The Role of the Line Manager in Burnout Prevention Among Executives[Le rôle du supérieur hiérarchique dans la prévention du Burnout des cadres]

Scientific literature emphasises the crucial role of the line manager's support, i.e. the immediate superior, in the occurrence or non-occurrence of burnout in tense work situations. If the role of such a support (or lack thereof) seems intuitively well-founded, the mechanisms which operationalise it remain to be specified. This article aims to understand why, in a tense work situation, the line manager's support prevents burnout, whereas their lack of support leads to it. The Conservation of Resources theory is essential in preventing burnout: it suggests the employee may protect the resources they have, develop them, or compensate for those they may lose. On the contrary, the loss of these resources, totally or in part, if not compensated, may lead to suffering at work or even burnout. The Conservation of Resources theory will be used here to study a set of tense work situations in a company which is highly exposed to psychosocial risks, and where some have led to burnout, and others have not. The line manager's role will thus be analysed from the point of view of the conservation (or lack thereof) of the employee's resources, in order to specify the nature of the link between support (or lack thereof) from the line manager and the occurrence of burnout. A training programme aimed to raise the awareness of hierarchical superiors and bring them to face their responsibilities is therefore outlined.