did not make an effort to acquire new business. He was not able to cope with the new changes in the television industry, the staff changes, market changes and the challenges that he posed working on various assignments. He experienced many ups and downs in business, and later he was subjected to displeasure by his account executives as they had missed out on the bonus.
Ans 2: It would have been a great move by hank if Hank had approached Elaine to understand his goals and expectations of the business. The young staff was bringing in more business and Hank should have teamed up with them and gathered information on the new developments in the television industry. As stated by Maslach (2003, p. 14), the nature of the job may precipitate burnout and not just the nature of the person performing the job. He would have explored new opportunities in business, but there was nothing to motivate him.
Ans 3: The most visible impact of burnout is the change in people’s work performance (Maslach 2003, p. 130), and Elaine, the station’s new VP and GM could easily figure out the decline in Hank’s performance. She could have tried to analyze his motivation that made him serve twenty five years in the industry, provide him a lateral movement in a similar department depending on his skill set, provide training on the changing technology, or move him to Performance Improvement Planning (PIP) for two months, and later decide on his efficiency.
Ans 4: Hank seemed to be relaxed after opting for retirement. He was frustrated with the job and was aware that he could not increase the business even if he continued. In my opinion Hank made the right decision as he was sure that he could not cope with the changing trend in the industry. His decision to leave with pride rather than being fired is appreciated.
References
Maslach, Christina. (2003). Burnout: The Cost of Caring. illustrated, reprint. ISHK.
