Health promotion and flexibility: extending and obscuring power in organizations
Article Type: Abstracts From: Human Resource Management International Digest, Volume 17, Issue 6
Maravelias C.British Journal of Management (UK), March 2009, Vol. 20 (Special Issue), Start page: 194, No. of pages: 10
Purpose – Explores organizations’ reasons for initiating employee health promotion programs. Design/methodology/approach – Links use of health promotion programs to organizational and employee flexibility, traces change in organizational structures from hierarchic and integrated to flexible and employee empowered, distinguishes between core and non-core employees, and profiles the role of human resource management, in taking a caring approach to employees, in inducing employee flexibility whilst maintaining over-arching control. Argues that health promotion programs are elitist in focusing on core employees in high-end occupations and companies, suggests programs are used to acquire information on employees which organizations then use to influence employees’ identities and life-styles, and conducts a brief review of prior papers to illustrate how health promotion simultaneously treats employees as responsible individuals and as incomplete subjects that need to be informed with“proper” knowledge. Describes change in Sweden’s occupational health services (OHS) from state-funded to market-based, shows how OHS have re-focused their attention from sick and injured employees to health promotion for their employer clients, refers to the health promotion technique of the individual action plan, and quotes one senior manager who, following participation in his employer’s health promotion program, acknowledged that his company expected participation to positively affect his job performance. Concludes that health promotion programs increase polarization between core and non-core employees, and reinforce elitism by focusing on well-paid, healthy employees. Originality/value – Contends that combining flexibility and health crosses the work/private-life boundary. ISSN: 1045-3172 Reference:38AH836
Keywords: Flexibility, Occupational health and safety,Employees counselling, Sweden, Health education
